 Hi everyone. Thank y'all so much for for for hanging there with us for fashion culture futures virtual symposium all day and here we are tailing the amazing keynote conversation with the incredible and incomparable Law Roche. Thank you so much for being here. It just warms my heart that that this is happening and you know there's so many people that love you. I adore you and admire you and everything that you've done and I just hope you know my hope for this conversation that we'll have today you know that we get into your brain a little bit into process you know and that's what I really kind of want to angle being that obviously Cooper Hewitt is the design museum we focus on process focus on building development building blocks in creation and so we we're just so excited for you to be here but before I get into it I'd love to read you know the buyer for those who don't know even though if they don't know then they've been living under a rock clearly. I'm stylist and image architect while Roche undeniably transforms celebrities into fashion icons. Law built his own network of brands and clients which now include A-list celebrities such as Ndea, Kerry Washington, Anya Taylor-Joy known as Saka, Tom Holland and many more. Some of Law's accomplishments include being the first African-American to be featured on the cover of the Hollywood reporters most powerful stylist issue and joining the panel of judges for the hit TV show America's Next Top Model. In 2019 Law acted as creative director for Tommy Ndea fashion line by Tommy Hilfiger which premiered at Paris Fashion Week in 2020. Law sat alongside Megan Stallion and others as a judge on HBO Max's voguing competition show Legendary and he will be a well he already returned for the second season which I saw which I loved and we're going to get into that just a little bit not from you know an aesthetic point of view but from your thought process on the show because I'm very curious because you almost seem like the Simon Cal esque of like the the bunch and you're in the critique that you give in the feedback that you give is hard for a purpose to empower into better the each of the houses and so I think that that's something I also want to kind of get into uh towards the end um but fuel by his love for fashion law continues to conquer uh cultural limitations making revolutionary strides for people of color within both the fashion and entertainment industry so all out there please give a warm round of applause for the incredible LaRouche. I don't know what to say to all that thank you though. I mean yeah there's nothing to say you are you are the goat you're it you know when I think of you you know as a fashion historian as an independent curator as an educator you know I like to contextualize different people and you know not necessarily make equivalents but try to show some comparisons similarities and you know in my mind there was back in the 18th century there was Rose Bertin who was Marie Antoinette's stylist and dressmaker who created a lot of what we've seen and known of Marie Antoinette in terms of portraiture and really kind of essentially styled the late 18th century and so for you you have really uh elevated what fashion is and in the time that we've been living and really for the last you know 10, 15 years it's been your essence and and I really want to kind of go back to a little bit of what we were talking about before of picking in your brain a little bit and just looking at any creative project or looking at personally maybe not necessarily working with a client but any creative project whether you're working with the brand you know what's a typical starting point for you when you're in a creative spirit? It all starts always with brands, celebrities, whoever it starts with research we want to make sure and when I say we I have a team behind me so it's not just me but we just want to make sure that we are fully informed on what it is that we're trying to do or what goals we are trying to accomplish so if it's uh for example if it's a new client I actually had a conversation with a new with a potential new client today and she's asked me a very similar question I was like what it all starts with research so we go and we look at the client and we look at everything they've ever worn to every event they've ever gone to um and and we take that and we dissect it into different subjects like um things that we love that we thought were perfect you know that we wouldn't change a thing and then things that were close to close to being gray but there was that one thing that was that was missing or wrong and then things that we just didn't like at all and not say oh we didn't like that but we look at it from a standpoint of what could have been done to make this different what could have made it better how could we never make this mistake um so it's it's a lot of research and it's really surreal and it's really um thought out but but we start there for for everything right and what about your childhood experiences is there anything back when you were in Chicago that you that that kind of uh really kind of illuminating your mind that you like to kind of the place that you like to go back to to really kind of nurture your creativity well I think I think my first fashion show was was church you know the the black church and the women and a lot of the men as well in the black church you know that's where you went on sunday and you saw you know the mothers of the church and the pastor's wife and the hats and the suits and it was it was it was about all the bells and whistles and I think me watching that and watching my grandmother um prepare herself for church and that started on saturday night um I was I was always just fascinated with that you know and um and it was always something so glamorous about those women and you know after after that was when I was a young boy and as I you know grew out and moved through the world I got different experiences and you know when you get grown then you see the girls in the clubs you know what I mean it's just it's this fascination that I have with women I think that really um fuels me to keep working because I just think that being a woman is an art form um and sometimes it's a underappreciated art form but for me it's it's the it's everything to me you know it's women you know we're boys we well I know I do a little extra now but you know if I you know you just wake up you brush your hair take a shower and you off as opposed to women it's the hair the nails the undergarments the makeup you know and it's and the women who really really love being women are the ones that I just kind of like turned into a child over you know um so yeah it's that it's that art form that that has um kept me creative these years that's beautiful I mean it's your story is so familiar to so many you know from andre leon tiley right whose grandmother was his his first muse or patrick kelly whose grandmother also was you know his first muse but both of them their grandmothers were invested in the church and that's where they saw fashion and that speaks to a lot of uh black experiences and black queer experiences specifically um and and and additionally I I'm also curious to know you know growing up as you were forming your own personal style in order to inform what you would obviously what you became um how did you see chicago different specifically from other places um I think I think regional regionally um growing up black in a in a major metropolitan city we all have things that we that we just grew up with right um and different brands you know when um I was at I was coming into my adulthood around the time that um everybody was really influenced by little kim and and foxy brown and so it became it went from like nike and rebot and to I wanted gucci and versace you know so I'm right at the cusp when when that thing when that kind of thing exploded um but yeah I just think I think you know being young and black and you know from a um kind of not prominent neighborhood you know you clothes and fashion is a way to kind of build stature and status um and so it was like certain things that we just had to have and you work you weren't cool if you didn't have it so you know um but I think that's for us all over the country right and probably all over the world it's like those trendy things that the the cool kids at school don't wear that if you want to be a cool kid you have to have it so yeah again I went from you know sneakers and then I went into designer clothes really early I think I started when designing I think I got my first pair of gucci shoes when I was 16 um yeah and it was like you know it was like you feel you know it's just I always have those that way of just again giving you status in the black community right um and you could have I don't even know if I had a bed but I had a pair of gucci shoes you know because that the that dress and adornments is really so important to us as you know in our culture so um yeah that that's that story right and it's interesting that you say that because I feel like that essence as you mentioned is something that connects us across the country and even the world um and this is a coat kim jink is I believe kim jink is at this earlier today you know we make our own fashion whether it's braided hair long nails uh and it's only when it's co-opted or appropriated on the runway that is considered fashionable rather than ghetto and you know I think that that is something that you yourself it you're really putting the hammer down on that uh that trope that has historically continued you know because of our blackness because of our skin color not because of what we put out there and this is something that I was thinking about when when listening to that quote you know how important is credit to you you know when you have put out work and you see it copied or you see it copied or you see it you know transform or subverted into something else uh how how important is that to you do you feel flattered or do you feel uh enraged like what is what are those feelings I think it to me is it's a mixed emotion right um part of me is part of me just as a black person in this in this country um who studies and and is familiar on everything that we've been through you know as a people feels like I just feel used to I just feel I mean feels like everything was stolen to us from since we got here you know inventions and um and vocabulary and dance and fashion and so like so it's almost that you feel so used to it in a way that it doesn't affect me you know that much anymore or ever really because it's like it's just the part and it's and I'm not saying that we should accept that I'm not saying that we shouldn't be offended and enraged but it's also like you almost expect it in a way right you expect things that that's going on in the hood to make it to the runway and and they change the name and put it on a put it on so another girl from another culture and then it becomes you know chic um you know but I think I think one of my things in my profile is I say this all the time she doesn't own chic right and we have to always remember that and be able to take our power back from the things that that are that is so us you know and because it's like in my in my world it's like it's not chic until a white woman puts it on a white woman right so I always tell tell myself and say it to my sisters and when I get a chance to do things like this is to make everybody know that she doesn't own chic and when I say she I mean you know her over there with the blonde hair blue right right that girl yeah it's like I do get I you know I do get I said because it's like we know where these things come from right we know where the baby hair comes from right we wear we know where the long nails and the gold teeth and the the ring on every finger we know where that comes from and it's like I wouldn't I don't really have a problem with other cultures you know emulating us and doing doing things like us if they don't try to change it and and act like they invented it you know french braids cornrows and then it was all of a sudden it was called boxer braids and we're like no it's not it's it's french braids right you know I mean like just let it go just like hey I saw this girl in Harlem and I love the hair and I asked her where she got it done and then I went and got my done because I loved it give us that instead of you know you know one of those big hairstylers in fashion um doing something and really having their black assistants do it and then say they didn't and give it a new name and then it's like oh it's revolutionary like no we've been my mom used to do those baby hairs and I remember back in um in in like late 80s they her friends used to call it cocaine lines you know what I mean because they'll do it and it's like you know what I mean so it was like you know we we know where the trends come from I don't think that's a secret to anyone right and in continues to that it's something also popped in my head how what are the feelings when you see another black creator misappropriator take something that is exclusive yours do you feel you know like it's you know for the community for the culture and that's what it's for or do you feel a sense of also ownership as an artist you know taking you know that racing and culture and community aside do you feel a sense of ownership over your work um no I think my work I think my work is for every it's for us you know everything I do is led from being black everything I do everything I talk about how I live my life it's all from from me knowing who I am as a black man um so if it's us no I don't I don't I do it for us right I think a couple years ago my career just I said in an interview I was like my career is just not my career anymore right my career is to inspire and motivate people who look like me who want to do this because when I was in high school or you're like I didn't know this could exist for me you know I I didn't know I can live in abundance and and not live check to check and not and be able to travel the world and have all these different experiences so now everything I do and every um mark I me and every goal I I do is not for me anymore if you know if everything stopped for me right now I had a hell of a career I've had an amazing life um so it's just all my dreams everything I dream has came true so now I'm trying to teach myself how to dream bigger dreams and more dreams because when I started this career everything I dreamt about doing I've done so so I give that to every anybody everybody who's watching me who have aspirations and goals to to do things that I've done so so yeah I have no ownership in my work anymore you know I'm not a designer yet so that part of my creativity I haven't really gotten a chance no those things I may take more ownership in you know right but right now my my what I'm doing now it's it's not my take it you know especially if it helps you or motivates you or um gives you the feeling that that you can do it too so I'm happy to share it right and you you mentioned you say you're not a designer yet but uh you're a costume designer I think that that you know so I think we need to touch on that a little bit in a minute um but with we also talked about surveillance at you know um some at a program earlier today with some three incredible speakers and you know I've been thinking about the topic I'm curious to know you know again back in your early uh part of your career you know what did you learn about image creation and style development when you were working at the vintage boutique that you started out at yeah um I think that's and I don't know how to say this and not sound not humble but I think that's a little bit what I do different from a lot of other stylists like we work really hard to make it tailor it to the individual so you know Zendaya would never you know I would never do the same things for that I do for her for another girl because it's just not you know it's like Kerry's not Kerry Washington isn't Zendaya and Zendaya isn't Celine Dion is Celine Dion you know what I mean so we work really really hard to build their aesthetic and not like I don't really I don't technically have an aesthetic you know you could look at some um some stylists and you know they work right away because it's their aesthetic so we work really hard to create individualized that certain person's aesthetic um and I did learn that at when I was at the vintage store because you know what it did was gave me experience of girls coming in and just trying on clothes right so I would I learned their nonverbal cues right I learned when a girl gets a dress on and she looks at herself you know what that looks like when she loves it and I'll just carry that through um to what I'm doing now so but yeah I I I don't want to change anybody I don't want to make anybody something I want to just elevate them to the highest form of themselves and I think um that is what makes my work a little bit different in my opinion right and in in speaking about how you took those verbal cues you know essentially you were people watching you know you were looking at their behaviors and you were looking and and you melt that in with all the behaviors that you were seeing out in your day-to-day life and you know all the people that were around you and I'm curious also to know were there any like particular like characters of people of women that you were like this is something that I always love to kind of draw into like this this lady that is just burned in my brain you know that's there um I think a lot of those women were in the church and my mom had my mom was um quite the character but she had some friends that that were um really really uh dynamic um um yeah she had a friend that used to um that was a car sales um she sold Mercedes Benz's so she was very kind of posh and really well dressed and um she just had this this this because this is like this is the early 90s right so she was still probably I didn't know I can't say this for sure but in my mind she was still competing with a lot of men you know you know and and what she did and she was really successful at it and she was always and it was the tiny waist and it was the pencil skirt and it was the little wiggle and you know it was just like you know it was just everything everything you know it was very the Sandra Clark from 227 of it all yes so it was like my mom had a friend like that who used to dress like that um yeah so she you know thinking back to my childhood that was one of the ones that I remember just when she I used to love when she came over because I would why and they they would you know smoke um Virginia Slim cigarettes and you know Drake Martini arrived and I just thought it was so fancy and um legs frost and all yes she was that she was that one so um yeah but there's been there's been many there have been many when I first moved to New York it was a girl that used to get on the train with me the L train and she used to wear these white pumps every day um so that was the first time I ever had experienced daytime glamour so she would be in full and then she would wear these white pumps and the white pumps had scuff marks and all that but I thought it was so cool that it was purposeful and it was on purpose that she wore those every day um she because they looked living and and those shoes just reminded me of New York and they they just scream New York you know I'm getting with this dress on and these white pumps and every morning you know and I just um I was so influenced by that by that girl I actually did a press tour with Zendaya for Spider-Man and she wore a white pump with every single look and so that was my homage back to that girl and I wish I had met her and knew her and became friends with her and but yeah she inspired that so I keep those little mental notes and I replay them and I create stories based on them I love that and and you know even talking about creating stories you know you've used social media in just a such an incredible way to reach people and you and and I feel like you've thrived tremendously by way of social media um and you've also used it to your own you know advantage of people watching as well you know and so I earlier today Maude uh who was on that uh surveillance talk say social media apps have community guidelines and what and she questioned what communities are they serving and you know for for younger creatives who are you know burgeoning or thinking about getting into a very similar Jason field that you're currently at the forefront do you feel that social media is a democratic space enough for them to thrive today or do you feel it's too saturated do you feel that they should think even more creative outside of that realm no I think I think social media is is the place and will continue to be the place because you can be whoever you want to be you can have as many titles in your profile as you want as many you know you can you can do and be whoever you want and the beautiful part about that is made the world so small right it's made the world tiny and everything seems in reach um so I would I would just encourage younger creatives to just figure out how to do it their way and to be at you know as authentic as possible um when they're doing that you know um but yeah I love social media I I'll have a love I hate relationship with it because I'm obsessed um but I'll do a lot of my research on and things that you can see on Instagram where and learn on Instagram are things that you would have had to go to a library and write your books or go to the magazine store and stand there until you get yelled at for reading all the magazines and not buying any you know so it's like and that wasn't that far that long ago you know so I think just the amount of knowledge that is just at your fingertips I think I think is a that part of it is a really beautiful thing if you can stay away from the toxic and and and all that and just be laser focused and know why you're there I think it's a beautiful tool and into that has your time on legendary also served as a great inspiration too because I've seen watched it and and seeing you just enamored with what they obviously present um and how they presented has served as an inspiration to your creativity creativity lately but it always has I think um one of my first outside of the church when I when I got old enough to go into the world um one of my first kind of like just breathtaking moments um with fashion happened at happened at a ball um it was this this guy his name is Thaddeus Allure and he was this really kind of like thin beautiful boy like just beautiful like beautiful skin and just super just tiny and but long and and I remember it was the labels category and he walked out and he had on a pair of Gucci thongs some type of probably Gucci stiletto and a Dior umbrella something it was just like I had never saw anything like that and I just and you know I just and for the labels category they say what they're wearing it and and all this and it was just I had so I was just enamored with like this is possible like you can do this you know it's like it was a magazine come to life and so that ballroom experience I was I've been going to boss for a really long time and um but yeah that that's another one of the things that was you know planted and plants it into my brain like and I reference sometimes and um think about and and create from that but yeah the ball the ballroom scene has always been um a big inspiration to me and in general the the labels category and there's a category uh foot and eye wear when it's all about your shoe and your sunglasses and anything that had to the fashion categories was what I've always been you know in love with but I love and respect and and so happy to be a part of legendary because the ballroom community is it's it's one of those things that um if you have never experienced that you would never know that it's this this interstate of these people and love and family um that it's just really incredible what's been some what's been a few of your favorite moments and that role as a judge and and almost as a mentor you know to them I'm curious to know um well you know what you see people I wouldn't say there's two sides of me but I am very quick with and um very blunt like I tend to say what I'm feeling um but just legendary as a whole and I love seeing the contestants and the houses that that have performed and competed go on to make money you know I mean it's great but if I love I'm proud when I see you know the House of Lamban actually working with LaVon you know what I mean I love when I see some of the people in Megan's video or I you know or see them teaching classes and and taking it and and BS and you know helping it as a using as a tool to become more successful and that's what I like I love that we are shining this this huge light on on a community that's been you know underserved and um forced to stay underground for such a long time you know so that part makes me the most proud rather than just like a specific performance or you know costume and stuff that it's it's the greater good of what the show has been able to afford some of the people that have been on it amazing and I have a few Q&As they're like rolling in um I have the first one here what are your thoughts on the Black women and luxury movement on social media and do you think that this is an act of resistance are you familiar with the movement I'm not please I'm not familiar that definitely I'm so sorry but um I I I assume that it's you know Black women from you know amplifying themselves uh in embracing luxury in a way that the fashion industry has not necessarily um that the fashion industry has not allowed them to be present in that way um so I mean I guess even in a broader sense how do you feel you know because we talked about earlier you know how style is integral to us and and we'll buy you will spend a ton of money on you know luxury labels and you know that that is our part of our identity but you know how do you feel about its promotion I guess on social media as an act of resistance um I think I mean I think I first of all I'm I'm affirming believe that people should be able to do whatever they want to do you know it's it's you it's your pace your body is you know but I think again like we've all as Black people um I think we've all always had an obsession with with luxury goods and fashion um um so that part I I don't think that's anything new um and if I'm understanding the question I the way I interpret it is that you know we are as Black people still wearing the logos and supporting these people that have for years have um not appreciated it um and you know that part I don't know how to really speak on that because you know are you buying it because you love it or are you buying it because you want to be noticed by these this group of people so if it's the if it's that you buy this just because you love it because I had an aunt that you know every season she would get a new airman scarf because she loved those scarves she loved going to get the little orange box and stacking it you know what I mean so it's like she wasn't looking for validation or anything from anyone she was doing it and she did it every season because she loved it so I think that's what um that's what we need to pay attention to and think about when we post those type of questions and uh they're here in this next question uh they ask how much influence do you law have on hairstyles uh that accompany your clients styles um when looking at process and I had a question about partnerships and collaborations like who do you talk into your team and your will is my luck it is my luck no just kidding um but i'm not kidding um I think as a stylist and and when you work when you work and you work with people the type of people I work with who step out and the world sees them the um there's a theory in psychology that says the whole is greater than the sum of the parts um and so I work with and and influence everything hair makeup nail color like it's for me it's a full it's the full look because if if the hair is not quite right then it throws the whole look off or the makeup so and I think that's why people like to work with me because I come in with a vision and I sometimes when I have the authority to do so I plug in the different people who I know can bring bring the vision to life because yeah it's the it's the whole look it's not just the dress right and some people love me for that and some people don't like me as much for that but you know many but that that's the but I why wouldn't it I mean that it's great because for everybody's a creative right and everybody wants their vision you know and sometimes their vision is just the vision for the hair or the vision for the makeup so I come in and I make sure that the vision is complete you know the entire look so you know but you also have to think that I work with some of the the the best creatives in the world right the you know and so everybody has an opinion and sometimes you know people have egos and um you know but it's you know it's for the greater good so whatever that's fair I mean it can be creative differences but at the same time I feel like you're the ringleader like your job is to be the ringleader so you have to get the girls together I feel the same way baby I feel that way but you know it is what it is right but no I do work with a lot of incredible people who who do collaborate with me and who do understand my vision and um will let me lead um but you know I but I'm thinking of it in a way that it's going to be great for everybody you know so and we all and I always say this to I'm like will will we all be proud of that if we did it that way so yeah right um here in this next question it's a fun question um they want you to manifest a collaboration I don't know if you want to say that out loud or not I do want to say that out loud um I want to I want to work with one of the the big store brands I want to do something that can reach the masses like a Target or Walmart um I love that I love that I love doing things where you create something that everybody could have a piece of you um so yeah I am manifesting that I want you know Target or you know Walmart or what Macy's or something that that I can touch the flyover states I don't want to do something that feels too high in or too unattainable or you know not approachable so I do have dreams of doing um some type of collaboration with them and not even just calls but like home goods and um everything because I'm I just got really really into that during quarantine I kind of remodeled my house and I did all the um I did all the interiors on my own so I was like oh okay I can do that as well so I would love that and I would love to be able to you know pop in a Target or Walmart and see people actually trying to close on and buying the clothes and you know talk to them and tell them you know I don't know I just want and I want to do things that's really size inclusive and um yeah I just want to I just want to be able to touch the masses whatever that collaboration is I love that I love touching the masses because that's literally why we have the this symposium as well as um you know we curated the the Willie Smith Street culture exhibition because Willie Smith that was the core of his life was touching the people and touching the masses nothing over $150 was his mantra you know he created patterns and designed patterns so that people who could even afford that could touch a bit of the where lifestyle yeah um and so here we have another question uh they say hi well uh as a current fashion design student that wants to be a stylist but lives in a fashion drought what advice do you have to get your foot in the door when it's hard to get clients um I think I think that what people should do is also take their time right I think if you have the opportunity to intern or work for someone whose work you admire or whose style you admire or whose trajectory you've been following and and that's interesting to you um but take your time right everybody wants to jump out and and and I'm saying this just from experience because I was one of those people who just jumped out um and decided that this is what I was going to do and I was going to move to LA without knowing anyone or ever really working in the industry um but I made a lot of mistakes I made a lot of mistakes I lost a lot of money I did a lot of things wrong especially in regards to finance and taxes and and all that I had to I had no one to teach me that so you know I tons and tons of mistakes um but I also did it really really quickly um so I would say take your time and and really really learn as much as you can about the business because putting the dress on the girl is the last part of it you know it's so many other things to to to that help that really is this business you know it's it's the finances and it's invoicing and it's relationships and showrooms and designers is a lot so if you get the opportunity to learn that from somebody else um then do so because I think it's I think it's really beneficial and I wish that I would have had the opportunity to assess someone or to in turn for someone um because I just I just you know trial and error is how I made it but if you can not do it that way then I think you should that's so interesting because that's exactly that was one of my questions uh was how did you learn your business Abby because I feel like you're so great at it I mean it's something that we as black people is something in the black community that it's it's hard for many of us yeah you know because we don't have you know many examples uh to guide us and learn you know how how to make investments or how to you know file your taxes or you know all of these different elements that are part of life and that help grow wealth um those things weren't afforded to many of us and so you know that was I thank you for being honest in your in in your response um um I um so I don't really at this point I don't look at myself as a creative anymore I look at myself as a business as a brand and I think that changing that perception um changing that perception is I think what helped me succeed like I don't I'm still learning right I'm still learning about investments and I'm still learning um trust and and those type of things because you know from us it's like you put your money in your mattress you know what I mean you put it in your shoebox and put it in your closet um I mean you you know as you don't tell nobody is there so all of that coming from the way I was raised um I'm I'm still learning but I my perception changed of who I am or what I am like I am a businessman first and foremost I run a multi million dollar global business at this point and I run it like that you know I don't I don't just think of myself as a creative who has great taste and you know has a great personality no I am I am a business even when I'm on legendary I am a business I am a brand there as well and I think when when you when you're able to to move from that perspective it changes things and um here we have another question uh and even now that you have all of this knowledge are you planning on teaching at a college or university or is that like a dream that you have in the future it teaching and educating is definitely something that's happening really really really soon um I'll be announcing something um in the next few months that will give um people a little bit um a little bit more of me so yeah I think you know my thing is like when you learn you teach so everything I've learned I'm I'm really looking forward to teaching teaching it all but it'll it'll it's coming really soon thank you for that question actually so students need to be on the lookout to see whose core schedule is about to be lit for the when I think as black people will we learn we have to teach we have to absolutely um we have another question particularly around process uh how do you feel about virtual styling and do you think it takes away from the essence of the relationship between stylists and their muse well I think it's it's the new normal well for the last year is everything was virtual and um you know as as people we figure it out that's part of um I think the strength of of just being a human you know when you're faced with some type of adversity you have to pivot you know you just you have to and um my my business was able to sustain um and grow doing in the pandemic based on my ability to pivot so although yes I want to be there to zip the dress up and to be in a fitting and to make suggestions and feel that energy and and and share the excitement but we we you know we do what we must do um and I think that being safe and and making sure everybody else around you was safe was the most important thing and you know at the end of day it's just close and those days will come again and when they do you know I'm happy to be there on the red carpet and in the fittings and and all that and it's changing it's opening up and we're doing more things um in person now and but you know if you gotta you know you gotta do what you gotta do gotta do what you gotta do I mean look it's just the time keep a smile on your face and be grateful attitude of gratitude and just be like I may not be in the room but I'm still working so exactly and I feel like you're you can be in 15 different places at once too right do you feel like you can do more even more work virtually you know I could be in 15 places at once anyway though period you know I always felt like I could do that anyway you know like double book triple book but yeah you know you figure it out hey and that's also one of the joys of I think my business and me is that I've just been able to figure it out you know and you just keep figuring it out and yeah and keep moving did you have to virtually well when you were costume designing for Malcolm memory did you have to all virtual virtual what was that like what was that was really interesting but um Sam Levison the director that film was very um informal right he was just calling me at one o'clock in the morning it's like I had some ideas and and we were talking and we were just sending things back and forth but yeah I did all that I was in Chicago the dress was made in New York and they were I mean I was in LA I'm sorry and they had a closed set a very small small crew for that film um like three hours four hours from LA so yeah I didn't I didn't get to see or touch anything it was all FaceTime did it all on FaceTime incredible well the part well what came out of it was absolutely timeless um so congratulations and another congratulations comes from uh another uh uh from the audience uh what was it like being recognized and featured on the cover of the Hollywood Reporter for your work and did you actually walk in those heels all right there's a video on my page absolutely we can pop it in here you can pop it in here um that was that was really special to me because I've been on that list a few times and um the way that the way I feel like they celebrated me this time and named me as the number one um the number one stylist um that's all in context right but I think it was just a beautiful beautiful way and I felt like myself and authentic and you know and I think I held my honor next to two extremely beautiful women um Zendaya and Yatayla Joy um I just felt so special that day and I really felt celebrated and um and I also just you know this is spot is when I was in the airport or you know I was in New York and a couple people saw me and just like you just inspired me so much I think that's that's why we do it that's why we work so hard so that we know that we have this sense of um this is a pride also that if if I can't you can right it's because you know representation really means a lot it's like if I can do it and I can have these successes and you see me and I look like you then you know you can do it too and I that brings me the most joy then you know there anything else um I remember this this kid said to me he was like I know I can't because you did and I was just so so so so powerful to me those those few words so yeah I I appreciate it but you know it's a it's a moment and I need to have more moments um so I'm working to have better and bigger and greater moments that I can leave a legacy of you know opening doors for people and inspiring people and and being aspirational as well right um and we have another question um who said thank you so much for this um and they were wondering where do you go for inspiration to recharge you know for your creative juices I guess to to start from scratch sometimes um you know I'm really kind of insane in that way you know I wake up every day as a new day so I always feel recharged and I and I still actually love my job and I love what I do so you know every time I get a phone call whether it's a new client somebody who wants to work with me I still get really flattered and I you know get nervous and butterflies I'm like what if I don't do a good job so it all still feels very new to me so I'm I'm still um because I've only I've been playing around with it for 10 years but I've only been in LA and actually working for seven so it's it's I'm still happy and and it brings me joy so so I'm I'm ready you know and I'm I'm dressing right now I think I have 13 clients and um you know and everybody's working I'm dressing the biggest you know most powerful you know most creative most beautiful people in the world and you know and we just we keep it moving and um yeah I'm I just feel like I'm already always charged but I might be a little crazy too so we don't know we don't know that for sure or not but yeah I'm I just wake up every day it's a new day it's a new day it's a new opportunity to do something great and and in that we have another question you know how do you see your practice changing as we move into the future you know um right now you know I think you you probably have a good system you have a system that's worked for you or that you've come in that you formulated that we've discussed but do you see it changing and evolving um yeah I think I think I will I think the education is going to be a big part of it and I think also moving into being a designer I think it's the natural transition from a stylist you you um and if I could figure out that and and know for sure who my girl is and what excuse me what I want my aesthetic to be and and where I want my clothes to sit I think that will happen it's coming it's coming I don't think that I'll be um a stylist doing day to day stuff um for that much longer um because I also also want to elevate I think me selling vintage in a Vista store was my kind of breakthrough um into fashion and then I took that and everything I learned there and I moved over to becoming a stylist and I think that again a natural transition is to go into design and um yeah and I think I would be doing that you know for a while and hopefully I can create some success um when I choose to go that way and you know that I'll do that for you know a few years and then we'll figure something else out I'll just want to keep you know trying things within the realm of of course fashion and style and um because I think that's where my god given talent is I don't I can't do anything else I can't really dance I don't sing you know cooking is okay you know he was like the talent that I feel like that that god gave me um is in that and making people feel special and beautiful and um and and that feels good to me so it'll be something in there but um styling well I don't think I'll I don't I won't do it that much longer right and and for you you're a storyteller and that's how I that's how I view you and it's one last question you know for you what is the definition of the image architect um okay so when I first came up with that name it was just me being slick you know me like oh everybody's a stylist what makes me different but when I actually um took on the name and trademarked the name where's it a little bit before I trademarked it but I kind of start comparing what I did to actual architect right um you know like me getting a new client and and going and doing all the research and finding out exactly who they are who they want to be is kind of like surveying the land right you go and you see what the thing that you're going to work on and you know and figure it out and you know test the soil and or whatever you know and then it's kind of like you take that and you build a plan for them and that plan is a blueprint you know that's what architects do it for me um you know it's not necessarily a blueprint but it is a blueprint of you know who where we want to take them and how we want to create and create this persona or you know this character or whatever um and then you and then they hire a contractor or you know work with a contractor and then that's you know who's who's going to do the windows and who's going to do the floors and the plumbing and that's the same thing I do with hair and makeup and nail art and then also the designers wet dress and then you know you take it from the very beginning all that you see it all the way through to the end as to what architect does and instead of doing it for a building or a structure or a thing I'm doing it for people and their images love it thank you thank you so much law I really appreciate this time we spent together of course my darling I'm happy hi everyone out there I can't see any of you but um I appreciate you listening I'm always I'm always really really flattered um to do and happy to do things like this um I just feel like and for our community we have to we we have to touch each other and speak to each other and talk each other and you know I've been really doing really well in my career and I don't want to ever feel like I'm not approachable or I'm not a phone call away or a DM or a text or an introduction or this you know I want I love it around my people I was for a party one time they like look at law I'm here with the people I'm like I am the people baby I am here with the people and I ain't going nowhere and I ain't trying to change and you know I don't speak in proper English all the time and I cut my senses I'm a Chicago boy like for real for real and I and I love it and I love love love love being black love it and I'm not changing nothing no it's a blessing it is a blessing it is a blessing well in some I want to thank y'all out there um for tuning in for fashion culture futures african-american ingenuity activism and storytelling virtual symposium it's the first one we've done here at Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum and I want to thank all of the guests the moderators uh and panelists uh for joining us today including law thank you so much this just made my entire year my decade century it's everything um and this is a permanent repository that we'll have here in the Smithsonian forever so that as I mentioned in the previous panel so there's no place that someone can say that we didn't say it and that we didn't have these kind of conversations um I also want to thank uh rookie secretary bunch uh I'm going to also thank alexandra cunney and Cameron again who are always forever be grateful for allowing me to come help curate the willy smith exhibition as well as help her uh put this symposium together thank you so much to the education department um who's behind the scenes working and making all of this happened as well in the communications department every aspect that this uh that this project has touched in Cooper Hewitt and across the Smithsonian as well as our sister institution african-american museum national museum african-american museum of history and culture uh down in dc so thank y'all so much we really appreciate this thank y'all thank you