What They Did In The 90s

The Fashion Ecosystem and the decade it ascended into Pop Culture

(Erik Pendzich/ Dave Lewis/ Serge Arnal/ABACA / Davila/Mediapunch/ Shutterstock)

Dear Squawkers,

Law Roach’s book, How To Build A Fashion Icon, comes out in two weeks. It’s part self-help, part memoir. Law’s been doing press for weeks to promote it. And of course he’s getting an assist from his collaborator, Zendaya. Law + Zendaya, one of the most important relationships in pop culture over the last decade, period. No hyperbole.

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Back to the press though – as famous and influential as he now is, Law doesn’t really have a filter. In every interview I’ve seen or read, I don’t feel like there’s been an instruction that’s given beforehand that he won’t take certain questions. Law will answer the way he answers, but he’s not afraid of being asked. In a new interview with ELLE, Law was asked about celebrities who claim they don’t use stylists. His response was thoughtful, pulling back to get to his main point, which is the value – seen and unseen – of stylists. (And I hope you know me well enough by now to know which “I don’t have a stylist” celebrity I’m side-eyeing when I bring this up.)  

“There are people who say they style themselves, and exactly like you say, what does that mean? Who is calling in a rack? Who’s doing the returns? Who’s making sure you have all the right shoes, and who’s also your sounding board? All of that is part of the job. There are people who have innately great style who do make a lot of the choices of what they wear, and I think that’s great. Those are the people who make the best clients because they are great collaborators, but I think it’s kind of unfair for people to say that they do everything themselves, because I know they really don’t. Yes, there are people who have great relationships with designers and can get on FaceTime with them. But the bigger picture is that when celebrities choose to hire stylists, they are also choosing to work with a small business, and sometimes a small minority- or woman-owned business, and they are giving people jobs and helping them feed their families. It’s a way of keeping this ecosystem going, and if someone hires me as a stylist and they pay me, I’m hiring assistants and paying them. There’s a bigger picture to it than just picking out the dress.”

That is so smart, right? To talk about it in terms of small business? And emerging entrepreneurs who are building teams of creatives who’ve become essential to celebrity and style, literally. Literally. Law is part of a legacy of trailblazing stylists and fashion creatives whose work from three decades ago resonates today. And if it weren’t for the Zendayas and the Mary J. Bliges and the Missy Elliotts who invited them to come along for the ride, the way we engage with fashion and style would simply not be the same.

This is what I’ve always appreciated about Law and Zendaya – that they are both so intentional about paying their respects and giving credit to the visionaries who came before them. Law doesn’t go deep into the archives and pull those amazing vintage pieces just for the flex. There’s a purpose, and the purpose is always to make sure that we know that he knows that others paved the way.

In his profile in The New Yorker published earlier this month Law references Rachel Zoe, of course, and how he was inspired to become a stylist after watching her show. But Misa Hylton and June Ambrose are also namechecked in the piece. Both of those women are credited with conceiving so many of Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliott, and Lil Kim’s looks in the 90s. These are Black women who are known of course in the music business, in the fashion industry, and in the hip-hop community, but are not household names the way Law is now. Without them, though, beyond Law and Zendaya, so many of the trends that have come to define that era, and all the eras, since would not be possible.

Over the last couple of years or so, the 90s have come back in a big way – from clothing trends to music to even this award season, as so many 90s girlies are in contention. The 90s are being talked about like it’s a comeback, and I’ve done it, too, but it’s actually inaccurate, because the 90s never left. The 90s are foundational to pop culture, embedded into every stream of the entertainment ecosystem. I was around in the 90s, I remember almost everything about that decade, but I don’t think I was this conscious about the profound impact of the 90s on fashion, celebrity, gossip, all of what we have been covering at LaineyGossip and here at The Squawk, until I binged the docuseries In Vogue: The 90s this past weekend. I’m obsessed with it and baffled about why it’s not a bigger conversation because it’s SO good, especially for those of us who are categorised as Gen X but also because for everyone who came after, it’s a goddamn education!