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Perhaps you’d be forgiven for thinking that Law Roach is a stylist. After all, the Chicago native is the mind behind Emmy-winning actor Zendaya’s endless parade of red-carpet showstoppers, not to mention his headline-making fashion moments with other A-listers like Céline Dion and Naomi Campbell. But those in-the-know, know that Roach is actually a very particular kind of architect—so particular, in fact, that he’s one of only one worldwide.
An Image Architect, as the maven has branded himself, offers clients a holistic approach. He provides AD with a job description: “Everything that an architect does to complete a structure or project is very parallel to what I did, and what I do, for someone’s image.” Zendaya, who has collaborated with Roach from her Disney Channel days through to her life now as one of Tinseltown’s most bankable stars, acknowledges that her buzzy career owes plenty to his strategic sartorial scaffolding. “He’s always been my creative director in a sense…it’s more than just clothes on a red carpet,” the Challengers actor said last year.
Considering the demand for his expertise and his ubiquitous impression on the fashion scene, it’s funny to think that Roach is technically retired—though, like all of his endeavors, he’s put his own personal spin on it: “I am the most un-retired retired person in the world,” says the creative, who caused a stir in style-obsessed circles by announcing a step back from his official duties in March 2023, citing the churn and politics of the industry. Roach tends to a smaller roster these days (including Z, of course). He’s also exploring the relationship between fashion and home decor, both with curating his own abodes and a recent collab with CB2 (“I think that fashion and home aesthetics are sisters that need to be talked about in tandem together more often,” he says). And as if all that isn’t enough to make it an unusually productive retirement, he’s interested in passing down knowledge via the written word—both with his new book, How to Build a Fashion Icon: Notes on Confidence from the World’s Only Image Architect, as well as a self-help tome on the horizon. Between a promotional book tour and the various commitments for his work actually building said fashion icon, Roach caught up with AD to discuss how his celebrated aesthetic tastes translate from fashion to furnishings.
Architectural Digest: Where do you live?
Law Roach: I split my time between California and Georgia.
How would you describe the style of your homes?
My California home, which was featured in AD, is more contemporary and modern, and a bit eclectic. The Georgia house, it’s more.… How could I put it? It’s not simple. It’s a bit more airy, and I don’t even know if I want to call it “country,” but we can call it that for lack of a better word: country chic.
What would you say is your favorite gadget or home appliance?
Crushed ice maker, for sure.
What is your bedtime ritual?
To be honest, my bedtime ritual is just to say thank you for everything that I have—and thank you for all the things that I don’t have, because those things weren’t meant for me—and just to go to sleep with an attitude of gratitude, openness, and willingness to dream about the future.
What room in your house is your favorite and why?
In Georgia, my primary bedroom is my absolute favorite. It almost feels like I’m in a royal suite from a castle. And in my California house, one of my guest bedrooms is my favorite room. It’s so weird, I never sleep in my primary in California; I always sleep in the guest room that’s right across from the primary suite. I just love the energy of that room. It’s smaller, and I don’t know, it just feels more cozy. There's something about the energy of both.
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What object in your house has some extra sentimental value to it?
In my Georgia house, I have a photo by Richard Avedon of a little Black boy in Harlem. I think it’s in 1940s, and it reminds me so much of my nephew, who I lost in a tragic accident a few years ago. He was three years old, and the boy in the picture is around the same age, so that’s the most sentimental object in that house.
What would you change about your home, if you could choose one thing?
I don’t know if I would change [anything]…I actually love both homes for totally different reasons. They’re so polar opposite of each other, which I think is cool, because they truly represent both sides of my personality.
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What is the oldest thing in your house?
The oldest thing in the house in Georgia is the house. It was built in 1984, so she’s 40 years old. And she still has all the original woodworking, even the kitchen cabinets are original. The oldest thing in my house in California is... actually, all my furniture in that house is midcentury modern.
What is the newest thing in your house?
I feel like I haven’t bought anything for the [California] house in a long time. The newest thing is an original Kehinde Wiley painting. I collect Black art. And the newest thing in the Georgia house is a fricking air conditioning unit, I had to replace it and it was incredibly expensive.
Describe an item in your home that you brought back from a trip that you really treasure—it might be tough, we know you’re traveling constantly.
I am traveling constantly, and most of the time I’m traveling, all I bring back is clothes! All I bring back is vintage—which is my favorite thing. I did bring back a vintage Hermès Haut à Courroies bag from the 1980s from a flea market in Paris.
Is there a space in your home, either one of them, that serves an unusual purpose?
This is so weird, but I’m going to say it: So I have a restroom tucked away in my laundry room in the house in Georgia, and it is my favorite bathroom to use, I don’t know why. When I have company at the house, it is literally my favorite place to use the toilet. I just feel like it’s the ultimate place of privacy, because nobody expects me to be in the laundry room, in the bathroom. I think it’s because of my star sign, I’m Cancer. So, it makes me feel that I’m hiding somewhere in a shell.
Law Roach’s book, How to Build a Fashion Icon: Notes on Confidence from the World’s Only Image Architect, is on sale now.
