Simone Rocha Reveals the Inside Story of Her Life and Work in New Rizzoli Book
LONDON — Simone Rocha has never shied away from beauty, ugliness or fear, addressing religion, motherhood, myth, family and death in a decade of dramatic runway shows set against historic backdrops across the British capital.
After 10 years in business, what could possibly be left for this designer to explore, or reveal? A lot, actually.
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On Oct. 1, she’s coming out with an intimate, and unconventional, coffee table book published by Rizzoli, while her spring 2025 collection will reveal what lies beneath her signature ballooning sleeves and layers of cloqué, tulle and double duchesse satin.
“When I’m designing, I can end up finding security in the cloth and going into extreme volumes and proportions. Now I’ve been thinking, ‘What is underneath? If you crack that open, what’s inside?’ This collection feels a little bit more intimate, interesting, and playful,” said Rocha during an interview at her studio in London’s Hackney.
The designer took ballet and Pina Bausch as her inspirations and looked at the “in-between” times between the dancers’ practices and the performances.
Rocha’s upcoming book also looks at some very personal, in-between moments, and is packed with interviews, essays and personal reflections by Rocha and her friends, collaborators and parents.
Her father, the now-retired fashion designer John Rocha, and her mother Odette both have frank discussions about their own parents; their challenges growing up in Hong Kong and Ireland, respectively; and their families’ influence on Simone, emotionally and professionally.
Rocha also got her celebrity and industry pals to talk to her — and about her. They include Chlo? Sevigny, Cindy Sherman, Perry Ogden, Sarah Andelman and Adrian Joffe. In the book, Rocha writes about the impact her friends and family have had on her.
Ireland’s first female president Mary Robinson appears in an interview by Lou Stoppard. Robinson talks about politics and pearls — one of Rocha’s enduring embellishments and the inspiration for her spring 2021 show.
The book may be glossy, but it’s also real, and reads like a memoir.
“I didn’t want it to be just a fashion picture book. I wanted there to be quite a lot more: a documentation of my work and process, and some of the original inspirations for the collections. I wanted people to get a deeper understanding of how the collections came to be,” said Rocha, laid-back and elegant in a black coatdress, delicate mules, and a pinkish bow in her dark hair.
“I also wanted to have different conversations with collaborators who inspired me, and for the reader to have a dialogue with me, and my work,” she added.
At one point, Odette, who runs Simone’s business, describes her daughter as a born storyteller.
“That’s the Irish side of her coming to the fore,” writes Odette. “Growing up, Simone was very interested in Irish myths, legends, and folklore. She loved that whole Celtic side — Irish musicians and storytellers — and she loved the way of life in Ireland. It was a good time to grow up in Ireland. When we weren’t working, we spent a lot of time in the countryside. She loved growing up there, and it had a lot of influence on her.”
Rocha writes about the importance of respecting her elders, and her history. She said the late Louise Wilson, her professor at Central Saint Martins, instilled in her that “we aren’t the first ones to do something. I really believe it. So I try to be respectful of what has come before. The storytelling or the family traditions, a lot of them aren’t mine. Now they’re becoming a part of me.”
Asked about her father’s influence on her career and her work, Rocha said they are two very different designers.
“I’ve always felt very influenced by my father’s love of fabrication and textile, and a kinship with his work and world. But the femininity, the narrative, behind what I do always feel like they were a part of me since I was a child,” said Rocha.
The book is poetic in parts, too, with Rocha adding her haiku-like musings — which she uses as her show notes every season — to the start of each chapter.
It turns out that those poems are an important part of Rocha’s design process.
“For every collection, I actually start with the written word. I write down all of my ideas, thoughts, things that I want to pull and push on for the coming collection. I write it all down very, very quickly. It’s very visceral. That body of text influences the research, the fabrication, the silhouette, and the narrative of the show,” she said.
During the interview Rocha talked about the importance of her venues. The designer regularly finds some of the most dramatic, historic backdrops that London has to offer, including the Old Bailey; the 15th century cavernous hall of Lincoln’s Inn; St. Bartholomew the Great church in East London, and the Royal Academy.
“For me, the show venue is part of the fabric of the collection and [impacts] how the clothes feel in the room, and how the person going to the show feels in the room. Sometimes they influence the collection, and sometimes they are there as a contrast to the collection,” said Rocha.
Her upcoming show will take place, for the second time, at the Old Bailey, the famous criminal court featured in novels by Daniel Defoe, Charles Dickens and others over the centuries.
Rocha said the process of putting together the book was more nostalgic than she had anticipated, “and also very cathartic. It was a really nice way to look back and see the kind of bloodline, and the reoccurring themes within all the collections and how they feed into one another. It was amazing to get it all down on the page.”
She added that designing collections season after season has a similar, grounding impact on her, especially since her life has become more frenzied. Since she started showing a decade ago, Rocha has had two daughters, both of whom are now school age.
“Fashion is unforgiving — but it’s also my medicine. At times, I find it really helps me. I need the collections — the light ones and especially the dark ones — to be able to let go,” she said.
The collections themselves reflect what’s going on in her head and her heart. “My very close friends will look at a collection and say ‘Oh, she’s in terrible form!’ or ‘ She’s in good form.’ They can look at a collection and see where I am in my life at any given time,” said Rocha.
If the spring 2025 collection is any indication, Rocha is sanguine — and light-hearted. There is more color than ever, including peach, “acidic pink” and blood red, and she’s used denim for the first time, too.
“There’s a frivolity and a reality to it,” said Rocha. She’s created little clutch bags inspired by tutus; whipped up sensual, knitted undergarments, and embellished car coats and dresses with fabric carnations, a nod to one of Bausch’s most famous works, “Nelken,” named for the flower.
“Everything is more languid in a way, but it still feels like me,” said the designer, who’s looking forward to her next stage of self-exploration.
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