‘I only put her in things other people had worn’: Law Roach on his Zendaya styling strategy 

Celebrity stylist Law Roach is known for creating iconic red carpet looks, from dressing Zendaya as Cinderella in a Tommy Hilfiger dress that lit up with the wave of Roach’s wand to making Anya Taylor-Joy look like Eliza Doolittle in vintage Bob Mackie. In March 2023, he shocked the fashion world by announcing his retirement from day-to-day styling. Now the ‘image architect’ has reemerged with a new business, an online learning platform called School of Style, intended to help aspiring stylists navigate the exclusive and opaque fashion industry. Roach will serve as chief creative officer for the platform. He stopped by the Most Innovative Companies podcast to talk about what he hopes to accomplish through School of Style, how he helped Zendaya stand out, and what Kamala Harris could do to up her style game.  How did you get your start as a stylist? I opened a vintage store [in Chicago in 2009]. Kanye West came in, and [the store] just kind of exploded. We started to get calls from stylists around the world in London, Milan, New York, and L.A. asking for things. I just started saying I was a stylist. I don’t know if I knew a lot about fashion, but I knew about style, because style is what you’re born with. I did more and more research and a lot of diving into magazines and YouTube, trying to learn as much as possible. Zendaya and Law Roach attend the 2019 Met Gala. [Photo: John Shearer/Getty Images for THR] How do you create a look? For me it always starts with the emotion. I have to figure out who the client is, and then, as I start the process of pulling a look for a client, I have to [see] if the clothes make me feel something. I started to think of myself as a storyteller as well. I found that people enjoyed it when there was some type of reference point or narrative. [It’s great] when you have a client like Zendaya, who is one of the best at becoming whatever that character is. For example, at the 2018 Met Gala, Zendaya went as Joan of Arc wearing Versace. Her face, her stature. She knows how to embody the character from whatever story we build. Your references come from all over the place, from the Beyoncé “Crazy in Love” music video to Joan of Arc to My Fair Lady. What kind of media do you consume? Social media has made the world so much smaller. You’re able to find pages that feature references from the ’80s or ’70s or the Baroque period. Then you kind of dive into a rabbit hole and mentally bank some of the images. Anya Taylor-Joy in vintage Bob Mackie at the Los Angeles premiere of Emma, 2020 [Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images] Why did you want to revive School of Style? My ultimate goal is to shrink the gap between dream and reality. There are people all around the world who aren’t in New York or L.A. or Paris or Milan where the industry is readily available. So people anywhere can sign up for coursework and become an active participant in the fashion community. The School of Style curriculum includes classes on setting up a business. Why is it important for you to teach people how to handle their finances? When you’re a freelancer, if you don’t come from a place of financial literacy, you make a lot of mistakes. My first year of styling I made $120,000 and I thought that was really good. I spent like I made $120,000. I was living in Chicago, but lying and telling people I lived in L.A. I was reinvesting the money in my business. But actually because I was a 1099 employee, it hadn’t been taxed. After a couple of years I slid in my ATM and the balance was zero. I went to the bank and said, “God, someone stole all my money!” and they were like, “No, that’s the IRS.” Stylists also need to know what type of company they should form: an LLC or an S Corp, for example. Every graduate from the program gets an interview with the Only Agency, a talent agency that represents stylists, photographers, makeup artists, creative directors, and production designers. But how do freshly minted stylists attract clients? You have to be proactive. Your social media is your portfolio, so are you posting photos of you and your friends vacationing or are you doing test shoots? Getting representation isn’t the end-all be-all, you’re still a business owner. Being a stylist has high startup costs. How did you handle that? A lot of times your success is dependent on your credit score. I used to borrow clothes for Zendaya to wear and then return them. Luckily she was a very responsible 14-year-old. When you’re starting out, if the [fashion] houses aren’t lending you clothes, you have to get clothes one way or another. I would thrift a lot. And even when you get more experience and you’re taking things out on consignment, you’re still financially responsible and you have to make those clothes come back the same way. You might have to pay [off] your Amex in 30 days, but you might not get paid for 60 days. When did brands start reaching out to work with you? It took a lot