Law Roach reflects on the impact of Zendaya’s 2015 Oscar dreadlocks

Law Roach is “grateful” for his longtime client and close friend Zendaya.

On November 23rd TeenVogue Summit, the stylist recalled Zendaya’s powerful decision to wear dreadlocks to the 2015 Academy Awards when she was 18 years old. At the time, Fashion Police Co-host Giuliana Rancic drew backlash when she made a comment that night about the young star looking like this: “She smells like patchouli oil or weed.”

Although he didn’t name her, Roach said Rancic’s “really terrible comments” sparked important discourse.

“This incident actually changed the way Black people’s hair was accepted in schools and the workplace,” he said during a panel discussion. “Although we didn’t set out to make this big statement because of the events that happened, the Crown Act actually grew out of that incident.”

The 2019 Crown Act (which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) ensures protection from discrimination based on racist hairstyles such as braids, curls, twists and buns in the workplace and schools.

Roach continued that while he and Zendaya “didn’t know it was going to happen like this,” they are “grateful for it because it really sparked a global conversation about what is appropriate for Black people’s hair, especially Black women’s hair.” is.”

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At the time, Zendaya called Rancic’s comments “outrageously offensive.”

“There is a fine line between humor and irreverence,” she wrote on Instagram.

“Someone said something about my hair at the Oscars that amazed me,” the Emmy winner added. “Not because I was happy about rave outfit reviews, but because I was confronted with ignorant insults and pure disrespect.”

She continued: “To say that an 18-year-old young woman with curly hair must smell like patchouli oil or ‘grass’ is not only a huge cliché, but also outrageously offensive. I don’t normally feel the need to respond to negative things, but certain comments cannot go unchecked.

The TV host later apologized on television, telling viewers that “something I said last night crossed the line.” (Zendaya responded to Rancic’s mea culpa in a Twitter statement, writing that she hopes “others negatively affected by her words can also find it in their hearts to accept her apology as well.”)

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In a 2021 interview with W Magazinethe then 24-year-old star reflected on her reaction to Rancic.

“This is how change happens,” she shared. “And it got me thinking, ‘How could I always have a lasting impact on what people see and associate with people of color?'”