No one does Paris Couture Week like Celine Dion

“Oh Céline — Madame Céline Dion!” Celebrity stylist Law Roach has found himself a bit of a dream client in Céline Dion, and Dion in return seems ever the happy camper. The powerhouse pop star made waves last year during couture week in Paris for her head-to-toe couture looks, as well as her exuberance seen in photos of her giving a double thumbs-up from the front row of Giambattista Valli, or waving to adoring fans from the sunroof of her car.

“She’s a fashion girl,” Roach says. “She buys couture, so it was only right for her to be at the couture shows.”

As Dion’s second Paris Couture Week comes to an end, WWD chatted with Roach about how he approached her looks for this season, and the difference a year makes.

WWD: What was your approach for dressing Céline for couture last year?

Law Roach: I was just beginning my relationship with Céline. It was our first actual week of working together, and it was very casual. It was like, “When is the last time you’ve been to a fashion show?” And she was like, “Oh, probably 20 years ago.” So I’m like, “well it’s couture week, we’re in Paris, let’s go to a couple of shows.”

She went to Dior and also Giambattista Valli and it was more about the experience of me and her being out doing something she hasn’t done in a long time. It was very recent that she had lost her husband, and I think it played a part in her healing process, just to do something that took her mind off of the things that were happening in her personal life.

WWD: How was the approach for this year’s couture week different?

L.R.: There’s no plan, there’s no reason to it, it’s all about the way we feel. It’s the way she feels when she wakes up and it’s the way I feel when I wake up and we get together and we collaborate. We try to do things that make sense for her and she’s fearless, she’s a risk-taker, she really doesn’t care what people think. The Oscars look from 1996, the backwards suit — [that] was before its time and I totally agree with her; she is definitely a visionary. She’s been doing this for 30 years. I’m a baby compared to her, you know I’m happy to be along for all her fashion journey.

WWD: Has her reemergence into fashion — spurred by everything you guys did last year during couture — changed the way you dress her, or the brands you try with her?

L.R.: Vetements [is a new brand I tried with her]. She had never worn that, so now she buys a lot of that. I don’t think [the attention] so much changes or affects the way we do things, it’s just for me to be constantly on the hunt for new things and new brands and new things to show her, to keep her interested and to spark a new interest in something that she might have missed or maybe not have been introduced to in the past.

WWD: After the success and popularity of all her looks from last year’s couture, was there pressure going into it this year?

L.R.: No, no pressure. Never any pressure. When you work with a woman like her, or a girl like Zendaya — [who] has no fear — then it’s just fine. There’s no standard first of all, like “we have to be better than them” or “we have to do something new.” I think when you try too hard it looks forced and fashion should never be forced. Style should be easy and effortless and I think when you walk into a situation like mine, it’s alway going to be great. It’s always gonna be beautiful.

ALSO

The trendiest shoe of the summer comes from SoCal skate parks, not New York runways

Kim Kardashian West teases future plans for new KKW Beauty line