Anya Taylor-Joy: Who's That Girl?

You may not recognize the name (yet), but you probably recognize her face. Anya Taylor-Joy has appeared in over twenty different projects since she made her feature film debut in the 2015 supernatural horror film, The Witch. Her latest movie (which was originally scheduled to open in the Czech Republic next week) is Jane Austen’s Emma. In it, Anya plays the lead role of Emma Woodhouse, a character that Jane Austen herself called "a heroine whom no one but myself will much like." Anya told American Vogue that working on the visually immersive film was “like swimming in a giant cupcake.” Since we’re not actually able to go out to the cinema at the moment, you can binge watch Anya right now on Netflix in the fifth season of the British historical crime drama, Peaky Blinders.

Who exactly is Anya Taylor-Joy? The New York Post calls her “the breakout star of 2020.” Peter Travers, the revered film critic for Rolling Stone, labeled her “a genuine acting find.” In the same year she was awarded the Cannes Film Festival's Trophée Chopard, she was nominated for the 2017 BAFTA Rising Star Award. Cool A-list friends like Lily Collins, Pixie Lott, and Paris Jackson comment on her Instagram posts. Anya was born in Miami, Florida but lived in Argentina until she was 6 years old and then  moved to the United Kingdom (where she learned to speak English for the first time). At 16, she was discovered by a model agent outside of Harrods in London while walking her dog. By 18, after only a couple of television appearances, she landed her breakout role in The Witch.

Today, at the ripe young age of 23, Anya has been making her presence known on the red carpet with major style statements from Loewe, Halpern and even vintage Bob Mackie. Vogue CS spoke exclusively with Law Roach, the Image Architect who also works with Ariana Grande and Zendaya, about his newest client that is currently catching everyone’s attention. 

When did you start working with Anya?
“Our relationship is very, very new. We’ve only been working together for a couple of months, actually. She hired me to do the press surrounding Emma.”   

What was your plan for her when you started working together?
“I try to work inside-out with my girls. I try to figure out who they are or who they want to be. Anya has this thing that is really special. It’s unique and it’s beautiful but it’s odd, so I wanted to dive into that and to explore that.”

What is it like working with Anya? Is it different working with her compared to your other clients? 
“The process is always the same, the girl is different. I told her, ‘you’re a fairy and I don’t know if you’re a good fairy or a bad fairy. Either way, I’m obsessed with it.’ She just has this thing that I was really drawn to. Our synergy, even in this short time, has been so amazing and easy and right. It’s almost like I’ve been working with her for years.”

What has been your favorite look of hers so far?
“The vintage Bob Mackie for the Emma premiere. That dress is from my personal archive. I bought it at auction a few months ago. That was the only dress she tried on for the premiere. We had a rail of dresses and that was, literally, the first one she tried and when she put it on, everyone got goosebumps. And she was like, ‘there is no other dress.’” 

Has that ever happened before with your clients? Just one and done?
“It’s happened in the past. It happens with Zendaya more frequently than anyone else. Those are the moments that I work for. I work for those take-your-breath-away moments. And when they happen it’s like, ‘this is why I do it. This why I dedicate my life to this job.’”

“I wanted to play with a different type of silhouette and experiment with a different decade other than the Victorian era.” 

“I feel like we were really getting into our groove. There was no fear. It takes a certain type of girl to wear a dress like that to where she wore it. It was incredible. That’s my interpretation of her, it spoke to the fairy-like quality that she has.”

“That whole collection was based on famous works of art. (This look) combined fashion and art and I wanted to tie that part of the daydream into her wardrobe.”

“That was the only dress she tried on for the premiere.”

“The only thing I can really say about that look is, ‘if not her, who?’. It was just one of those things. We were playing to the feline part of her personality with a bit of whimsy.”

“I was inspired by the costumes from the movie. So you’ll see that type of Victorian neck or the shoulder will be really reminiscent of the costumes.”

“That dress just screamed a modern day take on what Emma would have worn.”