Law Roach Names “Big Five” Designers Who Refused to Dress Zendaya: “If You Say No, It’ll Be a No Forever”
Law Roach has a great memory. The stylist said on Wednesday that his longtime client Zendaya still hasn’t donned looks from the “big five” fashion houses after they initially refused to dress her early in her career.
“I would write [to] the big five… and they would all say no,” Roach, who has styled Zendaya since she was 14, said during an appearance on The Cutting Room Floor podcast. He clarified he was referring to Chanel, Saint Laurent, Dior, Gucci, and Valentino, who consistently told him, “Try again next year. She’s too green. She’s not on our calendar.”
“I still have the receipts,” Roach said, adding that their initial reluctance means he continues to steer clear of them. “By the time she got to [the cover of] American Vogue [in 2017], she still had never worn any of those designers. She still hasn’t.”
Roach clarified that the Challengers star has donned some big five pieces in editorial shoots, but never in a public or red carpet appearance.
“She still has never worn Dior on a carpet. She still has never worn Chanel on a carpet. She has still never worn Gucci on a carpet — any press, any appearance, never. Never,” he said. “The first time she wore Valentino in public is when she had a contract.”
He continued, “When I said, ‘If you say no, it’ll be a no forever,’ that rang true for a long, long time.”
Earlier this month, Roach told the New York Times that he and the Dune star are “fashion soul mates,” which is part of the reason they are still working together a little after a year after he announced he was retiring from celebrity styling.
“We also refer to our relationship as ‘big ideas, small details,’” he said. “I come in with, ‘You should wear 14 dresses, and you should change, and you should have a wig on and take it off so your hair should fall down!’ And she’s, ‘No, no, no, no. We’re going to do two dresses, and I’m going to keep the same hair.’”
He continued, “It’s like, I write the script, and she does the rewrites. Not saying that we don’t argue, because we do, and we fight over things. But I know my place. I know she’s the boss, and she also has enough respect for me and love for me to let me be the boss sometimes.”I come in with, ‘You should wear 14 dresses, and you should change, and you should have a wig on and take it off so your hair should fall down!’ And she’s, ‘No, no, no, no. We’re going to do two dresses, and I’m going to keep the same hair.’”
On Monday, Zendaya was among The Hollywood Reporter‘s best dressed at the Met Gala.
