It is a mark of Simone Rocha’s success in London that her AW2025 show at Goldsmiths Halls was a hot ticket event with not a spare seat available.
The show marked her 15th year at the helm of her namesake brand, and she used it to explore schooldays teenage stereotypes via a selection of characters including Emos, school nerds, jocks, and mean girls.
Titled The Tortoise and The Hare, referencing Aesop’s fable about how the rash, impatient hare was finally trumped by the persistent and slow-paced tortoise, perhaps the designer was making a point about staying true to her personal vision and distinctive aesthetic in an industry increasingly dominated by micro-trends with ever shorter life spans.
Whatever her motivation the collection featured many now-familiar Rocha design signatures including ribbons, bows, ruffles, pearl embellishment, lingerie details and transparency across a range of over fifty looks for both women and men.
There were also celebrity models including Fiona Shaw (statuesque in a black satin dress), Alexa Chung (ultra cool in a fur bustier and oversized leather jacket), Bel Powley (in a leather dress) and Andrea Riseborough (in a black ribbon dress) to add some extra stardust to proceedings.
The collection’s hare motif was referenced throughout with many models wearing large faux fur hares as scarves or stoles or even clutching small hare sculptures to their chests like protective amulets, which suggested even the adults need a comforting furry friend in these dark times.
Texture was central to the collection with the aforementioned faux fur, satin, silk, bouclé tweeds and leather dominating looks.
The colour palette was predominantly black with splashes of soft pink, baby blue and Rocha’s favourite blood red acting as highlights to the monochrome.
The nostalgic theme of school was explored via deconstructed rugby shirts, tailored shorts, prim coats, and the repeated use of bicycle locks on chains as belts to cinch in waists.
A popular detail was the use of slashed or sliced hemlines on dresses, skirts, and coats so that the models’ legs were very visible as they strode by.
These fluttering hemlines gave movement to the clothes but might need a pair of opaque tights to translate into real life winter weather. This detail was also deployed on tops, most notably a pink jacquard one that was sliced and then laced back together with pink satin ribbon.
Rocha has described the lacing as reminiscent of the lacing on Irish dancing shoes, and it also featured on dresses including a dramatic black column number with red ribbon lacing from shoulder to hemline.
Other standout looks included a dramatic maxi trench coat with a padlock belt, a pale pink organza dress with puff sleeves worn with a black leather harness, and a baby blue satin dress with the collection’s sliced hemline and trailing ribbon bows.
Another idea explored was the manipulation of volume which appeared in dresses with gathered pleating below the neckline (as worn by Shaw) and in paper-bag waist skirts – a vivid red one paired with a faux fur bustier made for a striking look.
Print appeared only sporadically, in a rose motif cap sleeved dress, a floral knit paired with matching knickers and a rose print shirt and big pants. These were sweetly evocative of childhood prints and added to the nostalgic feel.
A green cable knit cardigan referenced Rocha’s Irish heritage and love of crafts while denim jackets were elevated with the addition of embellished pearl-strewn collars.
The final look of the show seemed to summarised Rocha’s typical blend of the tough with the tender: it was a vivid red satin dress with a gathered neckline anchored with an embellished padlock and key.
What it suggested was open to interpretation but as with her previous collections Rocha remains adept at looking at questions of identity, self-expression and gender blended with a dark romanticism.
She is a thought-provoking designer who is constantly deconstructing how femininity is portrayed and manipulated, and now as she matures her work continues to expand and fascinate.
Rocha is pacing herself for a long and enduring career by evolving at her own speed and remaining true to her own unique style – a brave and a wise stance in a fickle fashion world.
