Jordan Roth: “For all of us, it is a radical act to dress in the clothes of our imagination.”

For those who still pigeonhole him as a behind-the-scenes producer, Roth actually grew up performing. “And that was, paradoxically, a place of great safety and freedom for me. I discovered that so many of the things that I felt made me wrong in the world made me right on a stage,” he explains with perspective. After college, he moved naturally into producing, drawn by the panoramic view it offers of a project’s wholeness, eventually expanding to theatre stewardship. But performing never left him. It seems that daily revolving around a stage sharpens questions about who we are versus how we present ourselves, making them constant companions. “I think it takes us right to fashion. Because fashion is a daily opportunity for those inquiries of self and expressions of self.” His Haute Couture journey began with Clare Waight Keller, appointed artistic director of Givenchy in 2017. She was the first woman to hold the position at the House, and "she was among the first to launch Men’s Couture. That felt like an invitation, like she would be welcoming me into her practice,” he says. Their collaboration brought his first Met Gala appearance in 2018 (Heavenly Bodies!) in a cardinal-red ensemble. Since then, he’s worked with designers like Iris van Herpen, Daniel Roseberry, Thom Browne, Rahul Mishra. They are, he says, “People who connect very deeply with me, who see me in my wholeness.” In theatre, he has evolved from stage to backstage, whereas in fashion, he has shifted from wearer to living canvas. Walking for Thom Browne's debut Couture show in July 2023 in Paris, he embodied a pigeon depiction. Three Haute Couture seasons later, for Rahul Mishra, he modeled an extraordinary silhouette framed by delicate ravens. As this Haute Couture bird, fashion has granted him wings he has now fully opened. 

“The clothes wouldn’t be worn for the performance, the clothes would be the performance.”

Three years ago, Roth received a birthday text wishing him “radical acts of unrelenting beauty.” (Don't we all deserve to receive such finely written birthday texts?) And “it all clicked into place,” he says. It is striking how perfectly this formula captures everything Roth embodies. “Acts” refers to the theatre, the performance. “Radical” means committing to a clear point of view to the fullest. And then there’s the beauty that never stops inspiring him. Once this phrase crystallised his instincts about returning on stage, he began building what he will present at the Louvre this week: a full Jordan Roth production. “It is not so much about control as it is about wholeness, and fullness.” Soon after, he shared the idea with his dear friend Olivier Gabet, then newly appointed Director of the Decorative Arts department at the Louvre. “I told him, I have this crazy idea.” The stars aligned, as Gabet was developing the Louvre Couture exhibition – spectacular fashion pieces in dialogue with the museum's masterworks – that continues until August 24, 2025. “That gave me the impetus to develop the piece and return to him with a fully fleshed-out, rigorously researched proposal.” Gabet brought it to Laurence des Cars, the museum's Director. “She said, and I'll never forget, ‘Well, we must do this.’”

In the Cour Marly, Roth unfolds his vision in three parts: Red, Wings and Pyramid. The latter nods to the Louvre itself, to modern glass erupting through classical stone. Wings is obvious, given we just established Roth as the Couture bird. Red? “Red is a reference to the Dior Haute Couture dress by John Galliano, part of the exhibition in the Napoleon apartments, which are right above the Cour Marly. We begin the piece with a projection of that extraordinary creation.” Yes, projection. That massive dress, which has appeared on every fashion lover’s Instagram algorithm, will serve as a giant canvas, the first step for any artist projecting imagination. “It is both a literal and metaphoric exploration of the way we project, the way we see, the way we create on ourselves and each other.” Consider it a brilliant demonstration of clothing’s power on Roth-scale – that is, grandioso.

The full production includes six dancers and music composed by French composer Thomas Roussel. They conceived the music together alongside rehearsals. “I knew what I wanted to do emotionally. Music has an extraordinary ability to convene a community around a shared emotion, to bring us onto the same psychological page.”

“You never do not care. You just care less and less in a way that does not close you down.”

Do we never stop to perform with fashion? Because following Roth online feels like witnessing a joyful child playing with all the crayons in a crayon box. The comments are quite filled with love, with some thorns mixed in. Is it still a radical act to dress how we want? Has society moved past seeing a man wearing a dress as a primarily political statement? “For all of us, it is a radical act to dress in the clothes of our imagination,” Roth reflects. "The expectation that we have to wait until we are not afraid is too high. It’s a daily practice of being afraid and moving forward anyway through it.”

What can we expect of this ongoing creative and artistic journey? “Oh, stay tuned!” And will it still be like a mix between fashion and art and performance and culture? “Yes,” a direct, unhesitating “yes,” in fact. Meanwhile, Roth has dialled back his theatre producing. “I am spending more and more time on my own creative practice and less and less time in commercial theatre.” More than a shift, this feels like a refinement. And what a curtain call to begin with.

Reuben Attia