Becoming Your Own Boss: Law Roach’s Retirement Explained
On March 31, Zendaya locked arms with a special someone at the opening of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai. Only this someone was not her boyfriend, Tom Holland, but rather longtime friend and ex-stylist Law Roach. Known as Zendaya’s “image architect,” Roach is responsible for having propelled her status from Disney actress to fashion icon, and, in turn, sealing their fates as industry leaders. It is no wonder, then, that the internet has scrambled for weeks in search of an explanation surrounding his sudden retirement.
Photo Courtesy of Boss
Not two days passed since his Instagram announcement, captioned “RETIRED,” and Roach was backstage at the Boss Spring / Summer 2023 show in Miami. Only he wasn’t styling Naomi Campbell or another one of his usual clients walking that evening. He was preparing for his own debut as a runway model.
Sitting in the stands, I remember the shock waves that followed Roach’s strut down the catwalk. He wore a cream tailored suit jacket over a white dress shirt and matching trousers. The look was completed with brown leather divers and a cream scarf, but what topped it all off was his hand tucked nonchalantly in his pocket. It was an ensemble that nodded to new beginnings, but I couldn’t put my finger on what that meant for his career. Only later that evening did it dawn on me how bold of a statement he’d made.
Photo Courtesy of Law Roach’s Instagram
Roach’s presence on the runway wasn’t indicative of his transition to modeling, but rather his ability to stand on his own. Throughout his career, he has spoken out about instances where his work as a celebrity stylist was overlooked. When a collaboration he’d made once with a brand didn’t credit him for his work, he took to Instagram, writing, “Don’t erase me. Don’t erase my contribution to this look and to this dress. Don’t erase all the phone calls, emails, and text messages.” Roach recalls receiving many DMs from other stylists who related to this message, thanking him for his courage to admonish publicly powerful luxury conglomerates.
He has also vocalized the difficulty of making it in fashion as a Black man. In an interview with Lindsay Peoples, Roach said, “I think as Black people in this country, it’s embedded in us to suffer,” before opening up about his struggle with food scarcity as a kid. He attributes his unhealthy work ethic to the mindset “no work, no food” that was ingrained in him back when he returned shopping carts to collect enough money to eat. There’s no doubt that his internal suffering was compounded by the racism he encountered in the industry. Roach recalls working with Anne Hathaway as a turning-point in his career, saying, “I was the first Black stylist that was working with A-list white talent … everybody wants the opportunities, and unfortunately, you get more opportunities when you get to the place where you’re dressing white women.” He was not only proving himself but also other Black talent as capable of success in the fashion industry.
Photo Courtesy of The Cut
The choice to end his career was not another temper tantrum by someone who rose to the top and had nothing to lose. It was an intentional decision to end years of suffering. Roach made this clear by describing his thought process: "I stepped back and looked at my life and realized I don’t have anything but that career. I don’t want that to be the legacy." He has also clarified, "I’m not saying I’m retiring from fashion. I love fashion. I love the businesses, and I love being creative. What I’m retiring from is the celebrity styling part of it: the being in service and at service of other people." This made his walk at the Boss show that much more special—it was all about him. He “didn’t have to go in somebody else’s dressing room and get them dressed. Or make sure that I had everything or my assistant.” A flicker of light showing in his eyes, he mused, “It was about me as Law, and I felt almost born again.
Photo Courtesy of Getty Images
Article by Meyme Nakash, Contributor, PhotoBook Magazine
Tearsheets by Alexa Dyer, Graphic Designer, PhotoBook Magazine
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