It has been almost 12 months to the date that Julia Fox scheduled a paparazzo to follow her around Los Angeles while dressed in a boob tube made of expired condoms. It was – depending on the media brands you consume – an ingenious use of waste contraceptives or an obvious and tragic attempt at headline seeking. This is, after all, the same woman whose fame was fired in the coals of Paris Fashion Week, when a brief stint as Kanye West’s so-called muse took Fox from a Breton-striped club kid to an avant-garde style plate with Pat McGrath-smudged eyes. “Every famous person calls the paps on themselves,” she says, inhaling on a Sonic Screwdriver-looking vape – which she describes as her “only f***ing vice left” – in the comfort of her New York apartment. “But not everyone does it for the same reason.”
That is because Fox’s relationship with celebrity photographers serves a far more noble purpose. “I would never put on a Dolce & Gabbana ’fit and call the paps. That is so cheesy and cringe and inherently uncool to me. The thing is, if you’re going to be spotlighting multi-million dollar corporations, it’s also your moral and ethical duty to showcase people who are just starting out, and so the pap walks will always be to support emerging designers.” It’s a mutually beneficial exchange: Fox ascends to the top of the newsfeed for carrying a handbag moulded to the life-size proportions of a human corpse and the person that made it gets a quick boost in return. There is a sense of earnestness here, as if the world has watched as Fox realised the power of clothing in real time: achieving viral success from scissoring vest tops into crop tops and wearing whatever this is to the launch of Naomi Campbell’s Pretty Little Thing collaboration.
In the tradition of those erstwhile Instagram tutorials – among them a series of videos focusing on upcycled denim that have since won her frontline seats at Diesel – Fox has this week launched her own reality television competition that will see one unknown designer rewarded with $10,000 for turning trash into treasure. (The real prize, of course, is that the winning creation will be photographed during one of Fox’s Getty Image strolls.) Dresses are crafted from old balloons, headpieces from discarded lego and medics are called for hot glue gun accidents. Law Roach – someone who understands the media value of an attention-grabbing look more than most – plays co-host, and the duo’s tongue-in-cheek critiques run the gamut of, “It’s giving, ‘we don’t like it’,” and “You are not the moment hunny and you’re cancelled”... which is precisely the kind of commentary to be expected from a programme titled OMG Fashun!
Here, Julia Fox speaks in characteristic candour about the paparazzi she has on speed dial, the differences between her and JoJo Siwa’s rebrands and the crisis of fashion criticism.
Hi Julia! How did this TV show come about?
“My agent John Rosen joined my team and was like, ‘I wanna do something with you. I love the upcycling videos you make. I love that you’re always finding new and emerging talent. What if we made a show that merged those two things?’ I was like ‘Sign me up!’, but in the back of my head I was, of course, like ‘There’s no way this is going to happen’. But then we pitched it and NBC obviously loved it. And when we found out it was gonna be on E!? I was just, like, ‘Oh my god!’, because I grew up watching E! and never in a million years did I think I would be a part of it.”
And how did Law Roach get involved?
“I’ve been trying to work with Law for ages. I actually reached out to him five years ago, to style me, but he told me he was ‘Too busy’. The thing is: I like it when people play hard to get. It just makes me even more excited. And so when I was making a list of all my dream co-hosts I was like, ‘We have to get Law!’ I literally jumped for joy when I found out he wanted to do it. Having a co-sign from someone like Law Roach just made me feel so much better about doing something like this.”
People often see Law as an impervious fashion queen, which is not the case.
“Oh, he can definitely be a bitch, but it’s always warranted and it’s always for a good reason. It never feels out of line, you know? Law’s such a graceful and perceptive person and she has a great eye for detail. I mean, he’a literally a walking fashion encyclopaedia. You can tell that Law is really about this life.”
Could you empathise with what Law said about retiring from, and being disenfranchised with, fashion?
“Look, being a stylist is such a thankless job and Law’s so much more than that. He’s an artist, an image architect, the moment. He felt like he wasn’t getting the respect that he so rightfully deserved, so of course it makes total sense to me. Like, ‘You guys need me more than I need you, motherf***ers!’ The reaction to that post was insane and I think that alone confirmed their position in the industry.”
How did you discover the design contestants?
“So I actually couldn’t find the designers myself because there’s a cash reward involved and so the process had to be highly-regulated, which is difficult because me and my stylist Briana [Andelore] are so on it with new designers. We had to make sure that I hadn’t met any of the contestants before, let alone interacted with them on social media.”
Supporting an ascendant designer can sometimes be a double-edged sword as a famous person. It’s important to spotlight their work, but these businesses lack the infrastructure to deal with all the attention that inspires.
“I’ve heard celebrities be like ‘I don’t wanna shout out small brands because they can’t handle the demand’. But you have to believe that these people will eventually find ways to deal with it. They’ll find an investor and fulfil the orders. I would never put on a Dolce & Gabbana ’fit and call the paps, for example. That is so cheesy and cringe and inherently uncool to me. If you’re going to be spotlighting multi-million dollar corporations, it’s also your moral and ethical duty to showcase people who are just starting out, and so the pap walks will always be to support emerging designers. I’d love for there to be a Julia Fox scholarship at Central Saint Martins or Parsons one day. That literally has to happen.”
Tell me more about these pap walks. To what extent are you headline seeking when you call a paparazzo?
“Every famous person calls the paps on themselves, but not everyone does it for the same reason. I have a go-to photographer, who has championed me since day one. He used to give my pictures away for free, because he just wanted magazines to write about me. I don’t even know if it’s about headline seeking, because I already know that’s gonna happen. It’s honestly more for the designer themselves. Like, they’re gonna have a really good week, because when I pull something and wear it a lot of other celebrities start calling, too. Publicists have dubbed it ‘The Julia and Briana effect’. It can be a pivotal moment for these designers and it costs me nothing to support them. And, like, I genuinely love the clothes.”
When did you first realise that fashion could be a boon to fame?
“After the whole Kanye of it all, people were saying, ‘Oh she’s only a fashion girl because of him! She won’t be able to do this without him!’ Like, that was the narrative I was starting to see form. But I’ve been doing this for years, it’s just that no one paid attention before, because I wasn’t famous and I didn’t have the same level of access. Fashion, for me, has always been about telling stories. It’s an art form, it’s self expression, it’s playing characters. And my outfits have always been the moment. It would be nice to eventually do a retrospective of all my looks, so I hope all these designers are keeping them safe for when I have my own exhibition at the Met.”
Have you ever considered styling someone?
“Well, JoJo Siwa needs some help. I feel like she needs to call me. I know she’s rebranding, but the rebrand has been a bit of a flop. People don’t see it. We really need to not do the Gene Simmons Kiss make-up and the weird ’80s suits – it’s a caricature of what a bad girl would look like. I feel like I could really do something amazing with JoJo. She’s queer and I wanna lean into that. Let’s get you into some f***ing conceptual leather jacket. Let’s get you in a wife beater. Let’s get you in a low-rise jean with a big belt and some really cool boots. And then we need to figure out the hair. There’s just so much we could do where it doesn’t look like she’s trying so hard and it doesn’t look so disingenuous and fabricated. It needs to look a little more effortless and true to who she actually is because she’s a cool a** b****. You’re f****ing Jo Jo Siwa, girl! Let me help you. I wanna make you into a style icon.”
There’s an air of Joan Rivers about you.
“I love Joan Rivers but I could never be as good as her. Like, that’s just impossible. I found it so hard being critical to the designers on this show at first because I didn’t wanna hurt anyone’s feelings. I relied on Law to deliver a lot of the tough critiques. Ugh, I just know how vulnerable these kids are – over-thinking, second-guessing, working within a time limit when everything is changing at the last minute – and design is subjective, so everyone was valid in their design choices. But ultimately I had to decide which one I liked the most, so I found my footing. I realised they’ll all live. Like, I’m still gonna wear one of their designs and I’ll make sure it’s worth it for them. It’s about being honest, not cruel.”
You should revive Fashion Police now you have the E! connections.
“Rest in peace! I’d be so good at that. I want me and Law to do it.”
Do you think culture is ready to bring back the fashion bitch?
“Oh who cares if people thought that show was mean about celebrities! They’re f***ing multi-millionaires, they’ll live. Like, who cares if I tell them their outfit sucks? We need more criticism in fashion. No one wants to ruffle any feathers these days, no one wants to say the wrong thing and everyone’s being gaslit as a result. I understand being PC and I understand that being cool, but where does the truth fall in all of that? It’s also about delivery – you can say something is s*** in a way that feels constructive and helpful. And listen, I know I’m asking for it, too, and I’m sure I’ll get rinsed from time to time, but it’s fine, I need to hear that sometimes. I’ll live, I’ll do better next time.”
Fashion has been playing nice for too long.
“You know what? I miss all those scathing runway reviews from the Noughties. Those were iconic.”
What’s next for Julia Fox?
“Well, I’m shooting this mega movie right now in New Mexico. It’s called HIM and it’s being made by Jordan Peele productions. It’s like a psychological, horror, thriller-esque film based on NFL culture. I’m so excited for it, and it’s also my first studio film so it’s a big deal for me.”