While attending the 2023 Daily Front Row Fashion Media Awards on Friday night, Hollywood stylist Law Roach spoke about his muse, Zendaya and how she reminds him of fashion icon Donyale Luna.
Roach and the Euphoria star have a long friendship and work relationship, which has helped their collaborated outfits hit even more. The 45-year-old explained that many of his outfit ideas are inspired by storytelling.
In 2020, Roach honored Luna during Zendaya’s feature on Essence Magazine’s 50th anniversary cover. He paid homage to her legacy by picking similar pieces for the 27-year-old to wear during her shoot. In the shoot, she wore a matching long gown and a long-sleeved open-knit dress and donned an a’60s-inspired makeup look that included drawn-on freckles, graphic eyeliner and dramatic false cat eye eyelashes.
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During the Essence interview, Zendaya revealed that she and Roach were a part of the creative team for the shoot. The young actress explained that she was proud of the project and wouldn’t be where she is now in her career without the likes of women like Luna.
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“I’m incredibly grateful because, without the incredible, iconic people who have graced the cover before me, I wouldn’t be here, standing on the shoulders of giants. To be able to do this cover at this time is really special to me,” she said, People reported. “I also felt very excited that Essence allowed Law [Roach] and me to be a part of the creative team and do something a little bit different. I had so much fun on this shoot paying homage to Donyale Luna, the first Black supermodel.”
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“A lot of what I do, specifically within fashion, is a tribute to fashion icons who came before me, many of whom are Black women,” she added. “I love the way it turned out. I’m very proud of it. It’s one of my favorite cover shoots I’ve ever done.”
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Roach said he sees similarities in how both women carry themselves and their graceful beauty. Luna is credited as the first Black Supermodel. She died at the age of 33 in 1979 while in Rome. Luna broke barriers in the modeling industry after becoming the first Black woman to grace the cover of both Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue magazines, according to People.
“I think the ancestors are always with us, so yeah, just the beauty and the calmness — I think that’s what they really have in common,” Roach said. “Zendaya is always very serene and mellow, and I think Donyale embodied the same characteristics.”
