Interview conducted on March 7, 2023

By Ryan Lowe, edited by Ben Pigott

Ryan: Who are you? Where are you from? What is your role in the fashion industry?

Alexander: My name is Alexander Roth, I’m from New York, 27 years old, I am a director, creative producer, and content creator.

RL: During your busy seasons, what does an average workday look like for you?

AR: It depends on the time of year. a lot of things in my life revolve around various production schedules and the fashion calendar. I usually have a prescheduled call with my team at the beginning of the week to discuss any upcoming projects. I don’t like to work from home because when I’m home, that’s kind of my place to zen out and read, or do whatever. I will be shooting some sort of content, every day. Whether it’s a brand deal for myself, kind of just fucking around, doing test shoots, me as the model, other people as models. Maybe it’s a style out for an editorial or something else that’s coming up. After, I usually check in with my team one more time or anyone I’m working on projects with, and then I check out. It’s important for my mental health to have a bit of me time and solitude to decompress at the end of the day. 

RL: Time management, sounds like you got it down.

AR: Somewhat. I’m still working on it every day. With this ambiguous schedule, you have to think ahead. I do thrive in chaos, though. If I don’t feel a little bit manic then something is off. I think for me and my creative style a little bit of chaos can create some of the best imagery, video, or whatever.

RL: What does it mean to you to get dressed?

AR: It’s everything to me. It goes so much deeper than just “clothing” or “fabric”. It’s extraordinary what clothing can do for people. Getting dressed is a portion of how I negate any negativity in the morning. Clothing is about carrying emotion anywhere I go. I cherish the clothing, I cherish the fabric, I cherish the time and the intimacy that goes into making the garment. I cherish the mind of the designers that I buy from or work with and want to support.

RL: Well said. Name some of your favorite pieces in your closet. Are there any pieces that are like, ‘I need to wear this today’?

AR: I have a bunch but I never actually wear them. I just don’t want to fuck them up. Also, if I’m wearing them it’s very intentional. My favorite item in my possession is the ring my dad gave to my mom for their 15th wedding anniversary that I wear every day, I almost never take it off. I have a pair of boots that Sébastien Meunier sent me from his last collection at Ann Demeulemeester and I hardly ever wear those, I just loved his tenure there, probably one of my favorite tenures in fashion. I do have a couple of Raf Simons pieces, I have suits from Raf, there’s this shirt from Spring/Summer 2002, this sleeveless button down, kind of sheer, it’s white and blue. I never wear it, it’s actually ripped. I lent it to someone and they ripped it, not going to say who. Anything that a friend makes or anything that someone who I’m friends with, is kind enough to send to me, I will hold it very near to my heart. I understand how much time and energy goes into making pieces. For someone to make a piece for me is really special.

RL: What is your fascination with jewelry and where does it spring from?

AR: I think jewelry and accessories are very intimate to the person and it’s very specific. You go around and see people wearing variations of the same outfit but how someone chooses to wear jewelry is very representative of one's personality. I use jewelry and accessories as a way of, like clothes, freedom of expression but I think there’s a much deeper meaning. I started having a fascination with jewelry before I started having a fascination with clothing and that probably stemmed from growing up in the household that I did. My mom, I would call her a maximalist, I don’t really like that word but there are always more accessories, more tchotchkes in the house, more decorations, everything was more for her. Same for my mom’s mom and my dad’s mom, it definitely stems from the women in my life. My mom’s mom is a Holocaust survivor and immigrated to the US and the jewelry she wears today is representative of her past. My dad’s mom, if you can envision like Michelle Pfeiffer’s character from ‘Hairspray’- a super chic 50s woman with big blonde hair, with the capes for dresses–that was her. That’s so iconic and so chic.  Three women shaping my different ideologies of what jewelry can be on three different levels, it’s so personal. They’ve each given me pieces of jewelry that I’ll never give away.  They’ll be handed down to my kids. Heirloom jewelry is my favorite kind of jewelry. It’s one of one, it really means something.

RL: You’ve created some powerful images with GQ photographed by Luka Booth, can you tell me what it was like to be on set?

AR: It was a mid-fashion week so it was very chaotic. I’ve wanted to work with Luka for a long time, Luka is an incredible photographer. It was the first time I’ve worked on an editorial where we were doing the style outs and sending Pierre some of the imagery, he was just like, ‘Do whatever the fuck you want, have your way, no creative restrictions.’ He kind of just let us have at it, not all of the images ended up going to the magazine. I’ve also been following Pierre for a while prior to his appointment at GQ France, so it was a moment for sure. I still look back at the fitting Polaroids from this shoot.

RL: PFW, MFW, LFW, or NYFW and why?

AR: I’ve never done London so I can’t attest to that but some of my favorite emerging designers are from London. I love Paris because it’s one of my favorite cities, I always feel so inspired when I’m there as for New York, I want to support the talent there as much as I can. That’s just where I live, I’m at home, and it feels natural. It’s all very family oriented for me there and I think that when working in fashion, you can feel very isolated. I have my chosen family here. This industry can tear you apart and having people to lean on is something you need. To answer the question, I would say Paris for the experiences that I’ve had and the heritage that goes along with it. 

A show is a show and you see what you see on Vogue Runway, you see the videos and everyone’s sitting pretty front row. But the amount of debauchery that goes down to even get to that point, the amount of patience the brands, designers, PRs, production, hair, makeup–everyone who works on the show, the amount of patience you need to have to put on a production like that is so immense. I commend all the people that work on these kinds of things. It’s not for the weak of the mind.

RL: Anything you can speak on in the future? Upcoming projects?
AR: I’ve been working on a portrait project with photographer and director, Hector Clark, who I just think the world of. He’s an incredible creative force. He’s based in Australia but he’s going to be in LA very soon. It’s focused on one’s inner fantasy and how one thinks of themself - how a fantasy can shape one’s lifestyle as a whole. Without giving too much away, the goal is to accomplish 120 portraits by the end of the year. It’s all about storytelling and creating imagery that drives this notion of personal fantasy turned reality. Another Jewelry collection is in the works with a focus on more sculptural and wearable art. Re: imagery, I want to make hot shit, hot imagery. The internet and branding these days can’t take sex how it used to, it kind of negates the idea. But I miss it. It drives my own personal work so if I can bring that element to anything I work on, I think I’ve accomplished something.