Law Roach is clearing the air on his retirement plans.
The celebrity stylist abruptly announced he’s quitting his day job in a shocking Instagram post earlier this week, with fans speculating that the final straw was an incident involving Zendaya at the Louis Vuitton show during Paris Fashion Week earlier this month.
In a video clip that made the rounds on social media, Roach appears upset after an exchange with his superstar client, who sat front row and motioned to the seat behind her, seemingly suggesting Roach sit there.
Roach — who also counts Priyanka Chopra, Hailee Steinfeld, Hunter Schafer, Celine Dion, Ariana Grande and more as current and former clients — addressed the moment and elaborated further on his decision to give up celebrity styling in an interview with The Cut published Friday.
He revealed that he and the “Euphoria” actress were running late to the Vuitton show and they arrived with “a lot of anxiety,” because “Zendaya is really respectful and she doesn’t like people to have to wait on her.”
Since Vuitton employs multiple other ambassadors — including Sophie Turner, Emma Stone, Ana de Armas, Alicia Vikander and Chloë Grace Moretz — who all received prime perches, Zendaya was only allotted a single seat in the front row, leaving Roach without a spot.
“Even for years, like, I’m always used to sitting next to her. And so, in my mind, my seat was next to her. So when I got there and it wasn’t, you know, it wasn’t a problem, but there was nobody to tell me where my actual seat was,” he explained, adding that looking at the clothing side by side has become the duo’s routine.
“And so the seat behind her, when you see her turn around and touch the seat, it wasn’t her telling me to sit there, it was her telling me like, ‘That’s Darnell’s seat,’ which is her assistant. I’m not gonna sit in Darnell’s seat,” Roach said, referring to the viral video.
“That became really tough, because it made people think that Zendaya wasn’t taking care of me and wasn’t making sure I was taken care of.”
Roach said that after the show, he and Zendaya went to the afterparty, and emphasized that he has “no beef” with LVMH, Louis Vuitton’s parent company.
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In the long-ranging interview, Roach also discusses his past clash with Dior (also owned by LVMH), which he claims didn’t credit him for clothes he helped design for Anya Taylor-Joy — “Don’t erase me,” he said — as well as comments he allegedly made to Priyanka Chopra Jonas about her size, his reputation as a “diva,” racism he’s faced in the industry and more.
Roach confirmed he will not be dressing any clients for the upcoming Met Gala, despite having outfitted multiple stars for the Oscars this season. He also revealed he’ll soon be named as the creative director of a footwear brand and is working on a book, among other projects — and will continue collaborating with Zendaya in some capacity.
As for his many other clients? “They’re gonna find a new stylist.”
In a statement shared with Page Six Style, Roach said, “For me fashion has always been a love, not a job. I’ve spent so much time and energy nurturing this love and it has become my way of communicating with the world. I don’t plan to walk away from it entirely, I am just going to take some time to step away from celebrity styling and focus on myself for the first time in nearly a decade.”