Oscillating between heavily ornate materials and beautiful daring proportions, Simone Rocha’s work reveals her affinity for the ethereal. What keeps her at common grounds with her audience is the intimate narrative imbued at the core of her designs. For Fall 2020, Rocha credited her nostalgic attachment to her Irish background as inspiration. The designer trailed J.M. Synge’s 1904 ‘Riders to the Sea,’ a one-act play set in the Aran isle of Inishmaan that tells the story of Maurya, a woman who lost her husband and sons to the sea, and her imminent resilience backed up by her Catholic faith. “Of course, you can’t look at Ireland and not be influenced a little bit by Catholicism,” the designer told backstage.
Rocha chose Lancaster House for the occasion, a mansion located in the St. James district in London’s West End. In fact, she’s come full circle having already staged a runway show there three years ago when she explored her Chinese heritage for FW17. “Birth, life, loss,” read the show’s notes foreshadowing the three-part procession. Attendees sat shoulder to shoulder along the house’s grand hall as models strolled along the carpeted hallway to the frenzied beat of Fontaines D.C., Dublin’s resident post-punk band.
Rocha summoned Baptisms and First Communions for the show’s opening, “I never made my first Communion, and so I never got to dress up in the white frocks though all the girls around me at school did. Maybe that’s why I’m obsessed making up for it.” Enter a group of creamy whites and crisp ivory looks made up of lace-hemmed poplin shirt dresses, tulle overskirts, and tailored trousers layered underneath satin-wrapped lace coats and embellished deconstructed fragments of Aran knits, roped around the body and tied together with ribbons.
Upon closer inspection, there were gentle renditions to nautical leitmotifs. ‘I wanted the whole collection to be layered and tied with things taken from the sea,’ Rocha said. Models carried pearl accessories reimagined in fisherman nets, top handle bags, and headbands. Hairstylist Gary Gill created fishtail braids that “mimicked spiny ribs and spiky cartilage” – some woven into braided crowns while others unraveled textured shapes. Makeup artist Thomas de Kluyver thought of the shocking feeling "when you go swimming in the cold ocean, and you put your head all the way under." De Kluyver kept models’ faces bare except for red, black, and pink metallic foil on their eyelids. Shark teeth, seashells, chandeliers, and lengthy beaded, kelp-like earrings harmonized the overall effect.
Simone Rocha FW20. Photo: Gio Staiano for NOWFASHION.
Gradually, the collection turned a little moody. The palette shifted from soothing ivory hues to gloomy blues and darker shades. Such change in color suggested a change of tone within the landscape. Could it be that Rocha’s muse grew up, became a working mother, and found herself in need of sharp tailoring and smart silhouettes? If so, I’m glad the designer retained her romantic persona through ruffles, tiers, and off-the-shoulder details mixed with a don’t-mess-with-me flair.
Presided by Saint Malachy, prophetic patron saint of Ireland – his name in orange lettering printed on deep purple gowns like swirls on water – a succession of ecclesiastic garb took over – lavish tailoring, bishop sleeves, embroidered sacred hearts, and rose-printed saches – as if alluding to the funeral in Riders to the Sea. The pearly fisherman totes now looked like mutilated macramé nets and the bright long beaded earrings turned deep red, blue, and black.
Before succumbing to misery, Rocha’s collection brightened up in rich cornflower and vibrant cobalt. “It’s loss, but not so final,” she explained. “I wanted to bring it back to the beginning.” The final white dresses were dramatically veiled in Chantilly lace – a clear nod to Virgin Mary veiled in prayer. It’s easy to notice the collection’s nuances to rituals that, in one way or the other, have defined the female experience. But Rocha’s collection also reminds us that loss and grief are part of life’s ever-changing story. Her show ended on rebirth: a promise of reinvention in times of change beyond the confines of reality. Should this be Rocha’s cue for rebirth, let it be something women can fantasize about.
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