52 ELLECANADA.COM
PHOTOGRAPHY,^ GETTY^C
URRENT FASHION PHENOM
Law Roach had little industry
experience, less than a handful
of contacts and no formal train-
ing when he decided to leave his
Chicago vintage-clothing store
behind in 2011 and move across
the country to Hollywood. He
did, however, have one client he believed in and a gut-
based understanding of the symbiotic link between
fashion and fame.
“It was all a game: Designers wanted to lend to
girls who got the most press,” says Roach, who is now
legend ary for re-engineering the looks of stars like Mary
J. Blige. (Blige had audiences on their feet this summer at
the BET Awards, where she wore an array of “custom-
ized custom” shimmering looks—which were a nod to
both her hip-hop roots and her high-fashion pedigree—
while performing and accepting a Lifetime Achievement
Award.) So Roach crafted a plan to stir up some buzz
for his then unknown client. “Everyone at the time
was obsessed with the ‘Who wore it better?’ features in
weekly magazines, so I thought, ‘Okay, if I can conjure
up comparisons, then people will start to pay attention
to my girl.’” Roach went into showrooms and scooped
up the pieces that reps cautioned him against because
bigger celebrities had already worn them publicly. “It
worked,” says Roach with a laugh. “She kept making
the weeklies, and she overwhelmingly ‘wore it best.’
Soon she was a regular on Fashion Police and getting
press because people were able to identify her.” That girl
was Zendaya, whom Roach has been styling since she
was 14. Now, at 22, she’s an acting and singing phenom
who just wrapped a show-stopping red-carpet tour for
the Spider-Man franchise.
Today, Roach refers quite seriously to himself as an
“image architect.” “My approach has always been closer
to what an architect does,” he explains. “We research,we survey the landscape and then we make plans and
call in other experts to help execute.” He employs a
team of three full-time assistants and six part-time as-
sistants in Los Angeles, London, Paris and New York
to help handle the day-to-day grind of packing ship-
ments, scheduling fittings and ferrying samples, which
are often packed up straight off the runway and shipped
overnight to anxiously waiting stylists. Though the pace
hits a fever pitch during awards season, styling teams are
busy year-round calling in wardrobe for their roster of
clients who need looks for both hometown events and
touring the globe on gruelling transcontinental publi-
city trips. (The cast of the most recent Spider-Man flick
spent weeks travelling, for example, hitting up premieres
from England to China. Roach’s team provided countless
looks for both Zendaya and lead Tom Holland, which
all had to be returned to the designers after their spin
on the carpet.) That’s why stylists often talk about dull
topics like shipping in near-religious tones. “There is
a huge volume of products, so everything needs to be
me t iculously checked in and out,” says London-born
stylist Rebecca Corbin-Murray, who has worked with
clients from Emma Watson to Carey Mulligan. “It is a
lot of reactive work,” adds B.C. native Karla Welch.
“Sure, there are glamorous bits, but those are earned.”
Welch, who works with Sarah Paulson, Elisabeth
Moss, Justin Bieber and Tracee Ellis Ross and is working
on her own styling app amid her many fashion collab-
orations, was recently named one of the most powerful
stylists by The Hollywood Reporter. “I think we have
become indispensable as part of a talent’s team,” says
Welch. “Our significance in the world of fashion has
gone from being outsiders—or, honestly, people who
fashion magazine editors probably looked down on—to
being huge assets.” In 2017, Welch transformed Ellis
Ross, who at 44 was already a seasoned entertainer,
into one of the most fashionable celebrities; she now
sits front row at Marc Jacobs and Versace, was asked to1988
No stylist needed! Cher
won her Best Actress
Oscar for Moonstruck in
an epic showgirl-inspired
sequined gown that
designer Bob Mackie
made just for her.1998
After her Oscars dress
was run over by a truck
(true story), Sharon Stone
enlisted costume designer
Ellen Mirojnick to save the
day. The result was the ul-
timate high-low pairing: a
silky Vera Wang skirt with
a button-down Gap shirt.RED- CARPET-FASHION HALL of FAME