It’s 10pm in London the night before the biggest annual event on the fashion calendar, and self-professed 'image architect' Law Roach has just had his final fitting. ‘I feel so overwhelmed and grateful,' he tells ELLE UK. With a step-and-repeat rotation replete with big players from Balmain to Luar in recent months, Roach, an admirer of Jonathan Anderson’s visionary designs, is continuing his stellar red-carpet streak, courtesy of Loewe, for the Fashion Awards 2023.
When it was first announced this summer that the creative director of Loewe and his eponymous brand had costumed the wardrobe for Zendaya’s next big screen project Challengers, directed by Luca Guadagnino, fashion enthusiasts rejoiced globally, enthused by the epic union. Together with the Dune film star, Roach deepened his stellar relationship with Anderson (Roach had already dressed Zendaya in a grey dress with a chest plate rendered in gold from the Loewe SS22 line), and it's a relationship which has only flourished since cameras stopped rolling on set. Roach’s custom Loewe suit for the Fashion Awards was a testament to his bond with Anderson, the notable celebrity stylist explains to ELLE UK. ‘People are dying for him to dress them and he actually custom-made something for me. I feel so happy,' the red-carpet host says.
Anderson’s SS24 collection, which was all about sensibility and daywear, included particularly intriguing huge pins spiking through shorts, which piqued Law’s interest and came to mind while ruminating on his custom-made Loewe outfit for the event. ‘ I told Jonathan [that] I wanted to wear something that had a pin incorporated because it was just so cool to me that he made it exaggerated, used a tool that is synonymous with being a designer, and made it integral to the collection.’ The result? An immaculately tailored black suit with a pin skewering the lapel. ‘He took into account my style on the red carpet and created a silhouette suited to me.’
A glitzy night in front of the camera as opposed to being behind-the-scenes is a regular occurrence for the stylist nowadays. For Roach, the last few months have been filled with introspection and self-preservation as a result of him rapidly scaling back his styling duties. Responsible for archive looks including Bella Hadid’s archive Yves Saint Laurent for Dior moment at the Prince’s Trust Gala last year, Megan Thee Stallion’s SS97 liquid gold-esque trouser set, and Zendaya’s vintage 1980s YSL tribute to Ebony Fashion Fair founder Eunice Johnson at the 2021 Essence Awards (‘That was a history lesson to the kids of this generation,’ he proudly notes) to name just a few, the inimitable stylist sent shockwaves through the industry when he announced his retirement this year. And his presence in the fashion landscape has been amiss ever since.
Roach’s decision, he candidly shares, largely boiled down to not wanting to be tethered to any singular profession and wanting to be seen as more than a commodity. ‘I felt for a while like I’d died and I was reborn,’ Roach says of his feelings following a career spanning more than a decade in the fashion industry. Happily, now in complete control of his autonomy and schedule, there’s a complete feeling of utter relief, he notes. ‘I feel like more of a person and not a thing now. For so long, I was just a stylist. That is who I was, and now I just feel like Law Roach. I’ve had to learn how to love myself as myself and not as the thing I became. I see the world clearer and I'm starting to enjoy things that I never thought I’d enjoy – I’m annoyingly happy. I'm still a huge fan of fashion. Maybe in a couple of months, I’ll want to be a stylist again, I don’t know.’
His well-established fashion partnership with Zendaya has solidified the pair as an untouchable force. While he has continued to maintain a relationship with the 27-year-old actor – his one and only client – Roach has been able to flex his sartorial muscles since he broadened his bandwidth. On the eve of the Fashion Awards, the creative was simultaneously juggling the last fitting of his one-off suit and hard at work ensuring Zendaya’s first press endeavour with the entire Dune cast (comprising Timothée Chalamet, Florence Pugh and Austin Butler) in Brazil was a much-discussed style moment in a SS24 Schiaparelli set. ‘She’s the first person to wear this ready-to-wear collection. The lobster on the skirt reminded me of the sandworms [in the film]. Fashion should be fun and it’s cool to have outfits that reflect the movie.’ Plans are already in motion for the pair to hit red-carpets worldwide in show-stopping garments – and an archive look is of course on the cards. ‘I'm excited to tell a story through fashion. There is one big archive moment almost confirmed. Zendaya is my greatest collaborator, we’ll keep telling some stories together.’
On Roach’s Instagram biography sits the URL ‘Lawsnextmove’ and for now, hitting the link will take you to a subscriber page. So, just where will Roach’s new foray outside of fashion lead him in 2024? ‘I’m launching two things next year and I’m really excited about both. It’ll include using everything [that] I’ve learned and giving back to people who want to learn something from me. I'm doing it for the people who have supported me; who follow my journey; who I meet on the street, and they say that I inspired them in some type of way.’
