Law Roach Has Some Advice for Young Designers

Law Roach called up our senior editor Taylore Scarabelli ahead of the premiere of OMG Fashion, a new E! competition series in which the image architect co-stars opposite the actor and muse Julia Fox, to discuss sustainability, The Met Gala, and judging young designers. 

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TAYLORE SCARABELLI: Hi, Law. Nice to see you.  Do you remember when we met at the Vivienne Westwood show in Paris? I helped you walk down the cobblestones. 

LAW ROACH: Oh my god. You saved my life, because I had on the highest heels. You know what? Someone else was being escorted down those cobblestone streets and it was Julia Fox. So that brings us to this conversation.

SCARABELLI: Right. So how did you and Julia meet?

ROACH: We met a couple times in Paris, just in passing. Once at L’Avenue, we both were having dinner, and we passed each other going to the restrooms and just said, “Oh my god, I love you.” But until OMG Fashun came around, we actually hadn’t had any interactions other than those.

SCARABELLI: And suddenly it was the perfect fashion marriage. Did you have any favorite fashion shows growing up?

ROACH: Well, for me, fashion meant John Galliano at Dior. The fantasy and the worlds that he was able to create was what made me start to dream about even having a career in fashion. Still, to this day, I’m completely enamored with the quality and the level of imagination and workmanship that he put out throughout his career.

SCARABELLI: And that juxtaposed with the presentation of that work, which really was a performance, and made fashion fun in a way that it maybe hadn’t been before.

ROACH: Yeah, it was so fantastical. And I think we saw that again with this last show he did for Margiela, that became infamous for the makeup, and just the overall storytelling. He is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, designers of our generation.

SCARABELLI: Mm-hmm. And that, I guess brings me back to the show, and what you’re looking for when you’re critiquing these young designers. Because obviously they are working within a lot of parameters in terms of material, in terms of time. It’s a tongue-in-cheek show, but it’s also serious. You really give the contestants the time of day. 

ROACH: I look at it the same way that I’ve looked at clothes throughout my entire career. I think clothes have the power to invoke some sort of emotion. I want to feel something, I want to be transported somewhere, or think about, “Oh wow, that would’ve been great on this client or that client,” or, “I can see this girl wearing it to this event.” So I’m always just looking for that one thing that makes me feel something, but done in a way that’s sustainable and accessible. 

SCARABELLI: What advice would you give to someone trying to start their own brand?

ROACH: I think authenticity—and I know that’s a word that’s just thrown around so much—but you have to be authentic to who you are as a designer, and what your point of view is. You may not have the clients yet, but you need to know the girl that you’re designing for, and when you do that, they’ll find you. I think right now, people are falling victim to what’s trendy and what’s commercially successful for a certain brand or designer, but success comes, critically and commercially, when you are able to be authentic and to stay true to who you are.

SCARABELLI: Mm-hmm. Are there any young designers that you’re particularly interested in that are on the come-up?

ROACH: I get asked that all the time, and it’s such a hard question to answer because there’s so many. On Instagram, I have so many young brands saved, and to be quite honest, I don’t even know why I’m doing it anymore. Since my retirement, I’m not working and searching for clothes in the same way that I did before, but I save so many just because I want to follow the trajectory of their career. I want to see where those clothes land, and I have my predictions. I’m just like, “Oh, that’d be so great on Doja Cat,” or, “This would be great on Hailey Bieber.” Will their stylist find this brand or find this young designer? It’s kind of like fantasy football.

SCARABELLI: I was just going to say, it’s fashion sports.

ROACH: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m trying to figure out a way to create another sort of platform, ’cause I’m not going to be using these clothes on all the clients I used to have. But I’d like to use my profile to highlight these emerging designers, because sometimes they just need eyes on them. I’m like, “Okay, that can very well be the next Galliano, or the next Marc Jacobs, or the next Carolina Herrera,” or whoever. The talent is there. Sometimes they just need an extra push. Zendaya and I created this faux magazine cover for Challengers, and she wore Annie’s Ibiza. Her reverence and appreciation for vintage is so apparent in her work, so I used that to highlight her. But I think we need to talk more about OMG Fashun.

SCARABELLI: Okay. Would you consider yourself a tough critic?

ROACH: Absolutely.

SCARABELLI: Do you have any style advice for Julia herself? 

ROACH: No. Whether I agree or disagree with what she wears, she talks the talk and she walks the walk, right?

SCARABELLI: Right.

ROACH: She’s created this world where she wears these independent designers and clothes that were made from discarded things, and I’m a huge fan of her for doing that. I mean, Julia could be in high fashion couture but she chooses to wear the clothes that she wears. She brings eyes to these designers, which a lot of people would have never discovered. And I think she needs to be commended for that.

SCARABELLI: Absolutely.

ROACH: A lot of people talk the talk, like, “Oh, sustainability is great, and up-cycling is the way to go.” But she’s really walking in that right now.

SCARABELLI: Speaking of sustainability, how would you advise someone to be more of a sustainable consumer in 2024?

ROACH: I’ve been championing vintage for all of my career, and I was at the forefront of bringing vintage and archival to the red carpet. And I started my career selling vintage clothes, and I think the easiest way to be sustainable is just to wear something someone else has already worn and purchased. And I think that’s bred a whole new ecosystem of young archive and vintage dealers. And these people are making great livings off of something that was frowned upon years ago, thrifting, and secondhand clothes.

SCARABELLI: Do you have a holy grail vintage piece in your collection?

ROACH: I have the runway sample from the last couture show of Emmanuel Ungaro. It’s a very ornate, interesting wedding dress. And so I think that’s one of the holy grails because it’s the actual runway sample, and those type of couture pieces are an important part of fashion.

SCARABELLI: Mm-hmm. Okay. I have to ask you, because there’s a lot of movement happening in the fashion industry right now. Do you have a dream hire for Givenchy?

ROACH: Yes, I do. You want me to tell you?

SCARABELLI: Yeah.

ROACH: I would love to see John Galliano go back to Givenchy.

SCARABELLI: I thought you might say that.

ROACH: Because he definitely needs to be at a house that has couture and to see John go back would be really a dream come true for me. But you never know…

SCARABELLI: Okay. What trends do you think are overrated at the moment, or that you want to see go away forever?

ROACH: Grown men doing TikTok dances. Does that count?

SCARABELLI: Are they still doing that? Oh, man. Do you have any trend predictions for Summer 2024?

ROACH: Yes, tenniscore, my darling.

SCARABELLI: Absolutely. What was your favorite look from the Challenger’s press tour?

ROACH:I have three. The remake of the Anna Liebowitz photograph of Venus and Serena in the Carolina Herrera was sentimental to me. The recreation of Althea Gibson’s tennis whites was really emotional for me, but the fashion moment has to be Thom Browne in London, I think.

SCARABELLI: I’m interested in what your process was for this, ’cause it seems like you did a lot of research and a lot of storytelling through this press tour, which we don’t see too often. 

ROACH: But if you look at my work, my darling—this is Interview Magazine—If you go back to look at my work throughout the years, there’s always been a bunch of storytelling and references.

SCARABELLI: I mean other people, not you. I know that you always do your research.

ROACH: Who cares about other people? No, I’m just kidding. Sometimes, especially when I’m talking to certain publications. But I found earlier in my career that storytelling was the most important part. And when you have a partner like Zendaya, who isn’t afraid to act out the story, and become whoever the character is that we are trying to sell to the world—she just makes it so much fun. I wouldn’t be able to do that type of work if whoever I collaborate with doesn’t let me. So a lot of it is me, and a lot of it’s her. We learn together, and that’s what makes it incredible.

SCARABELLI: I mean, she really is a star. She’s a supermodel, she’s an actor, she’s a dancer, she’s a singer. It makes for a really great fashion moment. Okay, last question. Do you have any Met Gala hints that you can give us ahead of the day?

ROACH: The only thing I can say is that I finally have an idea of what the dress is going to look like. I got that yesterday, a week before the Gala. The dress has been in the phase of ideation for a really long time. And so, yesterday I got a sample of the fabric and a toile, if you will. I don’t have a dress, there hasn’t been a fitting. She doesn’t know what she’s wearing. We just figured out what the color would be, so we’re kind of playing it by ear.

SCARABELLI: It’s crunch time. You know what it feels like to be those young designers on OMG Fashun. You’re under the gun, just like them.

ROACH: I’m definitely under the gun. I have a lot of eyes on us, because this is our return after five years. 

SCARABELLI: Wow.

ROACH: We are under a lot of pressure, but, you know, if it doesn’t work out, I could just say, “Hey, go back and look at the Challengers press tour, at the Dune press tour. I gave you the robot Mugler. What else do you want from me?” 

SCARABELLI: I mean, you can’t top that. That’s fashion history. And I’m sure you’re going to tear the Met Gala, I can’t wait to see.

ROACH: Positive energy, I need it. Thank you so much.

SCARABELLI: Thank you. It was so nice chatting with you.

ROACH: You too.

SCARABELLI: Bye.