Nensi Dojaka, winner of the LVMH Prize for Young Designers in 2021, is among a cohort of London-based emerging fashion designers who created bespoke outfits for Zendaya’s latest Smartwater campaign.
Zendaya was appointed the face of the bottled water brand, owned by the Coca-Cola Company, last year. She wore a simple white top for the debut campaign.
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For the second edition, Smartwater partnered with the British Fashion Council’s talent support platform Newgen to dial up the fashion credibility.
In the main campaign film, Zendaya wore a bespoke flowy blue dress by Newgen alumni Dojaka based on a style from her line’s fall 2023 collection, as well as water-inspired creations from Conner Ives and Chet Lo.
These three designs, alongside additional looks by Aaron Esh and Di Petsa, will appear on other campaign assets as well.
In an interview with WWD, Dojaka, who has made headlines for dressing Zendaya in a nude beige gown with a heart-shape chest design for the after party of the London premiere of “Dune,” said she sees Zendaya as “our ideal of a modern woman.”
She also thanked the star for opening a whole new chapter in the eveningwear category after the “Dune” moment.
Since then, leading fashion retailers such as Selfridges, Mytheresa, Bergdorf Goodman and LuisaViaRoma have doubled down on special projects with the brand with a big focus on gowns.
Dojaka counted the star’s character Rue Bennett in “Euphoria” as one of her favorite TV characters of all time.
“She portrayed Rue in a very raw and daring way, breaking down the stereotypes of a young modern girl who struggles with anxiety and addiction. The very emotional portrayal of Rue makes her both vulnerable and strong and that’s something many young women like me connect and relate to,” she added.
Dojaka explained the dress Zendaya wears in the new Smartwater campaign is “an evolution of a signature piece the brand is known for, which is the padded mini corset, and now it evolved into an asymmetric dress with an organic neckline. It is structured enough internally to preserve the shape, yet seemingly light on the outside with the flowy chiffon in the flared part of it. It’s more tapered at the waist to create a very feminine shape and embrace her body.”
She added that the dress comes with “a very beautifully curved shape which coincidentally mimics the curves in Smartwater,” and the use of blue “works perfectly with the design because it enhances the graphic nature of it. It made us realize that it would be good to be bold with the colors.”
In addition to this blue dress moment, the star recently wore a black minidress from the fall 2022 collection to appear in the Lancôme L’Absolu Rouge lipstick campaign.
In an earlier interview with WWD, the London-based Albanian designer Dojaka unveiled her plan to scale the business beyond viral moments like these.
Having introduced a shoe line in the spring 2023 season, an in-house e-commerce site is launching this year, which is expected to cushion the pressure on the brand’s cash flow from the big deposits required in the wholesale model.
Smartwater’s parent company has also introduced a similar strategy to Diet Coke, which appointed Kate Moss as a creative director two years in a row, and sponsored London Fashion Week and the Fashion Awards. With those moves, the soft drink brand, which was once known as Karl Lagerfeld’s favorite drink, reinforces its fashion relevance among the TikTok generation.
Given the existing relationship with the BFC and the Coca-Cola Company, Smartwater’s collaboration with Newgen comes as no surprise. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the talent support program.
London’s Design Museum will unveil the exhibition “Rebel: 30 Years of London Fashion” to celebrate this landmark occasion on Sept. 15.
Iconic looks in pop cultures designed by British fashion designers — such as the swan dress designed by Marjan Pejoski that Björk wore to the Oscars in 2001 and a Harri latex suit worn by Sam Smith to this year’s Brit Awards — will go on display.
In total, more than 300 designers who graduated from the Newgen program, including Christopher Raeburn, Erdem, Kim Jones, JW Anderson, Craig Green, Mary Katrantzou, Molly Goddard, Simone Rocha, Priya Ahluwalia, Saul Nash, Grace Wales Bonner, Bianca Saunders, and Dojaka, will be referenced in the exhibition.
Caroline Rush, chief executive officer at the BFC, noted: “Through initiatives such as Newgen, the BFC is committed to supporting emerging design talent, and working with Smartwater, who are dedicated to using their platform to champion innovative thinkers, is an exciting opportunity.”
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