There’s a remarkable
phenomenon that
takes place every six
months at a Simone
Rocha show: scores of women
dressed in embroidered tulles
and ballooning satins descend
upon her chosen venue,
proudly showcasing their
wardrobes of her designs.
Women of all ages, sizes and
inclinations; staff and press;
friends and family. It’s like
observing a cult celebrating
the distinct yet subversive
femininity that imbues
Rocha’s work.
“It does get a bit culty,”
giggles Simone, sitting on a
green velvet sofa in her light-
drenched townhouse in De
Beauvoir, east London. “My
studio is down the road from
here, and people in the area
always joke about it. They
say, ‘Oh, a girl with long hair
and a big skirt? A poufy
shape and a flat shoe? They
must work for Simone.’”
It’s this all-encompassing
community spirit that
characterises the world she has built over the past decade.
It’s an inherited trait. The daughter of esteemed Chinese
designer John Rocha, Simone spent her childhood in his
Dublin workroom or skipping school to attend his fashion
shows; learning how to crochet in his Temple Bar studio;
rummaging his “reject rails” for half-finished garments to
wear inside out or turn upside down. “I just loved being
around the mix of people there – all these different sorts of
people from different parts of the world who would come to
work with him,” she recalls. Despite being determined not
to follow in her father’s footsteps (she considered the idea “a
real cliché”), she says, “It was this amazing creative space,
and I would be there at absolutely every opportunity. I just
loved working with my hands. I loved being around fabric.”
It was certainly a family affair: travelling between Dublin
and London, her parents ran the brand as a partnership. They
were also embedded in the Irish creative set, and were
renowned for their home’s open-door policy and the partiesthey’d throw every time
someone would visit the city- the sort that would go on
for days, and where Simone
and her younger brother,
Max, were welcome. As a
teenager, Simone “wasn’t
someone we thought would
run her own business – she
was wild,” remembers her
mother, Odette. “She was
really focused on having
a good time. She couldn’t
care less about school, and
you couldn’t convince her
otherwise.” So, she fitted
right in among convivial
guests such as Jim Sheridan,
Perry Ogden and Gavin
Friday. “All those people
and all their kids – we were
always bungled in together,”
Simone smiles. In fact, it’s
how she met her partner of
five years, Eoin McLoughlin.
“He was working as a
cinematographer for U2
and we were both at Bono’s
Christmas dinner. And look
at us now!”
It would be impossible to have attended Simone’s shows
over the years and not feel somehow connected to her- after all, each consecutive season has transparently
traced her autobiography. Despite attending art school
and then finishing university unsure of her path, her 2010
graduate collection, designed under the tutelage of the late
Louise Wilson – the famously fierce Central Saint Martins
MA course director who first wait-listed Simone’s application
and then ignored her for three months – earned her a call
from Lulu Kennedy, the founder of London’s young talent
incubator Fashion East. “It was certainly tough, but working
with Louise was the making of Simone’s career – the
experience totally changed her, made her focus,” reflects
Odette. “Simone is still up there in my all-time top three
MA shows,” recalls Kennedy. “Her talent and affinity
were glaringly obvious. Then, when I got to meet her in
person, it all made sense – head-to-toe in her gear, a little
punk princess with a brilliantly naughty laugh and >
“IT DOES GET A BIT CULTY.
PEOPLE IN THE AREA ALWAYS
JOKE ABOUT IT. THEY SAY,
‘OH, A GIRL WITH LONG HAIR
AND A BIG SKIRT? A POUFY
SHAPE AND A FLAT SHOE? THEY
MUST WORK FOR SIMONE’”OPPOSITE: SIMONE WEARS SHIRT. THIS PAGE: FROM LEFT, ODETTE WEARS COAT, DRESS AND JEWELLERY. VALENTINE WEARS TOP, WORN AS DRESS, NECKLACE AND HAIR CLIPS. SIMONE WEARS DRESS AND EARRINGS. ALL SIMONE ROCHA20204-20-Well-SimoneRocha_2017930.indd 202 12/02/2020 10:55