NEW YORK, N.Y. — Derek Roche grew up reveling in fabrics, name-brand clothing and creating his own fashion trends.
Today, he is Sean “Diddy” Combs full-time personal fashion stylist. He also shops for many other clients, as well as styles models for national magazines and well-known companies, including Nike, Estée Lauder and Macy’s.
His current celebrity client roster includes Nicki Minaj, Ne-Yo, Kobe Bryant and Jason Derulo.
His latest project is a six-episode series that premiered in October on Lifetime’s “Million Dollar Shoppers,” a reality show where fashion designers shop for just the right outfits for a variety of clients. Season two will air in the spring.
A Goldsboro native, Roche, 30, has relatives in La Grange and the surrounding area.
His mother set the 1980s fashion trends for him along with his siblings, who wore either golf or tennis name-brand clothes for the sports they played. They also enjoyed stonewashed jeans, cutting and bleaching their own versions and cutting off the sleeves of jean jackets.
Roche said he enjoyed putting together outfits that looked “cool” and setting his own trends.
After graduating from Goldsboro High School in 1998, he began to pursue a degree in speech pathology at UNC-Greensboro. But his real love was clothes so, after his first year, he switched to textile science.
Roche and his college friends would design, shop for, create, paint and transform clothing in their free time.
“I think it’s just a passion for clothing and silhouettes and colors and fabrics that have just always piqued my interest," he said.
His first internship was with New York's Patricia Field, fashion stylist for “Sex and the City.”
“So it was a big eye-opener for me to actually be in the middle of such excitement and actual hands-on experience that wasn’t at the university," Roche said.
Following graduation in 2003, he decided to gain additional experience by interning with Vibe magazine, where he assisted in styling models and celebrities who were being photographed.
That job led to employment with Ralph Lauren and Condé Nast, publisher of national magazines that include GQ and Vogue.
“Working hard and staying focused just paid off for me,” Roche said.
His marketing friend and creative director for Arcade44, Fataah T. Dihaan, referred him to Combs, who was seeking a new personal fashion stylist. After going through a “long, rigorous interview process,” Roche said, he got the job.
“That was when it went to the next level because it went from working with celebrities and working with high-profile clients to actually working with someone of that caliber every day, he said.”
Roche travels with Combs around the world, dressing him in everyday clothes, such as $20 Cargo pants, to $5,000 tuxedos for rich and famous affairs.
Once, in France, Roche picked out a dress for Cassie, the recording artist, dance, actress and model, who was attending the screening of “Killing Them Softly” with Combs.
When Combs saw the dress, he wanted something better. Two cocktail dresses that were on hold for another celebrity or two were exactly what Combs wanted Cassie to wear.
Because he was friends with the designer, Combs was able to take both dresses. The one Cassie wore to the event was a $50,000 black gown. Roche said he never did find out who had reserved them, but Combs “doesn’t accept no for an answer.”
“Working with a person that closely can definitely be challenging," Roche said. "And then the other thing that’s challenging is he’s such a dynamic person and quite the chameleon with all the different industries in which he works in.”
Roche said it requires him to be able to easily adapt to Combs’ involvements in television, film, music, fashion, business and red carpet events, such as the Grammy Awards.
Whether he is shopping for high-level executive, entrepreneurs or celebrities, Roche knows that the clothing he selects creates more than just a good fashion look.
“People want to feel pretty or handsome or powerful, so I’m selling them more than just clothes,” he said. “I’m selling them an amazing feeling of confidence and pride and kind of self-empowerment, and so it’s kind of deeper than clothes.
“And that’s a part of my job that people don’t understand. So part of what I do is making people feel good about themselves.”
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.