This is an edition of the newsletter Show Notes, in which Samuel Hine reports from the front row of the fashion world. Sign up here to get it free.
Last month, A$AP Rocky called his longtime stylist Matthew Henson with an urgent request: He needed 20 suits. And he needed them tomorrow.
The rapper, actor, and all-around style dynamo creates men’s fashion magic every time he graces a red carpet or sits front row at a runway show. But this time, Rocky was preparing for a high-stakes appearance of a much different kind. After months of delays, he would be standing trial in Los Angeles on two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, charges stemming from a 2021 incident involving his former friend and collaborator, A$AP Relli.
“I’m like, ‘OK, so what are you thinking?’” Henson recalled in an interview on Wednesday afternoon. “And he said, ‘I want it to be all suits, and I need a different look every day.’” Henson immediately went shopping.
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On Tuesday, Rocky was acquitted on both counts, capping off an at times surreal trial that featured bigshot lawyer battles, several Rihanna appearances, and a minor dustup over the definition of “AWGE” (from his seat at the defense table, Rocky implored witness A$AP Twelvyy not to spill the acronym behind his intentionally enigmatic creative collective).
But it was his suits that defined the legal drama.
Over the course of the nearly month-long proceedings, Rocky’s creative tailoring stole the show. One day he wore a Gainesbourgian double-breasted suit by Saint Laurent accented with a silk scarf tied in a jaunty bow. Another day, the Giorgio Armani aficionado channeled ’80s Wall Street by cinching a belted gabardine trench coat over a lush camel blazer and flowy dark trousers (all also by Saint Laurent). Courthouses are about the only place in American life where the necktie remains de rigueur, but for at least two sessions Rocky took an even more formal tack, donning glossy peak-lapel dinner jackets as if the judge was hosting a candlelit gala rather than a cross examination.
At a time when the semiotics of celebrity dressing are religiously studied—particularly when those celebrities appear in court—Rocky’s trial style made immediate waves. The New York Times described him as “unflappable…looking as if he marched off a billboard.” “A$AP Rocky Turned The Courtroom Into The Catwalk,” declared Hypebeast. WWD called his looks “office core.” And indeed, if you deleted the paralegals in the background, the images of Rocky navigating the sidewalk barricades could very well have been captured by Tommy Ton at Paris Fashion Week. No two looks were the same, but all were equally elegant and wrinkle-free, from his glossy square-toe derbies to his crisp dress shirts.
In our phone call, Henson rued that a few suits from Anthony Vaccarello’s knockout Fall-Winter 2025 Saint Laurent collection (the one with the brilliantly kinky thigh-high leather waders) didn’t make it time for Rocky’s acquittal. But Henson maintained that Rocky’s outfits weren’t orchestrated to court publicity. “This was not a stunt, this was not a flex,” Henson said. Unlike Rocky's Bottega Veneta paparazzi pictures, this was not a meta fashion campaign. “As much as our industry is a huge business and there's so much planning, this was not one of those moments,” Henson said. “You see Rocky at Fashion Week, it's a bit different. But this was real life.”
It’s no secret that presentation is critical when you’re sitting in front of a jury—it’s why Anna Sorokin’s lawyers hired a stylist to whisk Miu Miu dresses to Riker’s Island before the so-called Soho Grifter’s court appearances. If Rocky’s looks had a message, it was personal. “He wasn’t thinking about what other people would see,” Henson told me. Instead, was more akin to Rocky’s trial prep. “It was more about being comfortable, being prepared,” the stylist added. “Not knowing what was coming, it was more like, ‘Let’s be ready for anything.’”
Logistically, the 20 outfits came together in a lightning style-out over a couple hours in New York and LA. Rather than lean on Rocky’s tight brand relationships to pull options straight from the runway, Henson opted to head to stores for most of the clothes. “Our partners are really supportive, but at the same time it was a sensitive matter,” said Henson, who added that the team at Saint Laurent is “incredible.” Illustrating the delicateness of occasion, Saint Laurent sent out regular emails during the trial with Rocky’s outfit credits with only the vaguest context: “A$AP Rocky wore Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello in Los Angeles, CA.”
Though Saint Laurent comprised the bulk of Rocky’s looks, he also wore Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Tom Ford, and Burberry. While Rocky’s fashion pedigree spans streetwear and the avant-garde—he famously has a tight relationship with Rick Owens, was the first rapper to profligately name-check Raf Simons in songs, and designs his own haute-distressed garments under AWGE—he’s no stranger to classic menswear. Before the trial, he was rarely spotted without a Bottega Veneta leather tie knotted around his neck, part of a personal style vibe shift that roughly corresponds with Rocky becoming a father of two. “He's someone that always expresses his style in a way that is very reflective of what's going on in his life,” Henson said.
Rocky’s elegantly boxy Saint Laurent blazers embodied a sense of maturity and confidence, but was I right to also detect a sense of… pleasure in his ensembles? No defense attorney would advise their client to wear a bow-tied scarf or a cream dinner jacket to court, but those were the days when Rocky actually looked most like himself. “Rocky is obviously someone who has the most incredible personal style,” Henson said. It was critical, Henson added, that Rocky’s appearance reflected that. “We did a lot of groundwork, but in the end, all the personal touches and the little details that you see, certain ties and scarves and embroidery, personalization on certain things, that's all Rocky,” Henson said.
The only day where their preparations went slightly awry was Tuesday. The Saint Laurent looks were stuck in customs, so Rocky pulled together an Armani suit, charcoal gray with pinstripes, with a shirt and tie from his own closet. (“No one styles him better than he styles himself,” noted Henson.) Now it’s part of the most iconic image of the entire ordeal. When the jury read the not-guilty verdict, Rocky leapt up from his chair and collapsed into Rihanna’s arms. Once he composed himself, the couple stood in front of the courthouse as Rocky’s legal team briefed the press. In a photograph, Rocky looks composed as ever, save for one detail: a heavy smudge of makeup across his shoulder, where his partner had wept just minutes before. A real-life moment to close out the fashion parade.
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