Just days ago, Zendaya walked up the steps of the Met wearing not one, but two looks. As one of the gala’s co-chairs this year, she was one of the earliest arrivals, wearing a peacock blue and green gown from Maison Margiela by John Galliano and a theatrical headpiece from Margiela by Stephen Jones. Then she wore black Givenchy couture look from spring 1996. And in the world of celebs wearing crazy designer archival loans for events, Zendaya’s buying dresses she wears to these things.
If you don’t know Law Roach, he is Zendaya’s friend, collaborator, and stylist. The day after the Met Gala, he spoke on a interview segment with Extra about how Zendaya doesn’t do the designer dress loans. “I found the dress haphazardly. I took Zendaya to show it to her, and we tried it on and fell in love with it, and she bought it,” Law says casually in the clip. “Oh she bought it!” the interviewer repeats, with a voice implying how remarkable that is. “Oh we buy,” Law replies with a stylish sense of bravado. “That’s almost unheard of,” the interviewer says. “Yeah, not for us,” Law finishes. And yeah it is a flex. But it’s also so much more than that. Law Roach go on to explain: “How we look at it is that we’re really supporting small businesses, and I think it’s unfair to borrow from things from people who use those clothes as their livelihood.”
Like I said, this is not a revelation. Law Roach has talked about this before. But it is no small thing that he and Zendaya, undeniably two of the most influential people in the fashion industry, honor with dollars, not just the history, but the labor that goes into garment-making and garment preservation.
The black vintage Givenchy was sourced from Lily et Cie. The gow has never been worn before and came from one of two collections that Galliano made for Givenchy. It was shown in the year Zendaya was born, 1996.
