Simone Rocha

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.

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 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.”

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.

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. 

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. 

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 

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. 

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.