Zendaya saw me on the red carpet and her jaw dropped – I'm still in shock TikTok creator Zainab Jiwa seems to be giving Hollywood A-listers on the red carpet a run for their money.10 hrs agoCulture

“I can’t zip this! Mummm?”

This was 29-year-old Zainab Jiwa, calling out for help squeezing into a corset while filming a “get-ready-with-me” TikTok video. It’s a scene many 20-somethings still living at home will relate to.

The difference is, Zainab was on her way to the recent London premiere of The Odyssey, one of the summer’s biggest blockbusters.

She was invited there as a guest and says she caught the eye of Hollywood megastar Zendaya, thanks to her custom look: a striking gold gown complete with a hood.

“It was just a stare-off for a minute, and she was like, ‘Oh my god, amazing, amazing,’ and then she just walked off.”

“I’m still in shock,” she adds. “The thought of her noticing my outfit blew my mind.”

The interaction went viral with 19m TikTok views. Her phone blew up.

While Zendaya has been ruling the red carpets with high-fashion “method dressing” – where stars match outfits to a film’s themes – Zainab is perhaps proving that independent creators like her can give Hollywood a run for its money.

Zainab, who is Muslim and wears a hijab, is also often one of the only people covering her hair at premieres, but she says finding ways to incorporate modest wear is part of the fun.

“Even though you’re covered, you can still find a way to be on theme.”

Arriving for our interview at BBC Broadcasting House this week, her look was on-point in an olive shirt, tie, and brooches. “I put in effort today,” she says.

She’s a self-confessed fashion addict. “From the womb,” she says, when I ask her when her passion started.

Her other love is film – but she initially kept that as a hobby. Still, she posted videos on social media for fun about her favourite films and outfits inspired by them.

Soon, major studios took notice. Disney was first, offering her a junket interview for the series Moon Knight, where she got to interview the stars.

“I thought it was a scam,” she says. “I can’t watch that back. I was NOT good.”

Today, Zainab is a full-time creator and presenter, interviewing A-listers such as Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal, Tom Hiddleston and Zendaya herself – while decked head to toe in outfits paying homage to the films.

She’s one of many digital content creators on the red carpet, with others including Chicken Shop Date’s Amelia Dimoldenberg, Reece Feldman and social media personality Jake Shane.

It’s not always easy. Sometimes, Zainab gets invites to premieres the night before, meaning a mad rush to sort her look before travelling to the event – often by public transport (“and I look ridiculous”).

She works with a range of designers and brands, but says she also keeps costs down by reusing items as much as possible.

Her outfits are purposely bold, allowing her to “break the ice” with stars. For House of the Dragon season two, she wore a red gown by a student designer featuring three faces wearing hijabs.

“I’m a bit extra, but I like to add culture in everything I do,” she says.

For Spider-Man: Brand New Day, she customised her look with spiderweb henna. For Gladiator II, she wore gold armour.

She admits she has worried whether dressing modestly will make it harder for her to succeed in this industry, but she finds pleasure in it too.

“I have a fun time working around the fact that I cover my hair or I cover my arms,” she says. “I’d call it halalify the look. I’d always say, ‘’but how do I halalify this?'”

“I enjoy that bit the most because it shows there’s no restriction really here.”

But while Zainab spends much of her time rubbing shoulders with Hollywood royalty, home life in Harrow, north-west London is completely different.

“Oh my god, my house is chaos,” she laughs. Storage space is at a premium, and outfits often end up “shoved somewhere”.

She has a cat, siblings who often pop in, and parents who are frequently enlisted for wardrobe emergencies.

Despite it not being the career trajectory they’d expected for their daughter, Zainab says her parents are now “so supportive”.

With 660,000 followers on TikTok and close to 400,000 on Instagram, she’s becoming a key content creator in this field. But she also faces criticism – including from some who claim her outfits are not modest enough.

“There’s always hate in this industry,” she says.

But she adds: “For every negative comment, there’s so many positive ones.

“If I’m doing it to inspire other people, or entertain other people, or educate other people, if that’s still happening, then I really don’t care about the rest.”

For now though, Zainab is swept up in enjoying a string of blockbusters.

“The summer’s felt good for film – I think it’s exciting,” she says.

“And there’s loads more coming. We’ve got Dune. We’ve got Doomsday,” she says.

“I love film and TV. I think it’s a really fun way to build community,” she adds. “I’m just a fan. At the end of the day, I’m just a fan.”