Law Roach Spills The Tea on Louis Vuitton, The Industry And On A Dispute With a Mystery Client!

TheRoot.com, By Amira Castilla, Posted April 3rd 2023

The newly retired celebrity stylists set the record straight in a new interview!

Law Roach sat down with New York Magazine to clear all of the air about his surprise retirement. In the hour-long sit-down with Lindsay Peoples only one day after his BOSS runway walk, Law also talked about the ups and downs of his career, his struggle with overworking because of childhood traumas, and what his life may look like after being one of the most sought after stylists in fashion.

Why Retire Now?

Law started the interview by confirming that he is in fact retiring from celebrity styling, but not from the fashion industry as a whole. When asked why this was the time he chose to retire even after recently winning the 2022 CFDA Stylist Awards and styling some of the biggest names in Hollywood at the 2023 Vanity Fair party, he swiftly responded, “Isn’t it always best to leave when you’re on the top?”

The fashion industry in the last couple of years hasn’t been the kindest to Law and he’s ready to step back and figure out how to do things for himself instead of being “at the beck and call of people and their teams. I want to take a step back and figure out how to live.”

What Really Went Down at the Louis Vuitton Show

We all saw the video of Law without a seat at the Louis Vuitton Show. But Law prefaced by emphasizing that Zendaya is a very respectful person and doesn’t like to cause a fuss wherever she goes. She is the new ambassador for Louis Vuitton, he said so naturally she was seated on the front row for the show. Law said he assumed per usual that he would be sitting next to her. He didn’t see it as a problem when they rushed to grab their seats and there wasn’t a space open for him, but he was confused because there wasn’t any seat anywhere reserved for him. In the video, you can see Zendaya tapping the one open seat behind her. People assumed that she was telling him to sit there and he refused because he wouldn’t be on the front row, but he revealed that she was letting him know that the seat was for her assistant. The show was shortly set to begin and there was nowhere for Law to sit, which made the moment look more dramatic than it really was.

Law was upset that people speculated that Zendaya wasn’t being a good friend and client by not having the seat for him when that wasn’t the case. Zendaya was just as confused with the seating as Law was. He also confirmed that there was no beef with Louis Vuitton, just a simple mistake blown out of proportion by the internet.

He’s Been Struggling in the Industry for a While Now

With his final night of styling being the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, Law Roach dealt with a significant amount of pressure, especially because of two clients. The first was Megan Thee Stallion. The Vanity Fair carpet was the first event that the “Body” rapper attended after the brutal trial against Tory Lanez. Law said he worked with everything he had to make sure that the Hot Girl Coach felt confident and ready to reemerge into the spotlight, which ended up being a successful look that night.

The second client’s identity has been hidden as their collaboration was not successful. The client’s team, the stylist said, was not portraying Law Roach appropriately in meetings to a brand, which he explained in the interview can make him lose clients:

“So that morning I got a call from one of my clients, and it was her publicist, and somebody from a brand that I’m supposed to do project with, and I found myself on the phone with these three women, and I felt like I was defending myself because the one woman from the brand was like, “Oh, he’s not communicating, and you’re not gonna have a dress,” and all these things. And it was just a lot of things that were not true. And that’s how we lose clients as stylists — somebody from a brand will say something to the publicist, then the publicist will say something to the client, and then, it’s this thing.”

Law Roach said he takes pride in his relationships with his clients. He said clients such as Zendaya, Kerry Washington, and Celine Dion all have trusting and protective relationships that go both ways. Unfortunately with this particular client, they did not stand up for Law which had the potential of jeopardizing his reputation. He said the client and the team still went through with the dress, but he revealed on Instagram that the final look never made it on the carpet because of a wardrobe malfunction.

He Doesn’t Want to Struggle Anymore

The legendary stylist grew up as the oldest of five siblings, consistently going to bed hungry, and neglected by his mother. His mother always wanted to get him to work in order to eat, so that has stayed a constant mindset for him through adulthood.

Law said he is a private but revealed in this interview that the death of his three-year-old nephew in November 2022 has been weighing on him. The tragedy made him reflect on his own life, which he revolved around his work. He knew it was time to step back from the chaos when he counted in his brain only three times that he saw his nephew in his brief life, and guilt started to take over.

His Plans Moving Forward

In the interview, he listed a few projects that he will be working on from a book deal to being named the Creative Director of a footwear brand, brand name yet to be revealed. He wants to show more than what he can do for other people saying:

“I know it’s only been a couple days, but I feel alive. And I keep using the word suffering because it’s the only word that I can … I don’t have any friends. I don’t have any relationships; everything that could bring me joy has been suppressed because of the work. This persona of, you know, Luxury Law, Law Roach the Stylist, and not realizing that I was miserable. So I just, I just wanna breathe. I wanna fly; I wanna be happy.”