What Law Roach’s Retirement Should Remind You About Fashion

“My cup is empty.” Says Law Roach, current judge on HBO Max’s Legendary on his most recent post on Instagram with an image labelled ‘retired’. “Thank you to everyone who’ve supported me and my career over the years. Every person that trusted me with their image, I’m so grateful for you all. If this business was just about the clothes I would do it for the rest of my life but unfortunately it’s not! The politics, the lies and false narratives finally got me! You win … I’m out.”

With over 230,000 likes and over 18,000 comments, industry leaders and fellow fans rushed to the comment section to showcase their solidarity over the controversies that has happened over the last couple of days. At a Louis Vuitton show, videos came out of Zendaya and Roach approaching the front row of their newest collection, with only a seat being available for Zendaya. As an ambassador for the brand, both are invited to the shows to bring popularity to the collections while also showcasing some of their newest clothing on such an influential celebrity, but with a seat only being picked out for Roach on the second row, reminds everyone that the hierarchy still plays and money makes the moves.

It’s important to mention that Roach might not of started this conversation just on the basis of this moment. Years of being over-shadowed by others (especially his white colleagues) definitely plays a fundamental part on this exploration and he has made it clear that he won’t tolerate it. Though Roach has not specified what has happened for him to announce his retirement, videos have re-surfaced of interviews where he talks about the way he is treated; “You can’t talk to me any kind of way and you can’t treat me any kind of way. I’m commanding a certain kind of respect and if you’re not giving me that, we’re going to have a problem. I’m not afraid of this industry because I’m Black, I’m from the hood and I can always go back. I can always make money, I can always be successful. I’ll walk away from all that shit because I’m just a natural-born hustler.”

And hustler is what he is. Roach has been known to work with a extensive list of influential celebrities like Zendaya, Celine Dion, Ariana Grande, Mary J. Blige, Tiffany Haddish, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland and Anya Taylor-Joy, just to name a few. Having been awarded the stylist of the year award in 2019 at the InStyle awards ceremony, he has gone further, working for HBO Max and featuring many celebrities at A-class events, including this years Oscars party where he dressed Megan the Stallion, Hunter Schafer, Kerry Washington and Eve Jobs, with most of them wearing archival pieces from the top luxury brands around the world. He’s accredited and his discography showcases that. In an article for the Chicago magazine in 2020, he discloses the life of Roach at the time of fashion week; making multiple calls at once, working with several assistants to get a multitude of things done, showcasing the normality of being someone so successful in the industry.

But this is the life of a black man trying to showcase his skills in an industry that is actively undermining him. It’s not surprising when people say that black people have to work twice as hard for the recognition of their white peers. So it wouldn’t be that shocking when Roach mentions the politics of those spaces.

Heirarchy plays a fundamental part in how fashion works, especially from a business perspective. Brands need to be able to differientate themselves in terms of demographic brackets, countries are separated due their fashion capitals and runways need to distinguish the important from the ‘un-important’ when it comes to seating. It’s not new that the most influential celebrities and ambassadors of brands sit front row. At the time, Zendaya (the ambassador for the brand,) was sitting at the front, but failed to recognise the issue with the lack of seating for Roach. Given his stature and the way he has elevated Zendaya’s looks, it was shocking. For the video to go viral and the public embarrassment to be blasted all over the internet, it seemed like Roach had to take it into his own hands.

For many, a seat might not be that big of a deal, but for an industry that relies on reputation, it’s important to understand others journey into the fashion world and how you can break relationships easily with mistakes like this. It’s insulting, and for someone who has worked hard to get to where they are, should be respected more. Given, the video makes it seems like there might of been a mistake or mis-communication but the same rules applies. Not only are you insulting Roach personally but brands are making a commentary on the importance of stylists in comparison to their clients. The reality is that stylists are needed. Not everyone knows how to dress themselves. Why should a stylist sit behind their client when the pictures being taken is their own product?

The retirement post has started a plethora of discussions on how we treat stylists. Since the post, Roach has confirmed that he won’t be leaving the industry but only celebrity styling, but there is a bigger conversation at play on the hierarchy of fashion. Hopefully, we can see more people come forward with their experiences in the hopes of systematic change for brands.

See Roach’s post here.