In an exclusive interview, VP of Content Nandi Howard talks with the renowned image architect about ‘How to Build a Fashion Icon’ and the insights that shaped his extraordinary career.
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00:00So my mantra is, the universe always protects and provides.
00:03At any time I'm unsure or uncertain, I say that to myself.
00:07And so then it became my confidence,
00:10like, you know, I built this from nothing.
00:13I can build something else, right?
00:16And so then that's when I started working on the book.
00:18And then that's when I started working on another project
00:20called School of Style that I'm launching
00:24with my agent and his agency.
00:26So what it is, is it's built to lessen
00:31the gap of people who want to be in fashion
00:34and want to be a stylist and actually realizing their dream.
00:37As I told you earlier, I have been in service of people
00:39for so long.
00:41So now what I've realized is that I
00:43can be in service of people in a different type of way, which
00:46brings me more joy and happiness.
00:47Hey, Essence family.
00:55My name's Nandi Howard, the vice president
00:58of content for Essence magazine.
00:59And I'm here with Law Roach to discuss his new book,
01:02How to Build a Fashion Icon.
01:04Hey, Law.
01:05OK, so of course I have so many questions to ask you.
01:09But I first need to get some icebreakers off
01:11and ask your favorite vintage brands
01:14or your favorite brands that had a vintage run.
01:16JPG or Mugler?
01:19Mugler.
01:19Mugler.
01:20Chanel or Louis?
01:22Chanel.
01:23Dior or Gucci?
01:25Gucci.
01:26I agree with Gucci, the vintage.
01:28Versace or Balmain?
01:30Versace.
01:31Givenchy or Valentino?
01:34Givenchy.
01:35OK, so I wanted to just kind of get that icebreaker out there.
01:38Because we've seen you pull some amazing archival pieces.
01:43And I just want to know what was your love for archive
01:45and just how were you able to land some of those pieces?
01:49Well, I think my love for archive and vintage
01:54is probably from my grandmothers and taking me
01:57to thrift stores early, early, early in my life
02:02when I was a little boy.
02:03I didn't really even understand where I was.
02:06I just knew it smelled funny.
02:09But then growing up and just keeping that memory
02:12and thrift stores just being nostalgic
02:15and helping me remember my grandmother's
02:17legacy and our relationship.
02:19So that was part of it.
02:21And then also just me.
02:23In my career, I always thought of myself as a storyteller.
02:27And I think that it just becomes a good story when the clothes
02:32have lived another life and the way things were.
02:38Just like when I put Zendaya in a piece that
02:41belonged to Eunice Johnson when she received the Essence Award.
02:47And that just became such a great story.
02:50And then also Eunice Johnson started trending on Twitter.
02:54And everybody wants to know who she was,
02:55who wasn't familiar with her and her story
02:58and the contributions of this Black woman to fashion.
03:02So it's just that.
03:04It's all about storytelling.
03:05Yeah, no, definitely.
03:06And with you, was it something that you went and got
03:10these pieces over the years of your career?
03:12Do you go search for them, or is this in your personal archive?
03:15Well, I have a personal archive.
03:17The Eunice Johnson piece was in my archive.
03:19And I think I was just waiting for the perfect moment
03:21to bring it out.
03:22But it depends on the situation.
03:24Sometimes I'm searching for things.
03:26I'm a student, so I'm always learning and hunting.
03:30And sometimes, rarely, the archive of the actual house
03:38will open up for me.
03:39It's like when you saw me put Bella Hadid in a Versace
03:43from 1986.
03:44That was actually hand-chosen by Donna and Tyler.
03:48So she opened up the archives for us to go to Cannes.
03:52So in some cases, that actually happens as well.
03:55So it's a combination of a lot of things.
03:57Definitely, definitely.
03:58You spoke on your grandmother being an inspiration.
04:01And I know when we had phone calls discussing
04:03this conversation, you mentioned that was
04:05an inspiration for your book.
04:07And I really just want to dive into that.
04:10We were just previously talking about how you're actually
04:14happy that you're going in different spaces
04:16outside of the styling world.
04:17But I know that your grandmother was a big inspiration.
04:20So you can just talk about her and the love
04:23that you have for your grandmother
04:25and then what inspires you to really create this book.
04:27How does she inspire you?
04:29So I think with a lot of Black people,
04:33churches are introductions to fashion, right?
04:36Going to see the women in the skirt sets and the stockings
04:41and their pumps and the big hats and all that
04:44really gave us or gives us this place
04:49to be prideful in our appearance.
04:52And so I think we, and me especially,
04:54learned that as a young boy.
04:56But it also gave me, being so close to my grandmother,
04:59it also gave me this appreciation for the art
05:03form of being a woman, right?
05:06Seeing her start that process on Saturday night,
05:10taking a long bath, which we could not bother her
05:12when she was taking her bath.
05:14And then watching her do her own pedicure, her own medicare,
05:17and roll her hair and lay out the clothes
05:20and the accessories so that the next morning after breakfast,
05:25we all got dressed to go to church
05:27and to start that fellowship.
05:29So it's those things.
05:31And it was things that I didn't know
05:32that I was learning because I was so young.
05:34But it kept with me.
05:37And it kind of resurfaced when I started
05:40my journey into fashion.
05:41So a lot of Black people start with the church.
05:44There's so much culture, history, community there.
05:48And we're seeing that in some of your work.
05:50How to build a fashion icon.
05:52Where did you even come up with the name?
05:54How did that start?
05:55Where was the thought process of, OK,
05:56I'm about to create a book?
05:57Well, I had a book deal that had been offered to me a while ago.
06:02But I just never had time to even start the process
06:06because I was styling.
06:08I was working a lot.
06:09And the funny thing about the title
06:11is that the title is very deceptive.
06:14So I wanted to do, you heard her say,
06:16like, oh, we're going to hide the medicine in the ice cream.
06:18So that's what I thought.
06:19Well, that's what I was intended on doing.
06:21Because I wanted people to think it was this book
06:23about fashion and tips and what you should wear
06:26and what you shouldn't wear.
06:27And it's actually not.
06:29It's not about that at all.
06:30It's about confidence.
06:31And it's about using your clothes
06:33to build the ultimate level of confidence in yourself.
06:37So when you're able to do that, you
06:39become your own fashion icon or your own icon
06:42of whatever it is that you're doing.
06:44So it was just my way of sneaking the message in.
06:47But on the other side of that, I can't really
06:49name it that because I did build an icon.
06:52Because a couple of years ago, Zendaya won CFDA's fashion
06:56icon.
06:57So it's like there's truth in the title as well.
07:00So that was the idea behind it.
07:02So when you sort of announced to the world,
07:04you know, I'm not doing styling anymore,
07:07did you already have it in your head
07:08that you were creating a book?
07:10Or you were going to, so you didn't know that at all?
07:12No, I didn't.
07:12I retired because I was just, I was tired.
07:16And I was stressed.
07:17And I was becoming a person that I never wanted to become.
07:22You know, I found myself being very selfish and self-centered.
07:26And I think when you're in a realm
07:28where you work with a lot of celebrities,
07:29people start to treat you a certain type of way.
07:32And they put me on this pedestal that never has to be put on.
07:36Because I started my career later.
07:39And, you know, I always thought of myself
07:41as being able to remain humble and grounded.
07:44And there was a lot of things going on.
07:45It was a family tragedy.
07:46It was just so many things.
07:48And I really wrote the text message,
07:50I mean, the Instagram post, not necessarily,
07:53I know I wanted to, not necessarily
07:55thinking it was going to become as big as it was.
07:58I really wanted my phone to stop ringing, to be honest.
08:00Like, I wanted to post something where people could be like,
08:03OK, he's retired, let's leave him alone.
08:05But it actually had the reverse effect.
08:07I started to get more calls and more inquiries
08:09and other people, you know, asking me to style them.
08:12And then my publisher came back around and was like,
08:15well, maybe this might be a great time to write your memoir.
08:18But I didn't want to write a memoir.
08:19I wanted to write something short and sweet
08:22and something that's super tangible,
08:24that people can have takeaways and hopefully,
08:27you know, improve their lives.
08:29Yeah, no, I mean, something we talked about
08:31was making it digestible, just something easy to read.
08:34And as you were writing this, was that a goal of yours
08:37to say, I want somebody to read this quick?
08:38Yes, I wanted it to feel like a simple self-help manual
08:43with a lot of call to action.
08:46You know, that's why so many tips of, you know,
08:49things to do, go into your closet,
08:50figure out what your power piece is,
08:52go to a store and try on a bunch of things
08:55that you, in your mind, think you don't like.
08:58Because what I figured out is,
08:59just like our palate matures for food,
09:02our palate for style and color and silhouettes also mature.
09:06And we just need to challenge ourselves
09:07to just really try again and figure it out.
09:11You mentioned that this job made you a little selfish,
09:14but I feel like styling is selfless.
09:16Like you have to get the clothes for the people,
09:18like put the shoes on.
09:20Obviously you have assistants and things like that
09:21to do some of that gritty work,
09:23but you didn't feel like that was a selfless job?
09:26Yeah, it is a selfless job.
09:27It's also a thankless job,
09:29but it's also a service industry job.
09:31And I think that's what people don't realize.
09:34You know, I was in service of so many people
09:36for so many years, but it made me selfish.
09:39And there's a, I told the story in a book
09:41where one of my uncles passed away
09:43and his daughter was planning a funeral.
09:46So she made the arrangements and she called me
09:49and she said, hey, we're going to have the funeral.
09:51It's going to be on Friday.
09:54And I had a fitting on Friday and I said,
09:56hey, what do you think about changing the funeral
09:59to Sunday so that I can come?
10:01And, you know, in a moment that didn't feel selfish to me,
10:04but when I was going through and, you know,
10:08going through my memories and I was like,
10:10how selfish was it for me to ask my cousin
10:13who's grieving her father's death
10:15to change the arrangements to accommodate me
10:19to be able to come to the funeral?
10:20And in that moment, you didn't think of it.
10:22I didn't think of it.
10:23But, you know, it's exactly what it was doing.
10:26It was all about me and the work that I was doing
10:28and where I had to be and nothing else mattered.
10:31And so, you know, with the stress of the job
10:34and the tragedy, another tragedy in my family,
10:37like all these things started to weigh on me
10:38at the same time.
10:40And it was, in my opinion, it was the universe's way
10:43of telling me, okay, take a beat, slow down,
10:46reevaluate who you are as a person
10:49and what your goals are, you know,
10:51and also what your values are.
10:53Definitely, definitely.
10:54So you touched on something where you're like,
10:56I didn't ask to be a role model or these types of things,
10:59but sometimes celebrities, entertainers get thrown
11:02into that position because of their magnitude.
11:04Can you speak a little bit about that?
11:06Just that feeling of, we were just talking about this,
11:09everybody expiring to be or aspiring after your career,
11:13but that's not necessarily even what you want at times.
11:15No, no, no, no, no.
11:16I appreciate that part, right?
11:19I appreciate that every lump and bump I've taken,
11:24in my journey through this industry
11:26to get to the top of this industry
11:28is less lumps and bumps that somebody behind me
11:31will have to take, especially people who look like me,
11:35especially the people who come from where I come from.
11:37So I enjoy that because when I'm not doing this anymore,
11:43I'm not here anymore, I want my legacy to be more
11:45than he put beautiful dresses on beautiful girls, right?
11:49I want to have a legacy of being able to really
11:53have help people and change the industry.
11:57And so that part I do, I have many fashion children,
12:03kind of all over the world now that do look up to me
12:06and who call me for advice.
12:07And I have a couple of people texting me now,
12:11like, I really need help for fashion week
12:14and those are my babies.
12:15And I want, my ultimate goal is to see them succeed
12:19and be as successful as me or even more successful than me.
12:23So when it's all over, I have this family tree
12:26where I'm sitting up at top as mother.
12:28And then it's all these branches of people whose lives
12:30I've been able to change and affect in a good way.
12:33I don't think people hear that side of you often,
12:35like the wanting to give back to the next generation.
12:38I think people are like Law's doing him,
12:40but to hear you say like, no,
12:41I'm actually invested in that next generation.
12:44But that's the persona that I kind of created for myself.
12:46Like I created this like, don't touch me, don't talk to me.
12:49You know, but that was just really a guard,
12:51me putting a guard up because this industry
12:53could be so terrible to people, you know,
12:58and you don't know who to trust and who not to trust.
13:01And I also said this in a podcast,
13:02I said that I became this person
13:05because I didn't want you to invite me
13:06to your birthday party.
13:07You know what I mean?
13:08Because I didn't want to have the pressure of showing up
13:10and then, you know, not being able to show up
13:12and then I'm this person, another person.
13:14So I just kind of created this wall
13:16where like, oh, he's so rude.
13:18And you know, what did they need to say?
13:19So nasty and so rude.
13:20You know, I'm not like that.
13:22I never treat people that type of way.
13:24But I think it's the persona that comes before me.
13:26Yeah, I mean, this industry is a lot.
13:28Like you have to have that guard up.
13:30You know, sometimes when people have social anxiety
13:32and people are like, they're rude,
13:33but it's like, no, they're actually really shy.
13:34They're just putting up that guard, you know?
13:35Yeah, it was my way to protect myself.
13:38Yeah.
13:39And also to keep the blinders on, you know?
13:42And so, yeah, so that's what people think.
13:43But the people who know me,
13:45the people that's around me, you know,
13:47I always say, you don't really know me
13:50if I ain't been to your house
13:51and you ain't been to mine
13:51and I don't know your mama.
13:52Yep, exactly.
13:53You don't really know me.
13:54You know what I mean?
13:55Like if you ain't met the family.
13:56Right.
13:57But, and then, you know,
13:58also people will call you their friend
14:00and create all these experiences they had with you.
14:02So I try to limit that.
14:06But now that I'm not that same person,
14:09now I think I'm more open to new relationships
14:12and new friendships and stuff like that, yeah.
14:14One more question sort of about the career
14:16before we dive into the book a little bit.
14:18When you did announce that you were retiring,
14:19did you call your girls like Zendaya and Celine
14:22and be like, I'm gonna-
14:23I didn't call nobody.
14:23So when they saw that,
14:24were they a little like,
14:25La, what's going on?
14:26Yeah.
14:27Especially Zendaya.
14:28She gave me some time and then she said,
14:30she was like, damn, you know?
14:31Like, I'm your sister, you didn't tell me.
14:33But it was so impromptu.
14:35I had flew to Miami
14:37because the next day I was walking in the boss show.
14:40So I flew to Miami for my fit in
14:42and when I got off the plane and got in the car,
14:45I was just, I was on my publicist at the time
14:47and I was just in tears.
14:49And I just went and got that generic picture.
14:54I was like, I was just Google retirement
14:56and the first image came up,
14:58then I wrote the caption.
15:00And that was that.
15:01And her phone started ringing,
15:02my phone started ringing.
15:04And so it was just,
15:06at that point, I needed,
15:08I felt so heavy, you know?
15:10And I felt like that was the only way
15:11to take this burden off of my shoulders.
15:16And I literally, I cried all the way from the airport,
15:19all the way till we got to the fit in.
15:20I dried my eyes, walked in.
15:25Everybody has seen it.
15:26So when I walked in,
15:26people were like, Lawson, Lawson.
15:28And they went and told Naomi.
15:30Naomi Campbell was there
15:31and I can hear her calling my name from her dress room.
15:34Like, Law, come in here.
15:36And she was just, she sent me out.
15:37She's like, you can't do it.
15:38You can't let them make you quit.
15:40She called Edward on the phone
15:42and they were like, Law, you can't.
15:43You're too important to us.
15:44You're important to them.
15:45And it was just like all these things.
15:47I was so numb that I wasn't receptive to anything.
15:50It was like, take the pulse down.
15:52You didn't mean to do that.
15:53And I went and I did the fit in
15:55and the next day I walked in the Boss Show
15:57and it was really interesting
16:00because there was a water feature
16:02and it was windy in Miami.
16:04As I was walking, this water was hitting me
16:06and I felt almost as if I was being baptized.
16:09And that, for some reason,
16:12made me feel like I had made the right decision.
16:15I felt like this instant rebirth.
16:18And so it just, everything was kind of like happening to me
16:23the right time and for the right reason.
16:25I mean, when it's the right moment, you'll know.
16:27You know what I'm saying?
16:28And I mean, clearly what's happened
16:30with your career after has only shown that.
16:33I wanted to dive into just the evolution of style.
16:36And do you think, how do you think the definition
16:41of having an iconic style has changed over the years?
16:43Like especially with social media
16:45and then back in the day,
16:48you really just had to walk on the streets
16:50and have that it factor.
16:51How, what do you think has changed
16:52between in the past and today?
16:54Well, I think the change is really for the good
16:57because I feel like so many people
16:59are so more authentically themselves
17:02and less trend driven.
17:05I think that individuality is celebrated now,
17:08which I think is a beautiful thing.
17:10And I think the younger generation
17:11has really pushed that to the forefront.
17:13And I love it.
17:15I love it.
17:16I love to see people doing their own thing,
17:18you know, and not following trends.
17:20Of course, it's okay to be inspired by trends
17:23or trendy things, but to figure out a way to adapt that
17:26and make it your own, I think it's really special.
17:29I absolutely agree.
17:31So can you discuss a moment
17:33where you felt like your work created a trend
17:36or sort of trascended fashion
17:39and made an artistic statement?
17:41No, I mean.
17:42Is there one, is there one moment?
17:43Yeah, yeah.
17:44I mean, there's plenty.
17:45No, but I think the most important
17:46and the most recent is Zendaya's
17:48on the Challengers press tour.
17:50I think we really pushed tennis court to the forefront,
17:55even literally like I had, like I love,
17:59this is so funny because everybody luxury law,
18:02but I love cheap Hanes sweatpants from Target.
18:07I love that.
18:08And so I went to Target just to grab
18:09for like a sweatsuit or whatever,
18:10because I love to travel with them.
18:12And like tennis court was like at the front of the store.
18:14And that's when I, I was like, oh, okay,
18:17this was a movement.
18:18This was way bigger than I ever thought it could be.
18:21And then you start to see like all the brands
18:24like really pushing tennis court,
18:26really pushing tennis court.
18:28And from, and also for us to take a person
18:31who didn't exist that you never heard of,
18:33Toshi Duncan, which was Zendaya's character
18:36and really like almost made her a real person
18:39was kind of like, I think one of my biggest achievements
18:41why I really said like, oh, okay, I got,
18:43you know, I got something.
18:44I got some magic.
18:45I didn't really think of it that way,
18:46but a hundred percent agree.
18:47Like I think Zendaya definitely pushed tennis court
18:51and it's really cool to see just moments
18:53where you all are just doing y'all
18:54and creating actually turns into like,
18:58because my email was all tennis court,
18:59you know, shop this tennis court.
19:02And it was interesting because Zendaya
19:03never posted any of that.
19:05No, yeah.
19:05She never posted any of that.
19:07All that, all those impressions and everything
19:09just came from my social media.
19:11So, you know, I was like patting myself on the back,
19:13like, yeah, I really, you know.
19:13I really did that.
19:16So I want to talk about resilience in the industry
19:18because you do touch on that in the book.
19:21How do you just cultivate resilience
19:22and authenticity in your work in an industry
19:25that sort of prioritizes like what's hot now
19:29over like that real work, which you talked about,
19:31nothing's wrong with trends,
19:32but just how do you make sure you remain yourself
19:35within work that you do with just your special girls
19:38or even just work outside of styling?
19:40I think, I just think it's confidence, right?
19:44And that's why I wrote the book
19:45to help people find that ultimate confidence.
19:49And that's all it is.
19:50If you do something and you know it's right,
19:53no matter who tells you otherwise,
19:55you have to remain and stand strong in your,
19:57can we curse?
19:58Yeah.
19:59You gotta stand strong in your own shit, right?
20:00You know what I mean?
20:01Like, and when you get to a,
20:03when you get confident enough to get to a place
20:05where you can say, fuck you, fuck that,
20:09like that's the ultimate confidence.
20:11That fuck you is the ultimate confidence.
20:15And once you hit that place,
20:17then everything else is easy.
20:19It's easy to wear what you want to wear.
20:21It's easy to say what you want to say.
20:24It's easy to do what you want to do
20:25because you've hit that point of just like, fuck it.
20:28You know, fuck you, fuck it.
20:29I don't care.
20:30This is who I am.
20:31And when you get that there,
20:33everything you do is going to be
20:34from a place of authenticity.
20:36Definitely.
20:37I think some people watching would say,
20:39do I need to have the access and the money
20:41to just be like epic?
20:43Or should I, like, can I have that confidence
20:45starting out in the industry?
20:46Yeah, you know, listen,
20:50fashion is just about access, right?
20:52It is.
20:52That's just access.
20:53You know, some of the techiest people in the world
20:56are the richest people in the world.
20:58You know what I mean?
20:58Style is inherited.
20:59Style is what you were born with.
21:01Style is what you cultivate on your own.
21:03So it's two totally different things, right?
21:05You know, you can have, I didn't have anything.
21:08And that's what took me back into the thrift stores
21:10because I couldn't afford to go and buy all the things,
21:13but I knew I was born with style, right?
21:15So I would go and get like old suits
21:18from like the 60s,
21:20wearing with like a t-shirt and some Air Force Ones
21:22and like, damn, that's fly.
21:24You know what I mean?
21:25And I paid $6 for that suit.
21:26You know what I mean?
21:27And back then I think Air Force Ones was like 80 bucks.
21:30You know what I mean?
21:31So that's what I was born with, right?
21:34I learned fashion.
21:35I learned the industry of fashion.
21:37I learned the business of fashion, right?
21:39So, you know, you don't have to worry
21:41about what you have now.
21:43You know, it's just this confidence
21:46to do what you think is right.
21:47Definitely, definitely.
21:48Buy the book.
21:49It's all in the book.
21:50It's all in the book.
21:53So kind of just, we're tailing towards the end,
21:56but I did want to just ask some lessons from setback
21:59and just legacy of your style and what you hope.
22:03Can you share a particular setback
22:05or not just share the feeling
22:08that you faced in your career
22:09and how you just really overcame that
22:11or just kind of how it's propelled you
22:14into the next step of your career?
22:15Yeah, I mean, I think we could use the retirement
22:18as the greatest example of that.
22:20So when I walked away, you know,
22:22you have everybody, all your friends first of all are like,
22:25oh my God, how could you quit?
22:26You know, your business manager.
22:28Hey, you know, how could you walk away
22:31from all this money?
22:32My agents, like all the other,
22:33especially all the other people that make money
22:35because you're making money.
22:36You know, they're the first ones to make sure
22:39and call you and say, are you making the right decision?
22:41And then you go through, for me at least,
22:44because me being LaRoche, the image architect
22:47had become such a big part of who I was as a person.
22:51I had to grieve that person, right?
22:53That person died after that Instagram post.
22:56And so, you know, and there's steps of grieving, right?
23:00So one of the biggest steps that I had to face is guilt.
23:03So I was thinking, you know,
23:05what about all the people who really looked up to me
23:09and who looked for me to be the person
23:11that's pushing through the industry
23:12and breaking the glass ceiling and pushing doors open
23:15and telling other people, no, fuck you.
23:17And, you know, speaking my mind
23:19and talking about the big designers
23:20and what they did and what they didn't do.
23:22And I was, I was, got into a place, I was so depressed.
23:25I was like, I let these people down.
23:26I let all my babies down, I let my kids down.
23:29So I had to get through that, you know.
23:32And then that, then I had a brief bout of depression
23:35because of the guilt.
23:37And, you know, and then you start to worry about,
23:39okay, so if I was making this amount of money
23:42and I'm not doing that, how do I sustain myself?
23:45You know, I have a certain lifestyle.
23:47And so then you worry about that.
23:49But then that's when, you know,
23:51your belief system comes in, right?
23:53So my mantra is the universe always protects and provides.
23:57At any time I'm unsure or uncertain, I say that to myself.
24:01And so then, then it came my confidence.
24:03Like, you know, if I built this from nothing,
24:07I can build something else, right?
24:09And so then that's when I started working on the book.
24:12And then that's when I started working on another project
24:14called School of Style that I'm launching
24:17with my agent and his agency.
24:20So what it is, is it's built to lessen the gap
24:26of people who want to be a fashioner
24:28and want to be a stylist and actually realizing their dream.
24:31But not only that, actually being able to find a job.
24:34So it's one part entertainment, education, and employment.
24:40So you go through the course, you get a certification
24:44and you're automatically pushed into this tunnel
24:46where you can get representation from a styling agency.
24:51So, you know, there's a ton of, you know,
24:53online platforms like, oh, you can take this and learn this,
24:56but they can't promise you a job and School of Style can.
24:58And so those are the things I've been working on.
25:01As I told you earlier,
25:01I have been in service of people for so long.
25:05So now what I've realized is that I could be a service
25:07of people in a different type of way,
25:09which brings me more joy and happiness.
25:10No, definitely.
25:12When we were talking about you giving back to Gen Z,
25:15pouring into the next generation,
25:16I was thinking, I'm like, he like should start something,
25:20you know, like to teach them,
25:21because I feel like so many kids,
25:23so many talented people want to style,
25:25want to get into the industry,
25:26but like, you know, people aren't hiring us
25:28or us in magnitude.
25:30Yeah, and it's also, the real big problem is this, right?
25:33So I've had so many interns over the course of my career.
25:38I've had little black girls from Indiana or Idaho
25:42that moved to LA with a big dream, right?
25:45I've had others that have moved from places with a big dream
25:51and more times than not,
25:53the others, they have a parent or a family member to say,
25:56hey, you can move to LA,
25:57we'll pay your rent for six months while you figure it out,
25:59while you can devote 40 hours a week
26:01to go and learn from this person that you look up to.
26:04And the other girl on the other hand,
26:06she doesn't have that same opportunity
26:09or those resources.
26:10So she has to come and give me 10 hours a week
26:13because she has to work two jobs so she can pay the rent
26:16because now she's left the Midwest and came to LA
26:20and the cost of living is triple the amount
26:22of what she's used to.
26:24So that's why we build a School of South
26:26but it's so that people can have an even playing field
26:29and you don't have to break the bank
26:33or put yourself in bad situations
26:36just to learn the information.
26:38And I think it takes a good leader to understand that though
26:41because you could be a leader that's like,
26:43oh, well, this girl only giving me 10 hours,
26:45I'm gonna go with this other employee
26:46but to know that and be like, I wanna create-
26:48No, I know that because that's where I came from.
26:50Yeah.
26:51You know what I mean?
26:52Like I came to LA, I was sleeping on couches too.
26:54You know, I was just able to really,
26:58because of my relationship with Zendaya
27:00and just because of my hustle, I was able to do it
27:03but everybody's not gonna have that.
27:05So what we plan on doing at School of Style
27:07is being that for other people.
27:09Definitely.
27:10Just to close out, like I said, a couple more,
27:13how do you see the connection
27:14between personal style and mental health?
27:17Do you think that fashion can serve as a tool
27:19to help you sort of get out that depression,
27:20get out of what you're dealing with?
27:21Absolutely, and I talk about it in the book,
27:23your power piece.
27:24Exactly.
27:25It's your power piece.
27:26It's that piece, like you, like, especially for girls,
27:29like you may have a dress that you've worn before,
27:31every time you wear it, you get so many compliments,
27:33you get so many looks,
27:35you know what it looks like from every angle, right?
27:38And if you wake up in the morning
27:39and you have somewhere to go
27:40and you're not really feeling it,
27:42you know, you put that dress on,
27:43you put your power piece on
27:44because it automatically transforms you
27:47to having the feeling of feeling good.
27:50You know what I mean?
27:51I tell people all the time,
27:52it's not how I made my clients look,
27:54it's how I made them feel.
27:55It's the confidence.
27:57And sometimes we need to be reminded,
27:58you know, I have a power piece,
28:00like anything, I can throw in a white oversized
28:03butt down shirt with anything, roll the sleeves up,
28:05I feel crisp, I feel clean, I feel classic,
28:09you know what I mean?
28:10And I can just go and I don't have to think about it
28:12because I know how it makes me feel.
28:14Having that uniform a little bit, yeah.
28:17The future of fashion.
28:18So what, I mean, there's so many people talk about
28:22disadvantages, this, that,
28:25but what do you want to see for the future of fashion,
28:29despite what people are saying on the internet
28:31or just in the rooms that you're in?
28:33What's one thing that you would like to see in fashion?
28:35I mean, I want to see that what every,
28:37what all of us people of color want to see,
28:39I want to see a more even playing field, right?
28:41Like I want to see not only our black celebrities
28:46becoming faces of brands,
28:48but also having equity in those brands.
28:50I want to see us with more brands
28:52and us as a people actually supporting them, right?
28:55It's okay to post somebody's something or,
28:58but if you're not really going out and spending money,
29:00like the finances is what changed people's lives, right?
29:03You can post about it, you could talk about it,
29:05but if you're not actually going out and buying it,
29:07like for me, for young brands, you know,
29:10even though people are like, oh, I'll just send it to you.
29:11No, no, no, I'm going to come, I'm going to spend money
29:13with you because that's the only way,
29:15that's the only way we're going to change the dynamic
29:18of our people in this country.
29:20Definitely.
29:21And to wrap this up, I wanted to know,
29:25what do you tell that young boy in Chicago
29:28who was just trying to figure it out,
29:30who just wanted to move to LA and get, you know,
29:33grind it out.
29:34And now you have this book out,
29:36you like really took a hold of your career.
29:39It took control of it.
29:40What would you tell that young boy in Chicago?
29:43Nigga, we made it.
29:44And is that it?
29:48Period.
29:49Period, exactly.
29:50Thank you a lot.
29:51Thank you for coming to Essence.
29:52We are super appreciative.
29:53Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.