Everything That’s Gone Down With Law Roach Since He Announced His Retirement

Over the past nine years, Law Roach has grown to become one of the most respected stylists in Hollywood. He’s dressed Priyanka Chopra for Vogue covers and brands campaigns, Megan Thee Stallion for red carpets and private events, Ariana Grande, Celine Dion, and more. Lil Durk sitting courtside in the skateboard sweater by JW Anderson? That was because of Roach. But his most notable client is probably Zendaya, whom he has outfitted in showstopping looks for countless Met Galas and award shows since they first connected when the Euphoria star was just 14 years old. His work has been so notable that he was the recipient of the first-ever Stylist Award at 2022’s CFDA Fashion Awards. 

Roach had come a long way since being the owner of his own now-defunct vintage shop, Deliciously Vintage, which he ran from 2009 until he moved to Los Angeles in 2014. And he isn’t just known for his behind the scenes work with some of the biggest celebrities. Besides his styling work, he’s also appeared as a judge on seasons 23 and 24 of America’s Next Top Model and HBO’s voguing reality competition Legendary from 2020 to 2022. Yet on March 14, after years of establishing his place in the fashion world as a self-proclaimed “Image Architect,” he took to Instagram to abruptly announce his retirement. 

“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,” read the caption of Roach’s now-deleted post. 

The rumors swirled as to what exactly Roach could be referring to soon after, a seat at a Louis Vuitton show, a client at the Oscars, but ultimately Roach says a lot of it had to do with not being able to properly grieve his 3-year-old nephew who passed away two years ago. 

“I retired because I got overwhelmed and that I’ve never got a chance to properly grieve a great loss,” he tweeted out on March 21. 

With new wrinkles and interviews being added to the situation daily, we decided to break down what has been going on in the world of Roach since his retirement from celebrity styling.

On March 14, Roach took to Instagram and unexpectedly announced he would be retiring as a stylist. The surprise post caught many of his longtime followers off guard. If that wasn’t unexpected enough, it came just two days  after he styled stars like Kerry Washington and Hunter Schafer for the Oscars. 

Roach didn’t provide many specifics regarding his decision at the time, but did write, “My cup is empty…. thank you to everyone who’ve supported me and my career over the years.”

The former celebrity stylist further clarified his current status in a recent interview with The Cut saying, “I am definitely, 100,000 percent retiring. Nobody can say what’s forever and what will happen, but at this moment, and in my mind, I’m definitely retiring from celebrity styling. I’m not retiring from fashion, because I love it so much. But styling, in the way that I’ve been of service to other people, I’m retiring from that.”

Will Roach ever come back to celebrity styling? It appears to be a possibility. If that ultimately comes to fruition will be up to Roach, but a chance is all we can ask for. 

Following Roach’s announcement many internet sleuths began to try and piece together the drama that could have led to his retirement. One of the scenarios many people continued to point towards took place at the Louis Vuitton Womenswear Fall/Winter 2023 show on March 6. Roach can be seen approaching Zendaya in the front row, but there is no space for him to sit. She gestures to an empty spot in the row behind her. 

While the video clip makes it appear more dramatic than it was, other angles from later in the show Roach did make his way to the front row in his bright yellow suit. On March 21, he further confirmed that all of the commotion has nothing to do with the seating mishap at the LV show by tweeting, “Please stop it….. there was never a problem with a seat.” 

Remember folks, don’t believe everything you see on the internet. There’s usually more to the story than what that 10-second clip will tell you. Roach was just a little fashionably late.

One of the other big question marks surrounding Roach’s abrupt retirement is centered around the Oscars. Yes, he was behind Megan Thee Stallion’s stunning comeback look and Hunter Schafer’s internet-breaking Ann Demeulemeester ensemble; but people want to know more about one of the celebrities they didn’t get to see arrive at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party. 

Roach began hinting at a sixth celeb that he dressed for the after party on Twitter on March 17. He says that they did not make it to the carpet because their vintage Galliano dress ripped after getting stuck in a car door. He further talked about some of the frustrations that came about from working with this yet-to-be-named celeb in an interview with The Cut. 

“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,” Roach told The Cut. “I got off the phone, and I was like, I’m literally depleted from the day before. I’m an extreme empath, and I give everything to the point, after that night, I could barely finish a sentence. I had given so much.”

Still no word on who number six was. The world may never know.