LA Roxx is a brand that has crafted iconic outfits for pop-idols and rockstars since the '80s, creating leather-based looks for such stars as Michael Jackson and Guns n' Roses. Under their current designer Sharon Rahim, they continue to innovate for music's next generation of A-listers. Most recently, Rahim oversaw custom pieces for the likes of Beyoncé, YG, Charli XCX, Kehlani, and more.
Rahim spoke to The FADER in an immersive profile on the brand's history, its breakthrough moment, and what it's like to re-do a piece for Beyoncé in a single day.
On the hectic creation of Beyoncé's look for the 'OTR II' tour:
"We had four days to turn it out and we had to find leather, the jewels, the shorts material. We found all that stuff and it took us about three days to put all the stones onto the jacket. As we were sewing up the jacket, all the stones started falling off by the hundreds. Ten-thousand stones. And the jacket was due the next day. This happens and you have to adjust. If you can't do it, nobody gives a shit. They'll find someone else who can do it. Me and two or three people from the team started running around looking for different options. We had to build another jacket from scratch and ended up doing it one day, hand-stitching it."
On making YG's incredible money-print look:
"I like working with [YG’s stylist] Dianne Garcia, she knows what she wants. She came in like "Hey we're doing this thing for the YG music video" and she showed me some Acne references of money print that they did six, seven years ago. We sketched out a couple of ideas, then she approved, then we had to figure out how to make that happen. She wanted Versace vibes so we had to get a silky material, kinda like ’90s, Tupac/Biggie vibes. We played around with the pattern on the computer and put the dollar bills in different ways until it looked the most like what she wanted. If you were to make that with regular fabric, it would take three or four yards. We had to use like ten yards to get one outfit because of the placement of the dollar bills."
On the brand's start:
"LA Roxx began in the mid-80s, around 1986, and it was located on Hollywood Boulevard. My dad had this leather jacket shop that he wanted to get out of. He had a partnership with my uncle, my mom's brother, and since my parents were getting divorced he wanted out. My brother who was sixteen at the time asked if he could take over, so he did. I was three at the time. There was no name, so he created LA Roxx and formed it."
Be sure to read the full profile on LA Roxx over on The FADER.
In related news, Beyoncé and JAY-Z are among the nominees for Video of the Year at the MTV VMA's. See the full list here.
