Stylist Law Roach discusses Zendaya’s wardrobe, personal style secrets, and thoughts on “retirement” | fashion

In a collection on the Standard lodge in London, celeb stylist Law Roach is giving me the within observe on considered one of his most viral appears to be like. In February, consumer and good friend Zendaya appeared on the premier of Dune: Part Two in a classic Thierry Mugler robotic outfit constituted of chrome and Plexiglas panels. Think glamorous C-3PO. In a world the place it’s ever tougher to create a real fashion second this was a bona fide one.

Smoothing his straight, waist-length black hair, Roach explains how he and Zendaya flew to Paris to persuade Mugler designer Casey Cadwallader to allow them to borrow the couture piece, with Roach telling him “this would be one of the biggest fashion moments of history”. Cadwallader was on board, however had one caveat: “The suit has to fit”. This wasn’t material that may be altered, although, however a metallic development with — actually — no wriggle room.

Back in Paris for a becoming the suspense kicked in as items of the robotic go well with had been laid out. His voice reducing to a dramatic whisper, Roach describes how Zendaya “put on a shoe and then she put on this shin and then she connected the shin to the thigh. And then the hip went on and we are in tears because it is divine that every single piece of this thing is just snapping into place . . . So the fashion gods really smiled on us.”

Law describes himself as an “image architect” and has even trademarked the time period, which he unpicks in his new ebook How to Build a Fashion Icon: Notes on Confidence. He popularised “method-dressing”, the now widely-used phrase coined by style author André Wheeler for theming purple carpet appears to be like. Zendaya wore a Valentino robe with spider net embroidery for the launch of Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021, and sported a volley of tennis-inspired ensembles by designers equivalent to Thom Browne and Alaïa when Challengers opened earlier this 12 months. Roach, 46, says, “I like to be kind of literal with things when it comes to fashion, because I think it’s entertainment.”

Meanwhile, the eye generated for the holy trinity of movie, star and model is the rationale he’s thought of essentially the most highly effective stylist in Hollywood. Or fairly was, as a result of in March 2023 he introduced his retirement in sensational style on Instagram.

Leading as much as that time, Law was on a profession excessive. In September 2022 he received the inaugural Stylist Award on the CFDA Fashion Awards, and he was primary on the Hollywood Reporter’s listing of essentially the most highly effective stylists in 2021 and 2022, the primary African-American to look on the high. He has styled Anya Taylor-Joy, Kerry Washington and Megan Thee Stallion amongst others, but it surely was Zendaya and Celine Dion who earned him essentially the most consideration. He helped Zendaya evolve from Disney-channel teenager to fashionable megastar, and reworked Celine Dion into an edgy, Balenciaga-clad fashion maven.

It’s a very spectacular trajectory given his background: rising up as considered one of 5 siblings on the South Side of Chicago, his mom had dependancy points and he generally went to mattress hungry. Having honed his thrift purchasing abilities along with his good, churchgoing grandmother, he opened a boutique referred to as Deliciously Vintage in 2009, and after changing into all in favour of styling he was launched to Zendaya in 2011, later transferring to LA to work along with her.

But then in March 2023 he posted an image on Instagram of an indication saying “retired”, and a message together with the cryptic phrases, “If this business was just about the clothes I would do it for the rest of my life but unfortunately it’s not! The politics, the lies and the false narratives finally got me! You win . . . I’m out.” The information prompted shockwaves in fashion circles. Did he count on his announcement to create such a giant response?

“It was impulsive and it became way bigger than I ever thought it would be . . . I had just come off dressing six people for the Vanity Fair Oscars party and there was a situation with one of my clients where I didn’t feel protected. I just felt disposable and miserable . . . I really posted that because I wanted people to let me breathe and leave me alone. I wanted the phone to stop ringing.” And who was he referring to when he stated “you win”? “The industry establishment, especially in Hollywood. The gatekeepers, all those people who have ideas of who should be doing this job and what that person should look like.”

Roach tells me that being Black within the fashion trade “is tough, but also I’m tough. And it pushed me to be the first at a lot of things . . . to break a lot of glass ceilings and open a lot of doors. I would love to see people in positions of power give opportunities to people who don’t look like them.”

But some commitments had been too vital to stroll away from: “I wanted to retire from everything, including Zendaya. But our relationship is so strong and so real, we’re family. And she called me and told me that I could never leave her.”

So is he semi-retired? Unretired? With a number of premieres, showing as a number on TV present OMG Fashun, numerous Vogue covers and the ebook, he appears fairly busy to me. “I am living in this place of power and freedom where I can feel good about doing whatever I want to do,” he states. Based within the US, the place he has an property in Atlanta, Roach is in London to advertise his ebook and has a packed schedule. Due on the Burberry present in an hour, he makes a fast turn into a brand new outfit topped off by a fake fur coat, then we proceed our chat in a chauffeur-driven Range Rover en route.

How to Build a Fashion Icon isn’t a granular just-add-a-funky-belt form of information. Billed as “part self-help, part manifesto”, it blends autobiography, with a extra reflective strategy to dressing as a result of Roach believes “good style is a myth and the only thing that truly exists is personal style”. His premise is that the key to just about all the pieces is extra confidence, and he provides methods to discovering “your authentic self”.

Before Roach retired, he says his world enterprise, which additionally included styling model campaigns, consulting, retainers and non-public shoppers, grossed nicely over $4mn a 12 months. He employed 4 full-time assistants in LA, two in New York, one in Paris and one in London. He provides that “my private clients had to have a net worth of half a billion or more”.

At this level, considered one of his crew behind the automobile mutters that he won't need to share these figures. But Roach is deliberate in how he presents himself. “For a young black boy coming from South Side Chicago to be able to have this. I’m very proud of that. I don’t think there’s anything elitist about it. It’s just that you have to be able to afford the luxury of having me work for you. I think the people who I want to hear this will be motivated by it. I never thought I could live this life.”

I discover Roach to be calm, humorous and very well mannered however there’s no scarcity of drama round his public persona. The newest concept on social media is {that a} video he posted to Instagram with him and Naomi Campbell doing a model of the “very demure” TikTok meme was a dig at Rihanna. Law brushes it off, saying “if one person runs with a narrative everybody follows suit. Naomi and Rihanna are icons who I know personally . . . It was just innocent fun.”

There does appear to be quite a lot of theatrics and shade-throwing within the fashion world. Why is that? The reply is refreshingly blunt. “We love it. We love the drama, right?” Right.

‘How to Build a Fashion Icon: Notes on Confidence’, £19.99, Abrams Image

Sign up for Fashion Matters, your weekly e-newsletter with the newest tales in style. Follow @financialtimesfashion on Instagram and subscribe to our podcast Life and Art wherever you hear