'AMERICA'S' GOT TALENT
Celeb stylist Roach takes ‘Top Model’ turn
ELEBRITY stylist Law Roach has moved in front of the cameras as a judge on the rebooted version of “America’s Next Top Model,” premiering Monday on VH1 with British singer/actress Rita Ora replacing Tyra Banks as host.
“I don’t think, culturally, that ‘Top Model’ gets the credit it deserves,” says Roach. “If you look back to early episodes, it was the first [TV show] to show a transgender woman as beautiful. It was the first time I saw a man on television walking in heels — and not being made a joke of ... He was a man in heels who had a purpose: to pass on a skill to people who needed it.”
Joining Roach and Ora on the revamped “Top Model” are model Ashley Graham and fashion journalist Drew Elliott. It’s the first time that the series, which premiered in 2003, won’t star Banks (who’s behind the scenes as an executive producer).
The ever-busy Roach has cut his client list to an exclusive two: Zendaya Coleman (he’s the creative director of her shoe/clothing line, “Daya”) and superstar Celine Dion. But while he’s now changed the way personal and street style is viewed, don’t dare ever call him a stylist.
“I’ve worked with Zendaya since she was 14,” he says. “Young girls were not changing up their hair like her, but now everyone is doing it. That’s me being an ‘Image Architect.’ It is a blueprint to increase her fashion profile.”
Roach, originally from Chicago’s South Side, never thought he would make it into the fashion world while working as a sales associate at a shop called Deliciously Vintage Boutique. “I was just born into fashion. It’s a part of my DNA,” he says. “I was never a singer or a dancer, so my love for fashion has always been there. But coming from Chicago it was not something that you necessarily thought you would be successful at.”
Singer K. Michelle was Roach’s very first client — and word eventually spread about his styling talents.
“This does sound cliché but to me it is all about confidence,” he says. “My [‘Top Model’] co-host, Ashley Graham, is in an industry that is not receptive of what she looks like. Yet she’s storming through breaking down doors and barriers every single day.”
Roach says there are two moments that come to mind regard- ing Zendaya’s and Dion’s breakout fashion moments.
“We were at the stairs of Lincoln Center in 2014 and it was Zendaya’s day off,” he says. “I dressed her in this amazing yellow Miuniku coat. She did did her own make-up and hair. And when she got there people just started taking pictures. They just saw this pretty girl in this amazing coat and one photographer turned into thirty.
“While we were in Paris, Celine wore this “Titanic”-themed black sweatshirt. It was so anti of what people expect her to be, which is this Vegas showgirl with beaded gowns. But on the inside, Celine is cool and very relevant.”
For Roach styling is emotional and surreal — and he notes that it’s not just about picking out a simple outfit.
“It’s bigger picture for me than just clothes,” he says. “Celine lost her husband, then her brother, to cancer in a very short time span. The clothes did not make Celine forget what happened, but it made that time a little bit easier for her.
“Every morning she woke up, got dressed and felt beautiful — and that is one of my greatest accomplishments.”
“America’s Next Top Model” 10 p.m. Monday on VH1