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We could launch a whole series of history lessons dedicated to Law Roach’s archival pulls and references; we’re still thinking about the Willi Smith look that he had LaQuan Smith recreate for Zendaya this summer. Yesterday, Roach piqued our fashion minds again. For his newly acquired client Kim Kardashian, the image architect pulled a look from the influential American designer of the 1980s and ’90s, Todd Oldham. As part of the promotional tour for season two of All’s Fair in Mexico, Kardashian wore a bodycon tank dress from the Fall 1994 collection with stripes that each featured different colors and prints. And once again, Roach has assigned his audience homework, directing our attention to a designer with a history worth studying.
Born in rural Texas in 1961, Oldham grew up in a family where a DIY approach was more than a hobby—you constructed your own shelves, you fixed your own plumbing, and you made and mended your own clothes. After moving to Dallas at 17, legend has it, Oldham borrowed $50 from his parents to kick-start his fashion dream. He used the money to buy white cotton fabric he manipulated into dresses with dye kits purchased for him by his grandmother. His work quickly caught the attention of Neiman Marcus; the Texas-based department store began stocking—and quickly selling out of—his dresses. From there, his rise was exponential. Throughout the late ’80s and early ’90s, he built a fashion empire off the back of this maker’s spirit.
Many of Oldham’s ensembles look decidedly simple, cut in silhouettes that appear familiar to the eye, but only because of their meticulous construction. The designer was known for elaborate dyeing, printing, and cutting techniques implemented alongside intricate beading and embroidery. What might read as a straightforward metallic button-down shirt was really silk charmeuse woven with elastic to cling and drape more like a swimsuit. A velvet blazer was cleverly stamped with gold to change the texture entirely, while a skirt printed with imagery of cakes—in homage to his collection of cake-decorating books—was created via sublimation printing, a digital printing technique that took heat, pressure, and time to transfer dye directly into a material.
Roach snagged a look from Fall 1994, a collection that began with the idea of Daniel Boone’s raccoon tail hats and the wilderness energy surrounding that look. (The kids aren’t referencing like this anymore!) Oldham showed lace-up Ultrasuede pants, dip-dyed velvet suits, and fringe-trimmed plaid gowns. The corresponding runway show was alive with personality, like most of his presentations. He called on supermodels of the era like Cindy Crawford, Stephanie Seymour, Tyra Banks, and Kate Moss, prancing down the runway with smiles on their faces, alongside staples of New York’s downtown scene like the DJ and artist Billy Beyond. The clothes and the presentations were playfully subversive while remaining earnestly celebratory.
Oldham’s influence expanded beyond the runways; he hosted a short DIY session on MTV’s House of Style titled “Todd Time.” But eventually he grew disillusioned with fashion. He stopped designing in the late ’90s, shifting his focus to other creative outlets, including interior decoration, publishing, photography, and more.
Todd Oldham Fall ’94Getty Images
This was not Roach’s first reference to Oldham. For the 2022 Oscars, he put Zendaya in a custom two-piece look designed by Pierpaolo Piccioli for Valentino. The look stood in homage to a Swarovski crystal mesh skirt and satin button-down slashed just below the bust worn by Shalom Harlow for Fall 1995.
In his short stint working with Kardashian, Roach has already decorated her with for-the-heads references. The debut look of their partnership at the opening night of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in L.A. featured a sequined, Chinese inspired clingy gown from Yves Saint Laurent’s Fall 2004 collection by Tom Ford. At the Academy Museum Gala a few weeks ago, Kardashian wore a Balenciaga look from 1951, a strapless gown tiered and embellished like a layer cake. There’s also been a leopard-print YSL look from 1986 and a dotted Marc Bouwer from ’97.
With this plunge into the archives, the two are evolving her well-known aesthetic of Skims-ified slinky, hot looks, tinging that very Kim-K bodycon silhouette with the elegance of another era. The Todd Oldham reference is the most playful one yet, and it reminds us that fashion is supposed to be fun, particularly on the red carpet where the rules of utility relinquish their iron grip. We can’t wait to see what they cook up next.
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