• 8 months ago
When image architect Law Roach is behind a look, it's 10s across the board. The man himself talks us through some of his most iconic career moments thus far to working with #tomdaya, Megan Thee Stallion's SNL double-duty debut and the Disney show that connected him to Celine Dion.



Director and Cinematographer: Clarence Fuller
Editor: Jai Love
Production Swing: Anthony Lavino
Sound Mixer: Helian Zhang
Production: Production Squad
Senior Video Producer: Stephanie Romero
Associate Video Producer: Kellie Scott
Hair Stylist: Antoinette Hill for MMG
Makeup: Tiffany A Lucio
Executive Director, Creative: Alexa Wiley
Graphic Designer: Natalia Sztyk
Executive Director, Entertainment: Jessica Baker
VP, Social: MacKenzie Green
Transcript
00:00 The way you know you've created an iconic look is that people wear it on Halloween.
00:08 It becomes a Halloween costume.
00:09 Hey, what's up? It's me, image architect, La Roche,
00:11 and we're going to go behind the scenes with Who What Wear.
00:14 Ari was so excited and she looked so beautiful that night.
00:23 I remember just her being nervous and excited all at the same time,
00:27 which everyone is when you go to the Met.
00:29 It's a lot of cameras.
00:30 The thing about the Met is that all the nerves and everything is just getting there,
00:36 and once you're there and you walk up the stairs and you go into the actual ceremony,
00:40 it's over so fast.
00:41 But just the anxiety of getting ready and making sure it's...
00:45 And being on time is the stressful part.
00:48 I love when I get the opportunity to be a part of someone's first,
00:52 because I think that's a memory that no one forgets.
00:55 And then Ariana is so iconic.
00:57 Like, we'll revisit that look for years and years and years.
01:00 There'll be a retrospective of her career, her life,
01:04 and you'll see that dress and other dresses and maybe some ponytails, you know.
01:09 I always tell her, like, I feel like her ponytail should be in a Smithsonian.
01:13 The theme for that year was camp.
01:17 What's more campier than a Disney film?
01:20 But it was a real story in that sometimes Zendaya calls me her fairy godbrother
01:26 or godmother, depending on how I'm acting that day.
01:28 The story was that she was leaving Disney, and this was before Euphoria premiered.
01:35 And so it was kind of her shedding, not shedding her Disney image,
01:40 but just moving into more of her...
01:42 Because, you know, Rue is totally different from KC.
01:46 Like, way, way different from KC.
01:48 And so that was to pay homage to her career as this Disney princess.
01:54 We knew when Euphoria premiered that people would get to see a whole 'nother side of Zendaya,
02:00 the actress.
02:01 And a lot of people didn't see this, but she actually lost her glass slipper at the top of the stairs.
02:06 So that was like the final hurrah and paying homage to Disney,
02:11 which gave her the start of her career.
02:13 So this, I'm really proud to say, this was actually one of the first viral fashion moments.
02:21 I got a call from my manager at the time.
02:24 Really casually, she said, "Oh, Celine's team called and she wants to meet you."
02:30 You know, I was like, "Celine who?"
02:31 Like, "Celine Dion."
02:33 I said, "Who?"
02:35 She said, "Celine Dion, fool."
02:37 So I went to the Billboard Awards to meet her.
02:43 I waited for her in her dressing room.
02:45 She came in the dressing room and she said,
02:47 "I've been following your career because my kids watch Kacey Undercover and you dress Kacey."
02:57 What that outfit and that image did was disrupted the way people think about and thought about Celine.
03:04 Like, we were used to this very glamorous beads and sequins and rhinestones and the voice
03:12 and the personification of the diva and to see her in streetwear and she was wearing this
03:18 Vetements tribute, Titanic tribute sweatshirt and just some jeans and a sandal and a bag.
03:26 And I think that it really kind of messed people up.
03:29 It's like, "Oh, wait, Celine Dion's a real person."
03:32 You know, I did it because Celine Dion is one of the coolest people I've ever met in my life.
03:38 And her knowledge of fashion and construction and couture and designers is so vast.
03:46 And I learned so much from working with her.
03:49 And when I found out who she really was, was on the inside, not the image that we had all
03:55 created of her on the outside, I'm like, "Of course you would want to wear this sweater.
04:00 Of course."
04:01 Kerry Washington at the Vanity Fair party, she was wearing Zuhair Mirrah couture.
04:05 I love this collection.
04:06 The collection was based on Egypt and Egyptian goddesses.
04:09 And when I think of Kerry, I think of her in that way.
04:12 When I saw it, I just thought it was so amazing.
04:14 It was encrusted and it just made me feel like this is something that Cleopatra would have worn.
04:19 There was a little pushback because I think someone else said that, "It's too costumey."
04:23 But I'm like, "It's a moment."
04:25 You know what I mean?
04:26 And don't let other people's fears or something that makes someone else uncomfortable,
04:35 don't let them project that onto you.
04:36 She ended up wearing it and she called me the next day.
04:38 She was like, "You were right."
04:40 She's like, "As soon as I walked through the door, everyone was saying how great I look.
04:43 Everyone was saying that the dress, that it was so interesting and so beautiful and she
04:47 looked so regal."
04:48 And that night, Tracee Ellis Ross actually wore something from that collection as well.
04:54 Here are these two goddesses, queens, if you will, in the same party, in the same collection.
05:01 Point of the story, the moral of the story is that I'm always right and whoever tells
05:06 you different is always wrong.
05:08 She was wearing custom Armani Privé.
05:12 That was one of the things.
05:14 COVID was such a traumatic, devastating time for the world.
05:21 Looking back at it, it was a couple things that came out of it that end up being beautiful
05:26 moments, right?
05:27 One being the entire world was going through the exact same thing at the exact same time
05:35 and we all got a chance to just sit still.
05:38 Second, myself and her entire family got to literally be in that room so close to her
05:48 when she won her first Emmy.
05:52 It was just so much love and joy and excitement and we were all so proud and we got to run
05:59 up and hug her and just wrap our arms around her and surround her with love the entire
06:04 night.
06:05 And had it not been in lockdown, we wouldn't have shared that moment with her the way we
06:10 did.
06:11 It's one of my fondest moments of being around her.
06:15 I looked an absolute mess.
06:17 Everybody else had on black and here I am with this rusty orange tracksuit.
06:22 I don't know what I was thinking, but I also didn't think that I would...you take it for
06:27 granted.
06:27 She's sitting in front of a little computer screen and I didn't know that it was capturing
06:32 as much as it did, but still, wrong outfit but right time.
06:37 And I'll always remember that moment.
06:40 I got the call from Sam, the creator and director of Euphoria, Sam Levinson.
06:47 He asked me.
06:49 This was all in heavy, heavy lockdown, so I never got a chance to sit with him.
06:55 Everything was done from Zoom and a bunch of conversations.
06:58 It was great.
06:59 It was challenging for that reason.
07:02 I wasn't able to physically be in the room with her or around her, but it was also...I
07:07 felt so creative and for that look to come out and to get the type of love that it got
07:13 was really incredible.
07:14 I'm super proud of that because I got to add costume designer to my resume.
07:20 And I think that dress will become iconic because I think that film is something that
07:24 people will go and reference 20, 30, 40 years from now.
07:28 And for me to have a little small piece of that legacy, it makes me really proud.
07:34 I've been actually dressing Tom for a few years now.
07:37 I think Tom is the ultimate movie star and he works and he promotes the film and then
07:44 he kind of disappears for a while, which is really great.
07:46 He has still a mystique around him that people are still trying to figure out, I think, and
07:52 what makes him so appealing to people.
07:54 And before him and Zendaya's relationship was public, when you get to dress the two
08:00 leads from a major movie, it's always a big accomplishment.
08:04 It's a lot of work, but it's a big accomplishment.
08:07 And Emma Watson wearing Alexander McQueen, our relationship is really new.
08:12 I am a firm believer that the universe puts you in people's lives exactly at the moment
08:16 you're supposed to be there.
08:17 She said, "Would you consider working with me?"
08:19 I'm like, "Would you consider working with me?"
08:21 Emma is iconic on her own.
08:25 She has a way of describing the feeling of things that she likes.
08:31 And I think I style from an emotional place and I think she wears clothes from an emotional
08:37 place.
08:37 And she's also really a champion for trying to help fashion become more sustainable.
08:43 And I think that's one of my biggest profiles.
08:45 The easiest way to become or do something that's sustainable is to wear clothes that
08:49 someone else has already worn.
08:51 It's the easiest way.
08:53 It's a no-brainer, right?
08:54 Go to a thrift store, a consignment store, a vintage shop, and buy something that already
08:59 has a life and continue to give it a life and give it away to someone else, hand it
09:05 down, or even resell it.
09:07 So I think that really brought us closer.
09:11 Well, I've done SNL a few times.
09:14 One thing I will tell you guys about Megan Thee Stallion that you might not know is that
09:18 she is the nicest, sweetest, most patient person.
09:24 I think I've probably ever met.
09:26 And Saturday Night Live is nerve-wracking.
09:30 And when someone is that nice, it makes you want to work extra, extra hard for her.
09:34 I think she did incredible.
09:35 I think she looked incredible.
09:36 The picture you saw was her walking into 30 Rock in a full, pee-pee pink, Valentino look.
09:45 That was a tough one.
09:46 That night, Zendaya was being honored as CFDA's fashion icon.
09:51 So we felt like that it had to be amazing, especially after Rihanna's look.
09:57 Rihanna is kind of, you know, and we know that we could never top Rih, but we wanted
10:04 to be a close second.
10:05 I also wanted to be young, and we chose red because red is always, to me, it's the color
10:11 of power.
10:12 Zendaya has that body and those abs, and why not?
10:16 It was the night to really go for it.
10:18 That look has become iconic, and I say it because the way you know you've created an
10:25 iconic look is that people wear it on Halloween.
10:30 It becomes a Halloween costume.
10:31 So if you have never done anything or worn anything that has become a Halloween costume,
10:37 you are not iconic.
10:46 When it comes to American fashion, that is the top of the top.
10:50 And for me to be the first ever stylist to be recognized, I'm overjoyed and then I'm
10:57 nervous because I have to give a speech in front of these people that I look up to and
11:04 grew up wanting.
11:06 And me coming from where I came from, most of these clothes weren't affordable, and now
11:14 these people know my name and I'm friends with some of them.
11:19 The biggest thing of it is that I hope that I am an example that any and everything is
11:26 possible.
11:27 If you really stick to the core values that you're taught by whoever raised you, work
11:35 really hard, be kind to people, treat people the way you want to be treated.
11:38 I've impressed and done things and hopefully shifted culture a bit with that the CFDA is
11:46 recognizing me and honoring me with this award that no one else has gotten previously.
11:52 So it's, you know, I'm just, I don't know how to feel.
11:55 I'm happy.
11:56 So hey guys, thanks for tuning in and let me know which of these looks were your favorite.
12:01 Comment down below.
12:02 (upbeat music)
12:05 (upbeat music)

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