Julia Fox and Law Roach team up for a sustainable fashion competition show

For Julia Fox, life is a catwalk. The looks she puts together — cutting off the belt loops of her jeans or creating a top made from tartan ties sewed together — are almost always guaranteed to turn heads and be photographed.

Alongside Law Roach, Fox is a host and judge of the new E! fashion competition show “OMG Fashun,” premiering Monday. Roach stepped back from styling celebrity clients last year but still works with select people like Zendaya, who is co-hosting Monday's Met Gala and recently turned heads with her looks for both the “Challengers” and “Dune: Part Two” press tours.

In each episode, contestants — or “disrupters” as they're called — are challenged to reuse materials and upcycle fashion for unique looks meant to impress Roach, Fox and a guest judge. The winner walks away with $10,000 and Fox models their design.

Executives at Scout Productions, which produces “OMG Fashun," say the show works because it fits with both hosts' fashion philosophies. Roach likes to buy archival pieces from designers to give clothing a second life. Fox is against environmentally unfriendly fast fashion, instead stressing working with what you have. That extends to production meetings.

“Julia wore a dress to one of our pitches that was all expired condoms,” recalled Rob Eric, the production company's chief creative officer.

David Collins, the company's co-founder and executive producer, said the show is an opportunity to put a spotlight on emerging designers: “It’s hard to stand out. And this is an opportunity, whether you win or lose, to stand out and have people follow you."

Fox and Roach also spoke with The Associated Press about advising the “OMG Fashun” contestants, disruptive fashion and honest feedback. The conversations have been edited for clarity and brevity.

FOX: Anything that undermines the current norms. Not wearing mass-produced garbage. Supporting local emerging designers in your own community. Not falling for clever marketing ploys. Not wearing something just because everyone else is. But more importantly, using clothes as a political statement. A lot of what I wear is in response to the current policing of the female body. They are taking our rights away more and more every day and I feel really f------ mad. I wear my clothes aggressively and angrily.

FOX: Make what you like. Make what you think is cool. If you believe in what you do, others will too. If you think it’s cool, I will too. Tell a story through your work. Don’t just make a pretty outfit. That’s just boring to me. Anyone can do that. But can you make me feel something ? That’s harder to do.

ROACH: I didn't have as much time to interact with the contestants as Julia but any emerging designer that wants to reach out to me and ask for advice or about whatever information I can give them to to help them make a sale — I’m always open to do that.

FOX: I used to put so many boundaries on what I wore because I was insecure about my body. I was catering to the male gaze and just wanting to be sexy and desirable but I’ve since broken free from that jail I built in my head and now I just wear whatever inspires me. If I think it’s cool, I’m wearing it. Life’s too short to not be the baddest bitch in the room. Period.

ROACH: Someone had to tell me that I was a disrupter. I didn’t come in like, ‘Hey, I’m going to disrupt the industry.’ It’s just things that I have been doing organically and authentically for many years.

ROACH: I do. We got a chance to see some real talent on the show. If our industry really wants to become more sustainable, I think they could look at some of the work that some of these contestants were able to produce with the fabrics that they created and the materials that they used.

ROACH: No, I have no problem at all. I think I’m really quick-witted and say the first thing that kind of comes to my mind. I really don’t have a filter. If I did, it would be a disservice to the contestants.

This combination of photos shows Zendaya at the premiere of "Dune: Part Two" in London on Feb. 15, 2024, left, and Zendaya at the New York premiere of the film on Feb. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

FILE. Stylist Law Roach, left, and Zendaya pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of "Dune: Part Two" on Feb. 15, 2024 in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP, File)

This image released by E! Entertainment shows Julia Fox in a scene from the fashion competition series "OMG Fashun." (Quantrell Colbert/E! Entertainment via AP)

This image released by E! Entertainment shows a model wearing a design by Desiree Scarborough in a scene from the fashion competition series "OMG Fashun." (Quantrell Colbert/E! Entertainment via AP)

This image released by E! Entertainment shows a model wearing a design by Theodore Banzon in a scene from the fashion competition series "OMG Fashun." (Quantrell Colbert/E! Entertainment via AP)

This image released by E! Entertainment shows designers, from left, Desiree Scarborough, Randy Luna, and Theodore Banzon from the fashion competition series "OMG Fashun." (Quantrell Colbert/E! Entertainment via AP)

This image released by E! Entertainment shows Wisdom Kaye, from left, Julia Fox, and Law Roach from the fashion competition series "OMG Fashun." (Quantrell Colbert/E! Entertainment via AP)

LONDON (AP) — The host of a news conference about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's extradition fight wryly welcomed journalists last week to the “millionth” press briefing on his court case.

Deborah Bonetti, director of the Foreign Press Association, was only half joking. Assange’s legal saga has dragged on for well over a decade but it could come to an end in the U.K. as soon as Monday.

Assange faces a hearing in London's High Court that could end with him being sent to the U.S. to face espionage charges, or provide him another chance to appeal his extradition.

The outcome will depend on how much weight judges give to reassurances U.S. officials have provided that Assange's rights won't be trampled if he goes on trial.

Here's a look at the case:

Assange, 52, an Australian computer expert, has been indicted in the U.S. on 18 charges over Wikileaks’ publication of hundreds of thousands of classified documents in 2010.

Prosecutors say he conspired with U.S. army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into a Pentagon computer and release secret diplomatic cables and military files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He faces 17 counts of espionage and one charge of computer misuse. If convicted, his lawyers say he could receive a prison term of up to 175 years, though American authorities have said any sentence is likely to be much lower.

Assange and his supporters argue he acted as a journalist to expose U.S. military wrongdoing and is protected under press freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Among the files published by WikiLeaks was video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack by American forces in Baghdad that killed 11 people, including two Reuters journalists.

“Julian has been indicted for receiving, possessing and communicating information to the public of evidence of war crimes committed by the U.S. government,” his wife, Stella Assange, said. “Reporting a crime is never a crime.”

U.S. lawyers say Assange is guilty of trying to hack the Pentagon computer and that WikiLeaks’ publications created a “grave and imminent risk” to U.S. intelligence sources in Afghanistan and Iraq.

While the U.S. criminal case against Assange was only unsealed in 2019, his freedom has been restricted for a dozen years.

Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012 and was granted political asylum after courts in England ruled he should be extradited to Sweden as part of a rape investigation in the Scandinavian country.

He was arrested by British police after Ecuador’s government withdrew his asylum status in 2019 and then jailed for skipping bail when he first took shelter inside the embassy.

Although Sweden eventually dropped its sex crimes investigation because so much time had elapsed, Assange has remained in London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison while the extradition battle with the U.S. continues.

His wife said his mental and physical health have deteriorated behind bars.

“He’s fighting to survive and that’s a daily battle,” she said.

A judge in London initially blocked Assange’s transfer to the U.S. in 2021 on the grounds he was likely to kill himself if held in harsh American prison conditions.

But subsequent courts cleared the way for the move after U.S. authorities provided assurances he wouldn’t experience the severe treatment that his lawyers said would put his physical and mental health at risk.

The British government authorized Assange's extradition in 2022.

Assange's lawyers raised nine grounds for appeal at a hearing in February, including the allegation that his prosecution is political.

The court accepted three of his arguments, issuing a provisional ruling in March that said Assange could take his case to the Court of Appeal unless the U.S. guaranteed he would not face the death penalty if extradited and would have the same free speech protections as a U.S. citizen.

The U.S. provided those reassurances three weeks later, though his supporters are skeptical.

Stella Assange said the “so-called assurances” were made up of “weasel words.”

WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said the judges had asked if Assange could rely on First Amendment protections.

“It should be an easy yes or no question,” Hrafnsson said. “The answer was, ‘He can seek to rely on First Amendment protections.’ That is a ‘no.’ So the only rational decision on Monday is for the judges to come out and say, ‘This is not good enough.’ Anything else is a judicial scandal.”

If Assange prevails, it would set the stage for an appeal process likely to further drag out the case.

If an appeal is rejected, his legal team plans to ask the European Court of Human Rights to intervene. But his supporters fear Assange could possibly be transferred before the court in Strasbourg, France, could halt his removal.

“Julian is just one decision away from being extradited,” his wife said.

Assange, who hopes to be in court Monday, has been encouraged by the work others have done in the political fight to free him, his wife said.

If he loses in court, he still may have another shot at freedom.

President Joe Biden said last month that he was considering a request from Australia to drop the case and let Assange return to his home country.

Officials have no other details but Stella Assange said it was “a good sign” and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the comment was encouraging.

FILE - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange being taken from court, where he appeared on charges of jumping British bail seven years ago, in London, Wednesday May 1, 2019. Assange faces what could be his final court hearing in England over whether he should be extradited to the United States to face spying charges. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)