Zendaya Makes the Windbreaker a Capsule-Wardrobe Essential in New York City

Zendaya’s first co-created collection with On treats sporty outerwear like a wardrobe backbone, not an afterthought. In New York City, she wore the brand’s $250 Half-Zip Anorak in a black-and-white color-blocked finish, and the piece landed with the kind of clarity capsule wardrobes depend on: one layer that can do the work of several.

The jacket is a sharp take on utility. On describes the women’s Half-Zip Anorak as a bold, color-blocked anorak with an attached hood and side zipper pockets, while Marie Claire noted design details that make it feel deliberately styled rather than purely technical, including a drawstring hood, elasticized cuffs and a bungee-corded hem. That combination gives the silhouette shape, so it reads as fashion, not just rain protection.

What makes the look resonate is the timing. Windbreakers were already moving back into the center of the conversation, with a spring 2025 comeback visible across runways in New York, London, Milan and Paris as designers pushed weather-proof layering into more polished territory. By 2026, capsule-wardrobe coverage was leaning hard into elevated essentials, and funnel-neck jackets were emerging as one of the season’s key updates. Zendaya’s anorak sits neatly in that shift: practical, but styled with enough restraint to work with the pieces people already own.

On’s broader Zendaya collaboration reinforces that idea. The brand positions the collection as its first co-created line with Zendaya, built around everyday, effortless classics, from parachute pants to ribbed bases and ballet-inspired shoes. That is the capsule logic in its cleanest form. A windbreaker earns its keep when it can move from a morning errand run to a dinner layer over ribbed separates, then to weekend denim without feeling like a compromise.

There is also a longer fashion history behind the moment. The Metropolitan Museum of Art traces American sportswear’s rise from the 1930s through the 1970s, and notes that by 1932 Lord & Taylor was already promoting new American sportswear with an emphasis on freedom of movement and mix-and-match dressing. Zendaya’s On look feels like a modern version of that same instinct: clothes that reduce decision fatigue, move easily, and make a capsule wardrobe feel sharper, not smaller.