How Law Roach Changed Fashion Forever

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If you only know one celebrity stylist, it might be Rihanna's clothing curator turned editor-in-chief of Andy Warhol's Interview Magazine, Mel Ottenberg. Or, if you're a Bravo-head, you might know the Baroness of Boho, Rachel Zoe. But let's be honest, these days, chances are it's probably Law Roach, the famous stylist responsible for some of the best red carpet looks in recent years. Whether it's the inspired Hunter Schafer sci-fi moment at the 2021 Met Gala or that Zendaya hat, which has its own deep lore and so, so many memes, Roach knows a thing or two about putting a memorable look together. 

But, what is it about the Southside Chicago native (and his eye for clothes) that's made him a household name? "He knows his worth," fashion writer Daniel Rogers told The Guardian. "He has fought hard to maintain that position: refusing to speak to journalists unless they use his name within a headline, and refusing to be a background figure to someone else's success," he added. "He brings real fashion capital — and entertainment — to an often staid celebrity landscape." So, let's take a look at the myriad ways this celebrated celebrity stylist has changed fashion forever.

What does it mean to be a stylist? It's looking at lookbooks, it's sourcing pieces, and it's presenting looks to clients. But, to Law Roach, it's so much more than that. All of the above notwithstanding, Roach is also a storyteller, an opinion-shifter, and a trendsetter. So, eschewing the stylist tag, Law Roach created a new job title more befitting of his eclectic work that's about much more than just the clothes. In his words, he is an image architect. 

"Styling is about selecting the right pieces for a certain event or moment. An image architect thinks deeper," he told SheerLuxe in 2025. "It's about understanding who someone is, who they want to be and crafting a consistent story through the fashion, grooming, and attitude," he added. "It's strategy, artistry, and psychology all rolled into one." Indeed, would Celine Dion have had the renaissance she did without working with the stylist? Sorry, image architect. He's the only one in the world, and he's without a doubt the best at it. But he won't be for long, with Roach keen to bring through the next generation of IAs, but more on that later.

Law Roach and Zendaya first met when the "Shake It Up" star was on the Disney Channel, and he styled her ahead of a red-carpet event for Justin Bieber's documentary, "Never Say Never," way back in 2011. It was the equivalent of that asteroid meeting the dinosaurs, or Apple aces Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs meeting, but for red carpet and promo-tour looks. "We just had this chemistry that was just unbelievable and undeniable," said the image architect when recalling their first sartorial statement to Vogue. "We were in the mall for, like, hours and [her family] didn't know where we disappeared to. It's funny but we've been together ever since that day." Together, they were, and shake it up, they did.

From there, Roach not only transformed Zendaya's style but the concept of celebrity style and styling as a whole. Through press tours (during which Roach is often seen adjusting her outfits and doubling as the actor's hypeman), getting clothes from the runway to the red carpet with a speed hitherto seen, or pioneering method dressing (more on that later), they've become the celebrity and stylist combo. (And of all of Zendaya's looks — this one stands above the rest.) They haven't just changed things on the red carpet but household carpets too. Between fans re-creating Zendaya-Roach looks on TikTok and the pair helping change outdated beauty standards, they've influenced fashion forever, together.

It's the norm for A-listers to have lucrative and exclusive brand tie-ins with fashion houses. It's why Emma Stone almost only wears Louis Vuitton or Magret Qualley is dog-loyal to Chanel at major events like The Oscars. If one of those actors were to wear a pair of Dior sandals on the red carpet, it'd be like someone pairing a New York Yankees cap with a Boston Red Sox jersey. However, the architect of images, Law Roach, did things differently with LV ambassador Zendaya. Instead of being beholden to the brand, brands are beholden to them. He made it non-exclusive, adding some vintage to the Vuitton.

Actors can be paid more for brand ambassadorships than for their on-screen work. But considering that Margot Robbie's fans suggested her stylist hated her while she was a Chanel ambassador, you can understand why Roach kicked against full-look policies. To him, it's all about the 'fit. "Fashion and what [Zendaya and I] have created in fashion together is more important than any amount of money," he told the Post. "The clothes we choose and the way we wear them have such a strong identity," he added. "It's the meeting of both brands that makes it special. It makes it different from everything else and everybody else."

Pre-Law Roach, celebrity stylists were mysterious characters, lurking somewhere in the shadows backstage with a clothes rail and a lint roller. However, after Roach's career took off, he entered through the red carpet, not the backdoor. Whether it's at an avant-garde black dress-slash-coat at the CFDAs or wearing a red velvet blazer as a judge on "Project Runway," Roach can make a style statement on his own under the flashbulbs of the paparazzi or while on air to hundreds of thousands. 

He is an image architect, but he's also the talent. "I'm the Zendaya of my industry ... I'm the Serena Williams of styling," as Roach himself put it in an interview with Bevy Smith on SiriusXM's "Bevelations." "Respectfully, I am the most famous stylist in the world," he added. "I am probably one of, if not the only, stylist that ... I can go globally and people recognize me ... At this point, I am a household name." He's not wrong. You couldn't imagine Lorenzo Posocco saying something like that. If you're wondering who that is, it's Dua Lipa's stylist, and that's exactly Roach's point.

For some, clothes shopping is a means of achieving social acceptability. For others, it's a luxury experience, with top quality fabrics and made-to-measure garments. But, for Law Roach, it's an art. "First of all, we all know clothes are expensive. So, I like to shop for myself and buy things I think are art, or worthy to be cherished, whether I wear them or not," said Roach about his attitude toward shopping (read: art buying) when speaking to Harper's Bazaar in 2025. "[For] vintage, I'll spend anything on a piece, especially if it's something that I remember when I was younger that I wanted that I couldn't afford." 

In the same way an art collector will cherish and admire the Jean-Michel Basquiat painting they acquired for millions of dollars, Roach does the same but with Tom Ford-era Gucci. His attitude has gone mainstream at events like the Met Gala. Notably, in 2026, when the evening's theme was "Fashion is Art," and Roach himself invited the Gabonese artist Naïla Opiangah to paint a design on the white suit he'd wear to the event. He certainly wasn't one of our worst dressed celebs at the 2026 Met Gala, that's for sure!

After Law Roach's grandmother introduced him to vintage clothing in his youth, he reintroduced it to the world. In 2009, he opened up his own vintage boutique after a childhood spent sifting through women's clothes at second hand stores, and he was even visited by then soon-to-be fashion tastemaker Kanye West. Like the city of Rome, seemingly all modern fashion's roads lead back to Roach. Despite his use of vintage clothing first coming out of necessity, as no major fashion house would lend him clothes at the onset of his career, it soon became his signature as an image architect. By the way, that's why Zendaya will never wear some of fashion's biggest brands. 

Roach once said his love of vintage has become an addiction. Soon, the general public got hooked too. Heck, according to data from ThredUp, the secondhand market has doubled in size since 2020. "He helped deepen the public's relationship with vintage," attested the LA-based secondhand clothes dealer Blythe Marks to The Washington Post. "There were certainly celebrity stylists who were personalities unto themselves. But he really put the focus back on how important the piece was," he added. "[I]ts connection to the celebrity, its connection to [the designer's] archive, and made that history part of the look rather than simply focusing on the image." 

Why just dress when you can also tell a story? Well, that's the attitude Law Roach has, and it's one that changed megastar fashion forever. Roach's origin story in storytelling started with his choice to put celebs in vintage. "I think when you put on [clothing] that already has a story and use that story to tell a bigger story, or introduce your story, I think it's really beautiful," said the image architect when speaking to The Washington Post. The metallic sci-fi C-3PO chic of a Thierry Mugler fall-winter 1995 couture piece that Zendaya wore for the "Dune: Part Two" premiere did just that. 

Originally, the piece was inspired by Futura from the classic 1925 novel-slash-1927 film "Metropolis," and it took the Mugler team six months to make. Your average red carpet look doesn't have a bildungsroman like that! However, Roach doesn't take full credit for using pre-worn to add narrative. "I would say Chloë Sevigny, even Kim Kardashian, people who have been wearing vintage on the red carpets and to events," he told Harper's Bazaar. "But I think the way we do it and the way we [do] storytelling has really taken vintage dressing on the red carpet to a whole entirely different level."

These days, you can't look at red carpet photos without seeing a star dress similarly to their on-screen character or ape their film's aesthetics with a 'fit. It's called method dressing and, for that, you have to thank Law Roach. Between a butterfly dress tribute to trapeze artists on the "The Greatest Showman" red carpet in 2017 and the "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" theme when promoting the hot-button bridal drama "The Drama" in 2026, Roach and Zendaya have collaborated on many a method look. 

Notably, Zendaya's black satin Ashi Studio look at the premiere of "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" got people talking. "It's kind of an abstract way to present the spider," Roach told Variety. "You know, in our mind, it's like this metamorphosis of this woman into this thing." It was a look so in tune with the film that some fans thought it might be subliminally spoiling it, with speculators asking whether it meant the star's character, MJ, might become a villain or even die. Going method sartorially has been such a marketing success that it's been adopted by other A-listers, from Timothée Chalamet to Margot Robbie. Heck, it's even led to some of the most inappropriate outfits ever to hit the Emmy Awards red carpet.

For those styled by Law Roach, they get much more than a new wardrobe and some cute accessories. Be it former Nickelodeon stars or legendary singers, the image architect also gives his stylees a transformed public perception. So, how did he get Ariana Grande out of the floral mini dresses and into oversized bomber jackets, or give Celine Dion legendary looks that made people realize she wasn't as old as they thought? Well, for Roach, it's all about making them more them. "[Grande] came to me with the ponytail and thigh high boots, with that DNA — I didn't change a thing," he told Vogue in 2019. "Our collaboration is [her way of saying] this is my look, this is who I am, and I want to be the best, most elevated Ariana," he added.

With Dion, Roach took a similar approach. The image architect drew up plans to accentuate the singer's vibrant personality to change her perception as both an artist and a woman. "When I first started working with Celine, [it] was my mission to show people how cool she was," he said on an episode of the "Baby, This is Keke Palmer" podcast. In doing so, he's given Dion some of her best fashion moments ever. As Roach himself succinctly put it to Elle, "The greatest gift about working in fashion is that you do get to be whoever you want to be. We celebrate individuality and we celebrate authenticity." If that's not a great way to look at image architecture, we don't know what is.

Who's responsible for Kim Kardashian donning a Marilyn Monroe dress that has an illustrious history, or Lily-Rose Depp cosplaying as Kate Moss? Well, in many ways, that's the Law Roach influence, and he isn't even their stylist. As we've noted, Roach is not afraid of a pre-worn vintage garment, nor is he afraid of an archive garment (read: iconic piece of fashion history, a real collector's item). Admittedly, the difference between archive and vintage is pretty tomato tomato. But using archive isn't just for fashion cred among the real heads, it's also eco-friendly. 

"If we're really going to have conversations about sustainability, wearing something that somebody else has is kind of the easiest way to do it," Roach told Vogue in 2024. "Beautiful clothes should live the longest lives possible, and as many lives as possible," he added. "They shouldn't just lay dormant somewhere." Indeed, in 2026 alone, he dressed Zendaya in archive Alexander McQueen for Givenchy from 1997, John Galliano from the same year, and 2013 Zuhair Murad. That's a way better use for those garments than letting them collect dust in a showroom. With the likes of Chappell Roan and Kaia Gerber adopting the archive attitude too, in large part thanks to Roach, many iconic pieces will continue to live long lives.

In 2023, Law Roach quote-unquote retired. However, not content with influencing and changing fashion forever, he then made it his mission to pass down style expertise to the next generation. He is literally fashion forward, if you will. Roach has taught at the School of Style, which helps up-and-coming stylists learn and thrive in the fashion world. "I want us to build a huge network of like-minded people where someone will always have someone to call for advice, depend on, or collaborate with," he told Grazia Magazine. 

Not only that, but the styling savant is also sharing his knowledge (plus some razor-sharp, and occasionally divisive, quips) with viewers and contestants alike as a judge on "Project Runway." Oh, and for those who prefer a textbook, he's written "How to Build a Fashion Icon: Notes on Confidence from the World's Only Image Architect." "I started to think about how I could be of service to people in a different way. So, everything I'm doing now, including writing my book, is for me to be of service to people," Roach told W Magazine. "I figured one of the most direct ways I could do that is by empowering the next generation of stylists, those who aspire to do things that I've done." In other words, he hasn't just changed fashion; he's changing fashion's future too.