Law Roach says his work with Celine Dion turned him into a more exacting stylist, pushing him to see garments the way a veteran performer does before he ever opened his mouth during a fitting.
Roach made the comments on The Daily Beast’s ‘Obsessed’ podcast, where he reflected on the shift in his working method after moving from younger clients to one of pop music’s most enduring figures. He has since elaborated on the same period during an appearance on Keke Palmer’s podcast, offering a fuller picture of what the collaboration taught him.
The fitting that changed how Law Roach sees a garment
‘I think Celine actually made me so much of a better stylist,’ Roach said. The problem, as he described it, was that his previous clients, Zendaya and Ariana Grande, were still finding their footing in the industry. Dion was not.
‘We are talking about working with two girls who were very new to the industry, right? To go and work with someone who was a 30-year vet at that time, it’s a different process,’ he said.
At their first fitting, Dion moved through the gown quickly, naming every adjustment she wanted before asking Roach what he thought. He had nothing to add. ‘I was kind of stuck because I’m watching her see all the imperfections, and I didn’t see anything that she didn’t see,’ he said.
He set himself a target for the next appointment: to identify every alteration the garment needed before she did. ‘It challenged me to be better because had I not been able to do that, what value was I adding?’ he said.
That discipline has stayed with him. The standard Dion held during their fittings became the standard he holds himself to now with every client.
Patience, kindness, and the art of the goodbye
Roach also took away lessons that had nothing to do with clothing. He recalled fumbling with a buckle on one of Dion’s shoes before an event, rushing to get it fastened. Her response was quiet and direct: ‘She said, “Take your time. It goes faster.”‘
He also watched how Dion moved through a room. ‘I would go places with Celine, and she would stop and say hello to every single person and introduce herself,’ Roach said. ‘She’ll introduce herself at the beginning of whatever we’re doing, and at the end she’ll say goodbye and thank you to everyone.’ He added that it ‘means so much’ for people to be acknowledged by someone of Dion’s stature.
Roach first began styling Dion in 2016, months after she lost her husband, René Angélil, to throat cancer. According to People, Roach joined Dion in Paris for several weeks after that, styling her in fashion-forward looks day after day as she re-emerged on the public stage. Dion had sought him out after spotting his work with Zendaya. ‘She liked that [Zendaya’s style] had some sophistication to it, and she liked it, so she Googled me,’ Roach told People at the time.
The two have remained in contact ever since. On 14 March 2023, Roach announced on Instagram that he was stepping away from celebrity styling, citing ‘the politics, the lies and false narratives’ in his industry. The retirement announcement drew wide attention, but it did not last.
On 4 February 2024, Roach came out of retirement to dress Dion for her surprise appearance at the 66th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, an appearance that carried particular weight given that Dion had kept a low profile since announcing her stiff-person syndrome diagnosis in December 2022.
That Grammy moment was a reunion built on the foundation Roach described in the podcast: a working relationship in which Dion consistently pushed him to raise his own standard. The next public event either of them chooses to attend together will be watched closely for what they put on the stage.