Zaldy was born in Cheshire, Connecticut; his first name is Salvador but his parents called him Zaldy from birth. His grandmother sparked his interest in fashion.
Zaldy walked runways for Thierry Mugler, Jean-Paul Gaultier, and Vivienne Westwood modeling women's clothing; he also modeled men's clothing in a Japanese advertising campaign for Paul Smith. In 1995, Zaldy, in drag, starred in a Levi's television commercial. This advertisement was banned in the United States and was only shown late at night in the United Kingdom. This Levi's advertisement was noted as marking a rise in the prominence of drag in pop culture.
Photoshoots and red carpets
Various celebrities have worn Zaldy's clothing in notable photoshoots or on red carpets. Beyoncé wore a Zaldy dress on the cover of the November 2005 issue of Vanity Fair. Film producer Lisa Maria Falcone, producer for 127 Hours, wore a Zaldy dress to the 83rd Academy Awards. Kesha wore a Zaldy dress to the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards. Chloe x Halle both wore Zaldy to the 2016 BET Hip Hop Awards; their stylist for the event, Zerina Akers, said: "I always like to use young, new talent, because I feel like we see so much of the same thing in fashion and on the red carpet. I thought it was fresh."
Stage and concert performances
The first stage costume Zaldy designed was for Lady Miss Kier, singer of Deee-Lite; she saw him at a club wearing a catsuit studded with mirrors and asked him to make her a similar outfit. His first time designing stage outfits for an entire musical group was for Scissor Sisters's 2006 performance for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Zaldy later designed the costumes for the Japanese band Exile.
In the late 1980s, Zaldy met the American drag queen RuPaul at a night club in Union Square, Manhattan. He has designed his drag outfits since 1992. RuPaul wears Zaldy's outfits in the music video for his 1993 single "Supermodel " and the Netflix series AJ and the Queen. Zaldy designed RuPaul's suit for the 2019 Met Gala.
''RuPaul's Drag Race''
Zaldy designs the gowns for RuPaul on RuPaul's Drag Race. He has three other team members and an assortment of other craftspeople such as painters, beaders, and graphic designers. For his work on Drag Race, Zaldy has received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations and three wins, in the category of Outstanding Costumes for a Variety, Nonfiction, or Reality Programming. He was first nominated for the 68th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards for the season 8 premiere "Keeping it 100!" and received a second nomination, alongside Perry Meek, for the 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards for the season 9 premiere "Oh. My. Gaga!" Zaldy and Meek won this Emmy. He received a third nomination in this category in 2018 for the season 10 premiere "10s Across the Board". In 2019 he also won an Emmy for the episode "" alongside Art Conn, who designed Michelle Visage's outfit. He also appeared as a guest judge alongside Kesha on the season 9 episode "Makeovers: Crew Better Work", and made a guest appearance in the season 12 episode "You Don't Know Me."
