Zendaya. A name everyone knows and recognizes. After starring in two movies in the past three months and attending the Met Gala this past May 2024, Zendaya is taking the acting and fashion worlds by a storm. If you think you’re not familiar with her work, you might be mistaken.
Zendaya’s career blossomed with the release of the hit Disney channel show, Shake it Up in 2010 along with her co-star Bella Thorne. From there, she starred in her own Disney Channel show KC Undercover. In 2016, Zendaya co-starred in Tom Holland’s first spiderman movie. Since then, she has been in numerous award winning television shows and movies, such as The Greatest Showman, Euphoria, and Dune just to name a few, not to mention a plethora of red carpet events. These include the Emmys, movie premieres, and one of the most notable events of the year: The Met Gala.
Zendaya has been to five Met Galas. She attended her first Met Gala in 2015 when she was just 18 years old. Her most memorable Met Gala appearances include her Joan of Arc inspired outfit in 2018 and her Cinderella inspired gown in 2019. This past May 6th, 2024, Zendaya co-chaired the Met Gala with Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny, and Chris Hemsworth. It had been five long years since Zendaya’s last attendance at the beloved event. The theme of this year’s gala was Garden of Time, and Zendaya gave the audience one heck of a show.
During her initial arrival, Zendaya emerged in a blue and purple dress, custom Margiela, with an intricate head piece featuring a long black feather. Zendaya surprised viewers with a second outfit. As the red carpet came to a close, Zendaya appeared at the bottom of the museum’s steps. This time, she was wearing a striking black gown, a 1996 piece created by John Galliano for Givenchy. Always at her side was her stylist Lawrence Roach, a name that has gained widespread recognition in the fashion community.
Roach is the mastermind behind the looks of many celebrities such as Celine Dion and Anya Joy Taylor. As fate would have it, back in 2009 Kanye West walked into Roach’s store and brought the attention of the paparazzi as well as industry insiders from around the world. Roach’s career has grown immensely since then and he continues to grace the fashion industry with his brilliant mind.
Lawrence Roach, also known as Law Roach, was born and raised in the south side of Chicago, Illinois. He started his career as a vintage clothing broker, running his own used clothing store called Deliciously Vintage. Many stylists build their careers by starting as interns or assistants. Roach however, created his own network of brands and clients. Zendaya and Law were first introduced in 2010, when Zendaya was 13-years old starring as Rocky on Disney Channel’s Shake it Up. The pair have been inseparable ever since.
For Roach, as Zendaya’s creative director, it is important that the pieces used for premieres and other red carpet events are vintage. “We don’t borrow from vintage dealers – we buy. It’s important to support smaller businesses,” Roach told reporter Christian Allaire at Vogue. Roach and Zendaya have been using vintage pieces for thirteen years. At first, it was necessary because nobody would lend Zendaya any clothes. She would often use pieces from Roach’s own vintage collection.
During the start of their journey, big fashion companies, or the “Big Five” as Roach refers to them, would refuse to dress Zendaya for red carpet events, including Dior, Valentino, and Chanel. Roach would write to them but receive the same messages each time: “she’s too green” (being immature and having little or no experience) or “she’s not on our calendar.” As Zendaya’s stylist, Roach is passionate about advocating for her and her place in this industry, telling those brands that once they say no to Zendaya, it is forever. Still to this day, Zendaya has not worn any of these brands at a red carpet event. The only exception is when she wore Valentino because she signed a contract with them.
It has only been seven years, since Zendaya starred in The Greatest Showman, that the dynamic duo began to employ their now signature concept of method dressing. Method dressing is a form of storytelling. It involves actors incorporating elements of their film roles into their red carpet looks.
“We adopted method dressing,” Roach told reporter Calin Van Paris at Vogue. “The looks served as an extension of the wardrobe from the movie; It was intentional and purposeful.” Roach likes to think about what certain characters in the film would wear. At the New York premiere of Dune 2, Zendaya served up a Stéphane Rolland spring 2024 gown with sharp cut outs on the front and gold 3-D trim on the bottom of the dress. To Roach, it felt like what the Reverend Mother [played by Charlotte Rampling] would wear. Dune and Dune 2 were particularly imaginative movies that inspired a strong creativeness in Roach. “I always try to be a storyteller more than anything else, and this is such a strong story to tell,” Roach told Vogue.
The most recent project of Zendaya’s that came out is Challengers. Directed by Luca Guadagino, the movie explores the complex love triangle between Zendaya and her co-stars Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor centered around a passion for tennis. Roach and Zendaya served up some dazzling looks, with custom designs by Loewe, Jacquemus and Thom Browne, along with vintage pieces from Vivienne Westwood, Ralph Lauren, and Louis Vuitton.
At the London premiere, Zendaya stepped out onto the carpet in the cold weather wearing a stunning custom Thom Browne dress. Embellished with tennis rackets and a pleated skirt, it was finished with red, white, blue stripes at the bottom. She wore her hair in a sporty plaited ponytail accessorized with a giant white ribbon. The lineup of outfits worn during the Challengers deeply reflected the aesthetic and lifestyle of tennis. The wide range of greens paired with varying shapes and patterns encapsulates the theme of tennis as well as Zendaya’s character in the movie.
Moving to a more extreme fashion choice, for the Dune 2 London premiere, Zendaya had the idea to explore the possibility of wearing this one-of-a-kind full body suit. This vintage piece was designed by Theirry Mugler in 1995. In a video interview with Vogue for their well known Life in Looks series on YouTube, Zendaya expressed being nervous to bring up the idea, let alone the thought of having to wear it on the carpet. Roach was very supportive of her idea and encouraged her to go through with it.
Many people who observe the relationships that celebrities and their stylists have might assume that the only responsibility a stylist has is to choose for their clients. The public only knows so much about the process behind creating some of their favorite and most iconic red carpet looks. On the contrary, Zendaya fully takes part in the process of coming up with these elaborate and one of a kind creations.
Roach has always supported Zendaya and vice versa. It’s because of the mutual love and respect for each other that they are able to come up with some of the most visionary works of art. “He’s involved in every fashion contract, everything I do. If I have an opportunity where he can come with me, he’s always going to be there,” said Zendaya in an interview with reporter Clover Hope for Elle. “He’s always been my creative director in a sense, and he continues to fill that role, because it’s more than just clothes on a red carpet.” Roach described their relationship as follows: “It’s like, I write the script, and she does the rewrites.”
As Roach has experienced first hand, being in such a bright spotlight comes with an abundance of challenges. Especially when you are the right hand man for such a high demand celebrity as Zendaya. On March 14th, 2023, Roach announced that he was retiring from his styling career on Instagram. Immediately, posts on the internet started to formulate and spin rumors. Some people speculated that he had called one of his clients fat and others referred to the Paris Week Fashion show mishap in which Roach was seated behind Zendaya instead of beside her in the front row. People were calling him rude and accused becoming more of a diva than the people he worked with. Roach explained in an interview with Vanessa Friedman at The New York Times that he was going through a difficult time because his nephew had recently died. Roach expressed that he still felt like he had to prove himself every time he came into a room saying “ I changed the trajectory of people’s careers, changed their visibility, but I still have to argue for what I think is the best look.”
Despite facing some adversity, he has big plans for his future and continues to look ahead. Roach considers himself the most “unretired-retired person.” However, he now does things on his own terms. Roach desires to go into what he calls “styling academia” where he will teach others based on his way of styling in a certification course. There will also be electives by others in the industry. This way, his students will have a real shot at entering the industry. Roach also dreams of buying a company, which he hopes will evolve into the development of his own brand. During his interview with Vanessa Friedman at The New York Times, Roach said, “I want my headline to be ‘Law Roach, former stylist, now sits at the helm of a billion-dollar company.’” He has the plans to make it happen.
“It’s like, I write the script, and she does the rewrites,” said Law Roach.