Copyright Variety
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Although he calls himself an “Image Architect,” titles don’t matter much to Law Roach. As one of the most influential stylists in Hollywood, his work centers on storytelling. “I use the clothes as my words,” Roach tells Variety. “I think it’s about the narrative. It’s all about why.” We’ve seen these sartorial stories play out on dozens of his clients over the years — from Celíne Dion and Ariana Grande to Kerry Washington and, of course, Zendaya, who, with alongside Roach, has embodied everybody from the Joan of Arc in custom Versace armor to a metal-constructed cyborg in Thierry Mugler. While he can be credited with largely catalyzing the surge in method dressing on red carpets, he doesn’t care about taking credit for the burgeoning trend — which doesn’t have signs of going anywhere. “I love it, and I love that other people are adopting it because it’s fun for me to watch.” he says. “We are all entertainers at the end of the day, right? And it’s a part of our job to entertain people – people that that go to office every day or stay at home, moms who have the hardest jobs of anyone. And it gives you five or 10 minutes a day to look at something and enjoy it.” Although he announced his retirement in 2023, citing “burn-out,” he’s continued styling Zendaya and selective clients, and stepped away from the typical schedule of red carpet tours and editing work. Instead, he’s taking on new ventures within the fashion world, most recently as a judge and executive producer on “Project Runway,” which was renewed for a 22nd season this week. This month, Roach has also taken on a new title: Global Tastemaker for Chase Travel — a strategic move from the credit card company to “position itself at the intersection of travel, culture and lifestyle,” according to the brand. In a press release, Chase Travel says its “leaning into cultural storytelling to drive relevance.” For Roach, the title was a form of validation more than anything: “For the years of hard work that I worked building my craft and building my clients and myself,” he says. “It’s just a compliment, really.” As part of the campaign, Roach and Chase launched “The Art of Travel” series, which follows the stylist on a “creative journey” through Istanbul, where he explored fashion, food and design as part of a curated itinerary, which included a stay at the Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at The Bosphorus to shopping for fragrant spices and vivid textiles at the Grand Bazaar. In celebration of his new role as Chase Travel’s Global Tastemaker, Variety caught up with Roach to talk about red carpet trends, his favorite Fashion Week this season and being a harsh critic on “Project Runway”: Much of this campaign is about advocating for travel. What are the top places you’d recommend people to travel to? Well, it depends on what you want to do. If you want to shop, then I definitely think that Tokyo and Japan is one of those places. But if you want to go on a food experience, it’s Asian countries. For me, I’m obsessed with Thailand. Thailand has become my sanctuary for my birthday for the last three years, and it’s just a journey through food for me there,. If you want to go party within a culture than I always think South America and Brazil and Carnival and Rio. Which is kind of like a buzzy place as well, but, you know, and also a place where I’ve been that I found very welcoming and full of culture. And I’ve been able to visit Saudi a few times. I think that’s a little bit off the grid for people but I do encourage people to see Saudi. There were so many designer shake-ups at designer houses during this past fashion season. What was the best fashion week this year, in your opinion? That is such a shady question. I want to say New York because I’m actually in New York right now and New York is what what trained me and help me grow my skills as a stylist. But I think Paris had to have the most exciting Fashion Week this season, with all the new appointments — Jonathan Anderson at Dior and Matthieu Blazy at Chanel. So I have to say Paris. You’re the king of media-trained answers. It reminds me of the other night when you were asked about Kim Kardashian’s bush thong… It wasn’t shady. I was really just giving an honest answer. Because I have this persona and my television work has casted some shady moments. So I think that anytime I’m just trying to answer a question honestly, people just…but I love the debate, though. Because there are all these debates on Tiktok, ‘Was I being shady that night? I’m like, ‘As long as people are talking and having fun with this back and forth, then whatever.’ But the people who know me know that there was no shade there at all. You really helped catalyze the trend of red carpet method dressing, which really hit a fever pitch during the past year. How do you feel about it as we enter another awards season? I think it’s fun. I think it’s fun for the people at home to watch. Again, I’m a storyteller, and the clothes are my words. And I think for me, and for Zendaya in particular, and I just actually did it with Jody Turner Smith for the Tron press tour. People just really enjoy it. And we are all entertainers, right? And it’s a part of our job to entertain people – people that that go to office every day or stay at home, moms who have the hardest jobs of anyone. And it gives you five or 10 minutes a day to look at something and enjoy it. For me in my work, I think I leave some Easter eggs where people have to kind of dig a little bit to find a reference and I think that’s just what I’ve learned and what I’ve been told that is just fun. I just want to be an entertainer at the end of the day, and I just want to make people happy through my work. Since my retirement, I really found that brings me the most joy. And so fine. I love it, and I love that other people are adapting it because it’s fun for me to watch. I thought that Jenna Ortega’s press tour for ‘Wednesday’ was really beautiful and really well crafted, and it was cool. And so I like that people are doing it, whether they give me credit for it or not. Who cares? But it’s fun for me, as a fan of fashion, to watch it as well. You are now a judge on ‘Project Runway’ which was just renewed for Season 22, for which you’re also an executive producer. What has been the biggest challenge in terms of balancing being encouraging with contestants and giving them honest feedback? I don’t think anything was challenging because that’s what I do. I think I would be giving these kids a disservice to not be honest. Everybody doesn’t get a trophy in the real world. There’s one winner and everybody else is a loser. And it is what it is. And I just think that for me in my career people were like ‘That’s bad.’ And I grew from that and it helps you. And I think I also earned the right. For a long time in reality TV, there’s been this political correctness and it’s like ‘A for effort.’ And I don’t think that’s the real world and it’s definitely not fashion. If a designer puts out a bad collection, people are gonna let them know they put out a bad collection. And what you do is you take that and you take the critiques that make sense to you and you use that to help you grow. If you’re a fan of the show, you notice that when they went back to that room and I was tough, they were like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna come out and I’m gonna prove him wrong next week.’ And a lot of them did that. And I think if I hadn’t given those critiques, then the work would have been stagnant and they wouldn’t have grown. And some people that were in the bottom ended up being really successful in the show. Plus, it’s just my personality and I’m just not a liar. I don’t lie in real life and I’m damn sure not gonna lie on television. So it is what it is. Love it or hate it.
