Simone Rocha

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ss 20 wren boys

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Advertising

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Packaging

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Print

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The short video “Inside Simone Rocha’s All-Female Fashion House”, produced for New York Times, presents Simone Rocha’s studio located in De Beauvoir Town in Hackney. The place is full of feminine power, presenting the designer’s team consisted of almost entirely women, wearing Rocha’s designs and combining them with comfy sneakers.

Whereas, her office is only room in the studio that has four walls and is filled by various Rocha’s inspirations, accenting her personal approach to the brand. It includes many art books and a whole wall of inspirations including the photographs of her daughter and their dog Rufus.

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The designer’s aesthetics of subversive femininity captured in her modern and Victorian-inspired designs have attracted the attention of the most prestigious stockists including Dover Street Market (NY, Ginza and London), Selfridges&Co, Matches Fashion, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue and many others. 

(Above) Simone Rocha SS19 Installation at Dover Street Market New York, revealing the designer’s collaboration with Laila Gohar who created the unique eating experience reflecting the collection's inspirations.

"My spring-summer '19 collection is all inspired by my Chinese heritage and my grandparents and my dad, and a big part of our culture is eating," 

                      - Simone Rocha for Vogue, 2019

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The brand creates itself as feminine, romantic and modern, delivering the consistent and personal approach of Simone Rocha to her designs that reflect her memories and inspirations. 

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Simone Rocha describes her brand as inclusive, that accents the beauty of femininity no matter who you are through the use of diverse models on her fashion shows. In her AW 19 the designer’s models included Tess McMillan, Marie Sophie Wilson, Chloe Sevigny and many others, representing women of different ethnicity, size and age. 

“I never want it to be narrowed down to a singular vision. That’s always been important to me, that it can be a diverse mix of age, size, nationality.”

           - Simone Rocha for The Week, 2020

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The brand’s vision refers to the importance of practicality, good quality and timeless of clothes. By mixing the traditional craftsmanship with contemporary fabrics such as plastic, perspex or PVC, which results in the creation of her famous brogues with perspex heel, the designer introduces the fresh and modern look into the brand.

The crucial part of the brand is the richness of embellishment, using the materials such as lace, pearls, beads, crystals and flowers. The most of her clothes are hand-crafted, revealing unique patterns and embroideries. The designer also puts a major focus on details including hair pins, long pearl or beaded earrings and hairbands.

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Simone Rocha brand can be classified as family-oriented due to the importance of her family members’ part in creating the label. Her father passed down to her the knowledge of fabrication and craftsmanship, her brother used to create the soundtracks for her fashion shows, her mother controls the sales and production of Rocha’s brand and her husband-Eoin is cinematographer, who has shot some of her fashion films. 

The family also initiated her perception of femininity that constantly grows in her designs and their support allowed her to make a fully-independent brand. 

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Her dual heritage has a strong impact on her creative process, Simone Rocha takes inspirations from her memories of her childhood in Ireland as well as visits to Hong Kong, admiring the culture and beauty of both places.

The references to her Chinese roots are noticeable in Simone Rocha SS19, imitating the portrait of concubines and using hand-drawn embroideries. 

Whereas, a one year later in her SS20, Simone Rocha was inspired by Irish wren-boys, bringing the sense of masculinity to her collection. 

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The crucial value of the brand is Simone Rocha’s personal approach to her collections which usually reflect her dual heritage, family, nature and art. 

“As a woman designing for women it’s natural to make my designs personal. So when I had a baby it really influenced the collection (…)” 

            - Simone Rocha for the Guardian, 2017 

While designing the SS 18, the birth of her daughter really influenced her aesthetics, revealing the dolls embroidery in the blood-like red colour. 

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Based on my research of Simone Rocha, I’ve managed to create a timeline, reflecting the most important parts of Rocha’s career. Founded in 2010, the brand has established the strong position in the fashion industry, being stocked in the most prestigious stockists. Currently, Simone Rocha has three flagship stores which capture the vision of the brand as truly connected with art.

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My mood board that defines the aesthetics of the label as feminine with a little twist. The brand takes the inspirations from designer’s life moments, her memories, family, nature, history, and art. It is also inclusive, choosing the models in different shape, age and ethnicity, simultaneously introducing diversity into the brand’s target audience. 

· Personal · Feminine · Inclusive · Art Inspired ·  

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The idea of connecting with art is represented in her flagship stores that look like the art galleries. Such spaces combine her designs with art pieces resulted from her numerous collaborations.

Simone Rocha Flagship Store in Hong Kong