‘A crossover of ideas and emotion’: Simone Rocha on introducing menswear to her label

‘There is a crossover of ideas and emotion, and influences of fabrications and silhouettes – they are coming from one place but each is their own individual character that responds and reacts to [the other],’ says Ireland-born, London-based designer Simone Rocha on the relationship between her womenswear and menswear offering, the latter of which was introduced as part of her S/S 2023 runway show in September 2022. 

‘It felt like the right time to start exploring the relationship between my womenswear and menswear, [but also to] introduce my codes to their own menswear identity,’ she continues. As such, the menswear pieces – interspersed throughout the show, which took place in the grand central hall of London’s Old Bailey – saw Rocha marry the sweet with the subversive, a juxtaposition that has been at the heart of Rocha’s collections since the inception of her label.

Simone Rocha menswear arrives at Dover Street Market

The poetic collection notes talked about ‘harnessing a feeling’, channelling ‘fragility, remorse, anger and nature’: a cocooning bomber jacket was worn over a ruffled white apron, cropped tailoring with a bridal veil, voluminous T-shirts embellished with naive illustrations of flowers. Tougher utilitarian elements accompanied pieces throughout – whether a proliferation of adjustable straps, or zippers which ran the length of a pair of trousers.

‘My favourite look was a fine wool-tailored suit with a pageboy collar edged in pearl; the strictness of the tailoring diffused by the veil,’ says Rocha. ‘[I also loved] the oversized egg bomber with the dropped frill taffeta apron escaping underneath. But my favourite piece was the shawl collar jacket with the voluminous bomber sleeve – I felt this was a reflection of my introduction to menswear.’

Coinciding with the collection’s arrival in store, the London outpost of Dover Street Market is hosting a special installation created in a collaboration between Rocha and Irish artist Rory Mullen (it coincides with the boutique’s seasonal changeover). ’I met Rory through his work with director Hugh Mulhern and was very inspired by his process, [and the] scale, physicality, and sincerity of this work. He is also from Ireland, like me,’ says Rocha, who wanted to create something ‘large and imposing which also felt fragile and delicate’. The result was an enormous inflatable daisy chain, decorated with sequin embellishment. ‘These contrasts featured heavily within the collection and we felt that having something inflatable was a great way to harness that energy.’

A zine-cum-campaign, photographed by London-born image-maker Rosie Marks, accompanies the project. ’I wanted to show the collection in a human way, setting scenes that would portray the emotion of the everyday,’ says Rocha of working with Marks, who is known for her idiosyncratic portraiture and documentary photography that seeks to find the ‘unusual within the everyday’. ‘We wanted to make pictures that shared emotion and questioned the archetypes of masculinity. Rosie has an inquisitive sensitivity to people and characters, showing their authentic selves and as this collection was driven from emotion, I wanted the photos as a way to share that.’ 

Rocha is slated to show her next collection during London Fashion Week in February 2023 at Central Hall Westminster. Rocha has confirmed that menswear will once again feature. ‘It’s very exciting to work [in a new medium] and at a time when there is a much more natural crossover between womenswear and menswear,’ she says. ‘Going forward I’m designing them under the same body of inspiration, but each with their own role and identity.’

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