THE JOURNAL
Meet Ms Simone Rocha, The Visionary Designer Bringing Poetry (And Pearls) To Menswear
You can tell a lot about a designer by the music they choose to accompany their shows. Take Mr Rick Owens, whose neo-gothic fashion is complemented by his penchant for dark, industrial techno. Or Mr Hedi Slimane, currently at CELINE HOMME, whose fascination with youth subcultures is reflected not only on the runway but in the underground, unsigned musicians he chooses provide the soundtrack.
Music can be more than just accompaniment to fashion. Sometimes, it provides the jumping-off point for entire collections. Think of the number of times that punk, grunge or rave have made their way onto the moodboard. Other times, it can feel entirely incidental, like a kind of auditory set dressing. And then you have designers like Ms Simone Rocha, whose AW23 show, and the music that was chosen to accompany it, appeared to have been conceived together, like two complimentary expressions of the same idea.
“A dramatic interpretation of Irish folklore that can be dark and unsettling at times, and soft and romantic at others”
“I have always loved and admired Lankum,” says Rocha of the experimental Irish folk band whose live music accompanied her show at London’s Westminster Central Hall this February, and whose haunting takes on Irish songbook standards have seen them labelled as one of the most exciting musical acts to have emerged from the country in years. “It feels historical, beautiful, modern,” she says of their music. “It gets into your skin.”
She could just as easily be talking about her own clothes. Arriving at MR PORTER this month, AW23 by Simone Rocha is only the designer’s second season to incorporate menswear after more than a decade focused exclusively on womenswear. It is, like Lankum’s music, a dramatic interpretation of Irish folklore that can be dark and unsettling at times, and soft and romantic at others.
Taking as its central inspiration the ancient Gaelic festival of Lughnasadh, which traditionally marks the beginning of the harvest season, it is an exploration not only of the historic rituals of rural Irish life, but also of the increasingly blurred space that separates masculinity and femininity. “I have always found the place in between stimulating,” Rocha says. She is one of a growing number of designers who are choosing to show their menswear and womenswear collections on the same runway. “The contrast and the friction [between the two] creates something visceral, inviting.”
“I start each collection as a reaction to the last. I like to tell stories”
This freedom to overstep gender boundaries, when combined with those traditional Irish influences, results in a collection that’s quietly subversive and full of unexpected contrasts. This includes Sunday-best tailoring and workwear staples embellished with raffia and lace, macramé knitwear, and cotton shirting edged with pearls.
Gender fluidity and androgyny have been topics of great interest to fashion designers in recent years. But there’s a poetic quality to Rocha’s work that stops it from ever feeling like social commentary. It’s a fantastical vision of menswear that does its best to keep the real world at arm’s length. While Rocha has said that she is not naïve to the present day, and that reality has as much of an influence as escapism on her work, she is not in the business of chasing trends. “I start each collection as a reaction to the last,” she says. “I like to tell stories.”
Of course, the irony of Rocha’s ambivalence to trends is that she is now playing a big part in creating them. If you've noticed pearls, lace and other traditionally feminine details appearing on the high street recently, then you have Rocha’s womenswear collections to thank. We can only assume that her menswear will prove just as influential.