In the opening pages of How to Build an Icon, Law Roach addresses his longest standing client, Zendaya. “You’ve been loyal and stood beside me through this long and winding journey,” says the image architect. “Hopefully you don’t mind if I let the world into a few of our secrets in the next few pages.” Roach this afternoon dispensed even more of those trade secrets among an audience of fashion enthusiasts at Forces of Fashion London – rolling back the tape on his earliest encounters with fashion, his path to dressing the world’s most famous stars (including but not limited to Céline Dion, Anne Hathaway, Bella Hadid and Ariana Grande) and becoming a fashion star in his own right.
Host Munroe Bergdorf understands the process of self-actualisation more precisely than most. The multi-hyphenate model, broadcaster and activist released her own memoir in 2022 after a long and tumultuous period of personal growth. The secret is “betting on yourself”. “It’s easier said than done,” Roach told Bergdorf. “You have to be confident enough to believe that there’s something else.” Like, for example, Roach announcing his retirement at the peak of his career. But he’s always been this way: brave, ambitious. The most famous – thanks to that savvy trademark – image architect in the world started his career selling second-hand clothes from the boot of his car before opening his Deliciously Vintage boutique in Chicago, which was frequented often by Zendaya’s aunt. This is, after all, the same man who gave archive fashion red-carpet status.
Take, for example, his most recent coup: dressing Zendaya in autumn/winter 2001 Bob Mackie to induct Cher into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame just last week. “You can clap for that look,” Roach said. “I went to visit Bob – who famously hates stylists – in his studio five years ago. That ‘naked’ dress was there, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, Zendaya has to wear this’. But he said she was too young and would save it for her until she was adult enough.” Throughout all of Roach’s approach is entertainment. He, like all “fashion children”, cannot help but get absorbed into its fantasies.
To wit: he recalled sitting at the feet of John Galliano as the designer read him an original story to provide Zendaya with a character to channel on this year’s Met Gala red carpet. “I keep having these ‘pinch me’ moments, thinking when is it all going to end? But manifestation is how I live my life and I don’t let anyone shake that belief in myself.” The hundreds of Forces guests at Central Saint Martins learnt that an icon is not – and cannot – be built overnight.
