Zendaya got 'lightheaded' wearing her robot look for Dune: Part Two red carpet: 'Why did I do this?'

Zendaya is revealing how one of her most influential Dune: Part Two red carpet looks actually came with some pretty serious side effects. 

The actress, who stars as Chani in the Denis Villeneuve-directed saga, told Vogue that she began to feel very “lightheaded” when first trying on the vintage Thierry Mugler robot armor that she wore to the film’s London premiere. 

"This suit, everybody knows it. And I was like, ‘I wonder if I could wear that,’” Zendaya recalled. “And so I sent it to [stylist Law Roach] and I was like, ‘What if we wore this for the premiere?’ He was like, ‘Are you being serious?’ … He was like, ‘Don't play with me. Like, don't get me started on something and make me do this, and you're gonna like chicken out at the last minute, and be too scared to wear it.’ And I was like, ‘I mean, if we can do it.’”

The suit — which features cutouts around the navel, chest, and thighs — is part of Mugler’s 1995 fall couture collection and came with its own set of unique challenges. 

“One of the men who originally made it was with us and he was like, ‘You know, we can try it, but there's also a world where certain parts won't fit,’” she said. “Like, our proportions might be very different — my elbow is a little bit lower or my whatever, then it doesn't work because there's certain hinges and places where your arms and things need to move.”

But it was a match made in heaven. “We tried it on and I was like, ‘Guys, I think it's fitting,’” Zendaya said. “It fit like a glove, and I was like, ‘This is so crazy.’ And everybody was like, ‘Oh!’ It just felt very like, I was meant to be whatever.”

That is, until the heat started to take effect. “Immediately, I think after wearing it for like 10 minutes or less than that, I got really lightheaded,” she said. “The metal conducts and holds onto heat very quickly and kind of traps heat in. I'm wearing a complete bodysuit, so there's a barrier, so you already have a layer of material kind of on your skin.” 

“As the days were coming up, I was like, ‘This is a bad idea. Like why did I do this?’” she continued. “But I put it on, I went out there, and I did it.”

But don't worry. After Zendaya successfully walked the red carpet — and blew everyone's minds along the way — the fashion icon traded in her armor for a sleek black Mugler slip dress so that she wasn't sweating while watching the film.

Watch Zendaya discuss wearing vintage Mugler and more in the clip above. 

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

Related content:

• Inside the Dune dynasty: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Austin Butler, and Florence Pugh discuss the battle for Arrakis
• How Dune Messiah informs Zendaya's expanded role in Dune: Part Two
• Denis Villeneuve wants to make 'at least three' Dune movies