Photo: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Zaya Wadeis coming into her own.
TheDazedcover modeland rising fashion industry star, 15, who is the daughter of former NBA playerDwayne Wadeand the stepdaughter of actressGabrielle Union, stepped out on the GLAAD Awards red carpet with confidence just a month after beinggranted an official name changeand assignment of gender.
She was photographed holding hands with Union, who wore a multi-color sequinMoschino dresswith a built-in hood.
Steve Granitz/FilmMagic
On her Instagram Story, Wade shared a picture of her $5,000 donation to GLAAD with her over 600,000 followers along with a link to donate.
She wrote: “loved attending the #glaadawards tonightand am excited to make a donation to @glaad ❤️ LGBTQ+ rights are so important to me and I’m always going to strive to do as much as I can in this space. Click below if you want to make a donation too. x Zaya.”
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Zaya Wade/instagram
Earlier this month Wademade her runway debuton Tuesday at the Miu Miu show atParis Fashion Week. She commanded the catwalk wearing an olive green dress with matching jacket, while carrying a complementary brown handbag as she strutted down the stage. She also landed a Puma campaign not long after.
Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty
In mid-March, she also landed her first-ever fashionmagazine cover forDAZED, she detailed her ascent into the fashion world, crediting her parents for their inspiration.
“It started out as, ‘Oh, my parents are super fashionable, and I want to dress up and be as fashionable as them.’ But, as time has passed and I’ve become more integrated into the fashion world, it’s become a really important part of expressing myself and my identity. Whether I’mwearing a dress for winter formalor wearing a suit for a shoot, it’s just a way to level up my iconic-ness, I feel,” shetold the publication.
For Zaya, she said “up-ing your iconic-ness” is all about seeing the beauty in yourself and representing that in the most authentic way possible, something that stepmom, Gabrielle, helped her harness.
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“The lesson has changed over time, but more recently, it’s that beauty is in yourself. It’s about being you and expressing yourself the way you want to. [Gabrielle Union-Wade] tries to teach me that beauty standards are arbitrary and that they don’t mean anything,” she says. “They don’t matter any more; what people thought was the standard is not. And just that being myself is the best technique out there.”
source: people.com
