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Zendaya [3] attended the 2021 Critics' Choice Awards on Sunday night where she accepted the SeeHer award [4] and paid tribute to a late acting legend. To go with the giant, neon orange Valentino skirt [5] she wore for the occasion, the Euphoria [6] star wore her hair in a gorgeous set of Fulani braids [7].
The braids were installed by celebrity hairstylist Ursula Stephen [8], and according to Zendaya [9]'s Instagram Story on the morning after the show, the style mimicked the Fulani braids that Cicely Tyson wore in a portrait taken back in 1973. "Our forever muse," Zendaya captioned a photo she shared of the late actress wearing the braids [10].
Fulani braids [11] — also called tribal braids by some — were originated by the Fulani people, a Muslim community in the Sahel zone and West Africa. Though there's not one way to wear them, the style normally consists of cornrows that are braided into a specific pattern with a single cornrow braided down the middle of the scalp. Zendaya's, for instance, featured half of her hair braided into a top knot while the lower half of her wavy natural hair flowed down her back.