Simone Rocha: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Simone Rocha built a language of Irish toughness and tulle: smocking, pearls, Aran knit and brutal romance staged in London since her 2010 Central Saint Martins graduate show. This mix traces the Dublin inheritance from her father John Rocha, the Japanese deconstruction that licensed her silhouettes, and the Irish folk ritual and women artists she keeps returning to.

The Kynda mix for Simone Rocha

• Key Influence · John Rocha Spring/Summer 2014 by John Rocha (2013). Rocha grew up inside her father's Dublin studio, where the Hong Kong-born, Ireland-based designer rebuilt Irish linen and Aran knit as high fashion and showed for decades at London Fashion Week. His layered, handcraft-heavy, largely monochrome womenswear — pleating, fraying, laser-cut leather — is the direct precedent for her material obsessions. She has consistently described the family business as her first education in cloth and in running a label.
• Influencia Obscura · The Eve of St Agnes by Harry Clarke (1924). The Dublin stained-glass master's jewel-dark panels, now in the Hugh Lane Gallery, are the visual key to Rocha's Irish gothic: saturated reds and blacks, elongated figures, religious ornament turned sensual. Her recurring use of ecclesiastical lace, veiling and devotional detail reads straight out of Clarke's world, a strand of Irish decorative art far less cited in fashion writing than her Japanese or British references.
• Local Roots · JW Anderson Autumn/Winter 2013 by Jonathan Anderson (2013). Anderson, from Magherafelt in Northern Ireland, launched in London two years before Rocha and became the other half of the Irish-in-London story of the 2010s: both NEWGEN-supported, both showing in the same fashion week slots, both rewriting gendered volume. His frill-and-bustier menswear of this period ran parallel to her own experiments, and their careers are routinely read together as a new Irish design generation.
• Beyond the Medium · Maman by Louise Bourgeois (1999). Bourgeois's giant bronze spider — mother as protector and threat, spinning and mending — maps precisely onto Rocha's central subject: motherhood, fertility and female inheritance rendered as both tender and frightening. Rocha's work on pregnancy, lineage and the female body shares the sculptor's vocabulary of cages, webs and domestic craft elevated to monumental scale, and Bourgeois's textile work is a recurring touchstone in her orbit.
• Peer · Christopher Kane Spring/Summer 2014 (Bonding collection) by Christopher Kane (2013). Kane, a Central Saint Martins graduate a few years ahead of Rocha, occupied the same London slot of intellectual, slightly perverse femininity — bonded lace, industrial trims, flowers made strange. Both were key NEWGEN alumni and both treated craft techniques as conceptual material rather than decoration, making their collections the twin poles of London's thinking-woman fashion in the 2010s.
• From the Canon · Autumn/Winter 2019 (Wren Boys) by Simone Rocha (2019). Her most explicit excavation of Irish folk ritual, drawn from the St Stephen's Day custom in which boys wear straw masks and parade with a wren. Straw-work hats, dark tailoring and fragile tulle made the collection the clearest statement of her project: Irish tradition handled as something eerie and physical, not quaint. It explains why the pearls and broderie in her other seasons never read as merely pretty.
• Key Collaborator · Lovers' Tales by Faye Wei Wei (2017). The London painter's mythic, tender canvases of lovers, swords and flowers were translated into prints and embroideries for Rocha's collections, one of the clearest examples of how she pulls contemporary art directly into garment surfaces. Wei Wei's own painting shows what Rocha was after: a romanticism that is unfashionably sincere, loosely drawn and faintly pagan, carried onto silk and organza.
• Legacy · Autumn/Winter 2022 by Sinéad O'Dwyer (2022). The Irish designer, London-based and NEWGEN-supported, works on body casting and extended sizing with the same conviction that clothing should argue with anatomy. She belongs to the generation of Irish designers for whom Rocha's success in London proved the route was open, and critics consistently place her within the lineage of Irish craft-led womenswear that Rocha and her father established.

What influenced Simone Rocha

• John Rocha. Rocha described following her father John Rocha into fashion as inevitable. (also via John Rocha Spring/Summer 2014) “Before starting her own label, Simone did her fair share of internships, but she didn’t limit herself to design. She worked under her father, Marc Jacobs and Dazed to name a few.” (1 Granary)
• Louise Wilson. Rocha studied under Louise Wilson during her MA. ““I think that’s something I learnt from Louise Wilson. She told me to go out and look at things that you want to look at that don’t feel like something you should be interested in.” (1 Granary)
• John Rocha Spring/Summer 2014 by John Rocha (2013). John Rocha Spring/Summer 2014 (John Rocha) — titan for Simone Rocha “Rocha's daughter Simone Rocha is also a successful designer.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Piano by Jane Campion (1993). The Piano (Jane Campion) — culture for Simone Rocha (themoviedb.org)
• Maman by Louise Bourgeois (1999). Maman (Louise Bourgeois) — culture for Simone Rocha (wikidata.org)
• The Virgin Suicides by Sofia Coppola (1999). The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola) — culture for Simone Rocha (themoviedb.org)
• The Eve of St Agnes by Harry Clarke (1924). The Eve of St Agnes (Harry Clarke) — ghost for Simone Rocha
• Spring/Summer 1999 (Shalom Harlow spray-paint finale) by Alexander McQueen (1998). Spring/Summer 1999 (Shalom Harlow spray-paint finale) (Alexander McQueen) — titan for Simone Rocha
• Travelling Woman with Newspaper by Louis le Brocquy (1947). Travelling Woman with Newspaper (Louis le Brocquy) — ghost for Simone Rocha
• Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body by Comme des Garçons (1997). Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body (Comme des Garçons) — titan for Simone Rocha
• Miuccia Prada (1949). Simone Rocha Spring/Summer 2017 collection (Simone Rocha) — legacy for Miuccia Prada (via Simone Rocha Spring/Summer 2017 collection)

Peers and kindred spirits

• H&M. Rocha collaborated with H&M in 2021. (also via Simone Rocha x H&M) ““I hope women feel feminine, strong, cool, unpredictable and a part of something when they wear the collection,” says Simone Rocha of her H&M collaboration.” (British Vogue)
• Jean Paul Gaultier. Rocha was a guest designer for a Jean Paul Gaultier haute couture collection. “What I’ve wanted to show or propose is a coming together of two people.” (AnOther)
• Eoin McLoughlin. Rocha and McLoughlin collaborated on brand campaigns and films. “In addition to Nickerson’s still photographs, filmmaker Eoin McLoughlin, on set in the bush with Rocha and Nickerson, lensed a video of the behind-the-scenes creation of the campaign entitled “Patchwork/Work,”” (Interview Magazine)
• Moncler by Moncler. Rocha collaborated with Moncler on its Genius Collection series. “Moncler approached me and Mr Ruffini has such an inspirational vision, it was a pleasure to be invited to work with experts in their field.” (nss magazine)
• Simone Rocha x H&M by H&M (2021). Simone Rocha x H&M (H&M) — collaborator for Simone Rocha ““The H&M collection is very much an exploration of my existing body of work,” explains the designer. “I took characters and pivotal moments from different seasons and put them all together to create a new story.”” (British Vogue)
• Billie Eilish. Rocha designed a Met Gala look for Billie Eilish. “In 2023, she designed the Met Gala look for Billie Eilish .” (Wikipedia)
• Tyler Mitchell. Mitchell photographed the campaign for Rocha’s H&M collaboration. “Daisy Edgar-Jones , Tess McMillan, Kelsey Lu, Francesca Hayward and Micheal Ward join the Aboah sisters in the Tyler Mitchell-lensed Simone Rocha x H&M photo series styled by Robbie Spencer.” (British Vogue)
• Moncler Genius 4 Moncler Simone Rocha by Moncler (2018). Moncler Genius 4 Moncler Simone Rocha (Moncler) — collaborator for Simone Rocha “My first collection for Moncler has taken inspiration from the Victorian Mountain climbers of the 19th century. This has been translated through silhouette, volume, and structure.” (nss magazine)
• Louise Bourgeois estate. The profile reports that Rocha collaborated with Bourgeois’s estate. “Her long-time love of Louise Bourgeois - whose estate Simone collaborated with in May this year - started when she visited the Stitches in Time exhibition with her mum, aged 16.” (1 Granary)
• Jackie Nickerson. Photographer Jackie Nickerson and Rocha produced the designer’s Spring/Summer campaign together. “Nickerson shot Rocha’s Spring/Summer ad campaign, which the designer and Nickerson produced over four days in Zambia.” (Interview Magazine)
• Lovers' Tales by Faye Wei Wei (2017). Lovers' Tales (Faye Wei Wei) — collaborator for Simone Rocha “Also in 2021, Wei Wei collaborated with Simone Rocha and H&M on a pop-up book.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Erdem Autumn/Winter 2016 by Erdem Moralıoğlu (2016). Erdem Autumn/Winter 2016 (Erdem Moralıoğlu) — geography for Simone Rocha
• Shrimps Autumn/Winter 2017 by Hannah Weiland (2017). Shrimps Autumn/Winter 2017 (Hannah Weiland) — peer for Simone Rocha
• Molly Goddard Spring/Summer 2017 by Molly Goddard (2016). Molly Goddard Spring/Summer 2017 (Molly Goddard) — geography for Simone Rocha
• Christopher Kane Spring/Summer 2014 (Bonding collection) by Christopher Kane (2013). Christopher Kane Spring/Summer 2014 (Bonding collection) (Christopher Kane) — peer for Simone Rocha
• Cecilie Bahnsen Autumn/Winter 2019 by Cecilie Bahnsen (2019). Cecilie Bahnsen Autumn/Winter 2019 (Cecilie Bahnsen) — peer for Simone Rocha
• JW Anderson Autumn/Winter 2013 by Jonathan Anderson (2013). JW Anderson Autumn/Winter 2013 (Jonathan Anderson) — geography for Simone Rocha
• Jonathan Anderson. Autumn/Winter 2015 collection (Simone Rocha) — peer for Jonathan Anderson (via Autumn/Winter 2015 collection, JW Anderson Autumn/Winter 2013)

Who Simone Rocha influenced

• Spring/Summer 2020 by Richard Malone (2019). Spring/Summer 2020 (Richard Malone) — legacy for Simone Rocha
• Autumn/Winter 2022 by Sinéad O'Dwyer (2022). Autumn/Winter 2022 (Sinéad O'Dwyer) — legacy for Simone Rocha