Zendaya has found herself in the middle of an unlikely fashion furore during the full-scale Hollywood spectacle of The Odyssey press tour.
The Euphoria lead is set to star in Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation as the Greek goddess Athena, alongside fellow A-listers Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattionson, Charlize Theron, and her new husband, Tom Holland.
Zendaya attends the world premiere of The Odyssey in London. Photo: Getty.
For the world premiere in London, Zendaya wore a show-stopping custom Schiaparelli Haute Couture gown that had debuted on the French runway only hours earlier. Her long-time stylist Law Roach travelled to Paris by private jet to quite literally take the garment off a model the moment the runway show ended.
The ensemble generated countless headlines. But it was a pair of hefty gold earrings the American actress wore to a photo call earlier that day that has historians and archaeologists up in arms.
In a separate London appearance, Zendaya paired a custom white Jacquemus halter gown with a pair of statement earrings made from 3000-year-old Iranian gold discs. They were sourced by a private London dealer from an "undisclosed origin".
“Obviously, this is a huge problem,” says Macquarie University Associate Professor Peter Edwell. Teaching in the Discipline of History and Archaeology, Edwell says the term undisclosed origin “generally indicates the artefact has, at some point, been plundered illegally.”
Zendaya paired a custom white Jacquemus halter gown with a pair of earrings made from 3000-year-old Iranian gold discs. Photo: Getty.
Roach described the historic look as “method dressing” and the striking jewellery became one of the biggest talking points of the event.
The gold earrings, which reportedly date back to the first millennium BCE, feature ancient Iranian sun motifs and were controversially remounted with new diamonds and 18-karat gold by jeweller Glenn Spiro.
“It’s believed the items Zendaya wore came from quite a problematic hoard that was discovered in Ziwiye in Iran in the late 1940s,” says Professor Edwell.
“It wasn’t excavated. It was plundered and then dispersed out to private and public collections. These medallion plaques may come from that hoard.”
Ziwiye, an archaeological site in northwestern Iran, first belonged to a tribe of herders called the Mennean people.
In 1947, a shepherd stumbled upon a treasure chest filled with stunning gold, silver, and ivory objects at the site. Today, there are pieces linked to the Ziwiye hoard in famous museums like New York’s Met and the Louvre.
“One of the really big problems with this type of material is the ongoing sale and illegal export of it,” Professor Edwell says. “Artefact smuggling is run by criminal gangs and organised crime syndicates. We’re not talking about petty crime here, but a sophisticated, multi-level, international practice that is almost as old as the objects themselves.”
The Euphoria star is facing backlash for the decision to wear a real ancient artefact on the red carpet. Photo: Getty.
Associate Professor Edwell says the black market in antiquities is driven by “colonisation and poverty.”
“I’ve worked on excavations in parts of the Middle East, some of which are very, very poor,” he explains. “The workers on sites there are paid the equivalent of $12AUD a day. When archaeologists aren’t there, some go out looting because they live in a very rich historic area.”
While Professor Edwell condemns looting, he says when people are desperately poor, feeding their families overshadows any archaeological context.
“This stuff– potentially buried millennia ago– gets dug up and goes out to somebody in a more regional centre who then illegally whisks it out of the country. The people who make all the real money out of it are Western dealers. The people back at the source? They get next to nothing. It's hugely problematic."
Zirrar Ali, a London-based author and expert on Islamic history, told The New Arab the West often detaches the ancient history of Persia, Arabia, and of the East more broadly from the modern peoples of Iran and Iraq.
He said that may explain why the jewellery choice made for an American actress occurred while the US wages war with Iran. "Celebrities adorning artefacts…is often seen as harmless but can in fact constitute a display of power and domination: one culture asserting ownership over the heritage of another.”
Zendaya is not the first to wear a real artefact on the red carpet.
Earlier this year, Margot Robbie wore the 17th century Taj Mahal diamond necklace to the world premiere of Wuthering Heights. The heart-shaped gem was first given by a Mughal Emperor to his wife and centuries later, gifted to Elizabeth Taylor. Kim Kardashian also sparked controversy when she donned Marilyn Monroe’s 'Happy Birthday, Mr. President’ gown for the 2022 Met Gala.
Margot Robbie wears the Taj Mahal necklace at the World Premiere of Wuthering Heights. Photo: Getty.
Kim Kardashian stirred controversy at the 2022 Met Gala wearing Marilyn Monroe's dress. Photo: Getty.
Many of Zendaya’s fans have taken to social media to ask, why not wear a replica instead?
In Professor Edwell’s opinion, Hollywood’s agenda is plain: “There is one set of rules for elites and there is another set of rules for everyone else.”
“When high-profile figures adorn themselves with real artefacts, they are identifying their elite status. They’re saying, ‘I have the status, wealth, and power to wear this object,’ and that of course links back to the power of the individual who originally wore or owned these items.
“It’s a demonstration that they see themselves as having the same elite status as rulers and elites in the ancient world.”
In the age of AI, such authenticity is becoming more scarce and therefore even more valuable.
“We will undoubtedly see more examples of this,” Edwell says. “Celebrities lend legitimacy and value to plundered items when they wear them, so it’s important we call them out, but also critique the broader issue.”
He points to the UK’s Portable Antiquities Scheme as a “better way” of managing discovered artefacts.
The scheme encourages the public to voluntarily report and record archaeological objects found in England and Wales. This helps preserve history and stops important historical items from being lost.
“The authorities do proper excavation,” Edwell says. “The individual who found the items, and the landowner, are then entitled to the commercial value. Everyone’s happy.”
“When we see displays such as Zendaya in these earrings, it’s worth thinking about how we can do this better.”