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Days ahead of the first Monday in May—Met Gala Monday, as fashion folks call it—Law Roach was very busy, but content. “I retired and then unretired,” the image architect tells ELLE.com before adding, “I’m happy.” This sentiment is a 360-degree change from a little over a year ago when he announced via Instagram that he was leaving the fashion game because the drama and pressures of his career had taken a toll on his joy. But maybe retirement wasn’t the right word. As I speak with Roach, it sounds more like he’s experiencing a recommitment to himself. It’s been a year of watching the Chicago-born stylist experience his metamorphosis, trying things he wants to do, flexing a new muscle after being behind the scenes so long.
His rolodex of clients includes some of the industry’s most influential stars, many of whom have partnered with him for monumental moments in their careers. Megan Thee Stallion selected Roach for her return to the red carpet after testifying against Tory Lanez, while Lindsay Lohan hired him for her promo tour for her Netflix film Falling for Christmas. However, he calls Zendaya, whom he began styling at 14 (she’s now 28), and Celine Dion, whom he first styled for Paris Fashion Week in 2016, his “forever muses and collaborators.” He single-handedly turned Zendaya into a style star and shifted everyone’s attention back to Celine Dion decades into her career. (His work even got her an invite to her first Met Gala in 2019 at 51, and he just styled her latest magazine cover.) “[They are] two very incredibly strong and powerful and different women that have played a huge part in the trajectory of my career and even having the career I have now,” he humbly admits.
When we chat, we are eight days away from the Met Gala; he coyly reveals that Zendaya’s dress has just been finalized. While it’s often called the Super Bowl of Fashion, Roach might as well be the halftime show: He’s dressing Zendaya, a co-chair of the event, and a few other celebrities as well. However, Roach is having a moment of his own. His new show, OMG Fashun! premieres today on E! with two episodes airing back-to-back beginning at 9 P.M. In each episode, the show challenges three designers to create a look for Julia Fox, Law’s co-host, upending traditional style and technique with a focus on sustainability and upcycling. He calls Fox “welcoming” and a “great leader who set the energy on set.”
This marks Roach’s third time serving as a television judge. The fact the show is on E! and focuses on sustainability drew him to the project, however, Fox was a huge reason why he said yes. “When you talk about talking the talk and walking a walk, nobody does it like Julia,” he says. “We’ve come to know her and love her for wearing emerging designers and sustainable brands and preaching that. With all three of those things, it just felt right,” says Roach. However, don’t expect either of them to hold back on their critiques. Roach admits to being the tougher one. “I’m always the bad cop. I think that’s just naturally who I am. It comes more from a [place of] tough love. It’s a: You can do better. I want you to do better. You’re going to do better. Julia is a bit more gentle than me, but she can be very fierce when she needs to be.”
A rotating third judge will join Fox and Roach. This season includes Phaedra Parks, Violet Chachki, and ELLE’s very own guest editor for our Affirmed series, Tommy Dorfman. Keep reading to learn more about Roach’s relationship with his muses, thoughts on sustainability, and what he wants next for his career. It’s Law Roach’s fun, fantastical fashion universe, and we’re just living in it.
Your approach to styling has often been called “method dressing.” What are your thoughts on people method dressing for everyday life?
Every superhero needs a costume, right? Creating your own universe using fashion. I have a book coming out called How to Build a Fashion Icon, Notes on Confidence from the World’s Only Image Architect. That’s exactly what the book is about. It’s about not hiding in your clothes but using your clothes to project whatever story you want to tell to the world. It’s about using fashion to become your most confident and powerful self. And if that means taking on method dressing and whatever that means to you. If your idea of method dressing is putting on boss bitch clothes, putting that armor on, and becoming that character, or to sell that at that moment, then absolutely. We should all do that. We all have been doing that since we’ve been wearing clothes, probably not even knowing that we’ve been doing it.
What is it like styling Celine Dion?
Now that she’s back, healthy, and in a good place, I’m stepping right back into what I stepped into in 2016 when I was changing people’s perception of who Celine Dion is and was back then. I just wanted to show everybody and send a message that she’s okay because, for the past three years, we thought she was bedridden and in a wheelchair, and all the gossip about her not being able to do certain things. For me, to play a part in changing the world’s perception of where she is in her health battle was really important.
What is your relationship with Zendaya like?
I’m delicate and tender with her sometimes, too, and sometimes I’m not. It just depends on if we’re fighting or loving on each other that day.
How would you describe your friendship with Julia Fox?
I’ve heard she says some amazing things about me. We definitely communicate; we text. I haven’t gotten a chance to see her since we stopped filming because I’ve been on these two press tours. We’ll catch up at fashion week and probably have dinner and hang out once we’re in the same city. I don’t know if she’s going to the Met Gala, but if she is, I’ll run into her there. Excited to see her again, to be quite honest.
Next to oil, textile waste is the largest polluter of our planet. How do you approach sustainability and fashion when there is such a high turnover, and we live in an IG society where people feel like they can’t wear things more than once?
I’ve been preaching this my entire career. If the Princess of Wales can wear her clothes again, you can too. Who do you think you are? Especially if people who have access to everything in the world and can afford anything can repeat and re-wear their clothes. I also use Cate Blanchett as an example. If Cate can do it, you can too. The easiest way to be sustainable is to wear vintage and to wear something that someone has worn before. Wear things that have a story and create your own part of the story by wearing those clothes. And shop second hand and thrift. It’s created a big business for a lot of young people, [and] I’m really proud to say that I maybe played a little part in that.
It’s really hard to tell people who can’t afford the $20 t-shirt it’s bad to buy the $5 one. We have to figure out other ways to do it and preach that method. I grew up with nothing, so I know if I wanted something trendy and wanted to look like my friends and couldn’t afford the $200 jacket, but I could afford the $20 one, I don’t want anybody telling me that I shouldn’t be able to do it. It’s what we do with those clothes after. What’s the second cycle of the lifespan of the clothes instead of just throwing them away? This show will help people figure out how to take things we would normally discard and give them a new life. We have an episode where everything is made from scraps.
I remember when shopping secondhand and buying consignment clothes weren’t cool. And now it seems like it’s been co-opted by people who have and can afford a lot. Where’s the balance between people who have to shop secondhand because they don’t have any other option and those who are shopping it because it’s trendy?
That’s a really powerful question. I don’t know how to answer that, but I’m glad you asked it. So maybe when someone reads this, we can all start to put our heads together because there are people who need to go to these places just to have clothes to wear. We need to urge the [companies] like the Salvation Army and all the other people who have created this space for people who actually need it to make sure that it stays affordable to the people.
What three silhouettes or pieces should every person have in their wardrobe?
Everybody should have a great pair of shoes. A great coat. And that one thing, that one special thing, maybe even if it’s an investment piece, that makes them happy every time they put it on. Something that can change [how] you feel that day if you wake up and you’re not feeling great. That one thing that when you put it on, you feel good, and you look good. So, whatever that is, that could be a piece of jewelry, a T-shirt, your dad’s shirt, your boyfriend’s or your husband’s, or something that someone gifted you. Whatever can shift your emotions or the way you feel about yourself. I think everybody should have that one thing.
What would you love to happen for yourself that has yet to be realized?
I figured out in my short retirement I love to use my imagination in different ways. I wrote that book. I started that during the retirement. I want to get more into writing. I want to try acting. I did a couple of guest appearances in a couple of shows this last month. Just having no fear. Maybe I’m good at it, maybe I’m not, but at least I tried it. I want to be a creative director at a brand one day soon. I want to try a whole bunch of things.
We created a magazine based on Challengers and that was really fun. That was something I had never done before. Zendaya and I were the fashion director and editor-in-chief of this magazine. We did the layout and the copy. Doing that was fun. I never thought of doing that part of the magazine work. I have nothing to lose, everything to gain, and no fear.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
