Simone Rocha

Simone Rocha (born 11 September 1986) is an Irish fashion designer. Her father is a fashion designer John Rocha, and mother is Odette Rocha. She trained at the National College of Art and Design,Dublin with a BA in Fashion. She then furthered her studies in Central Saint Martins,London graduating with a MA in Fashion. She launched her graduate collection in 2010 at the Tate Modern and in London Fashion Week. She was named Young Designer of the Year in 2014 by Harper's Bazaar, and Womenswear Designer of the Year 2016 at the British Fashion Awards. Simone has been able to expand to having four stores in locations such as New York, London and Taiwan showcasing her furniture and hand-made sculptures.
Rocha was born in Dublin, Ireland on 11 September 1986, making her Zodiac sign a Virgo. Her father, John Rocha, is a fashion designer. ''Her mother, Odette, born in Dublin, where Simone also grew up, has been pivotal as a business partner first to her husband and now her daughter''. Simone attended her first fashion show when she was the age of 0 with her mother and father, and has been attended one no less often than every six months since then. She later felt that it was "inevitable" that she would follow in her father's career, adding that fashion was "100% part of [her] life.
Rocha worked at her father John Rocha's studio between the ages of 13 and 18. She trained at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland. National College of Art and Design offered her a unique position in art and design education, they also offer the widest range of art & design degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate level in Ireland. Before applying at the National College of Art and Design, she says, ''when I was in school I was a really bad student, I was dyslexic so I found it challenging. The only place I felt really good was in art class.”Seeing how she thrived in more practical subjects, she was inspired to go to art college.
She then studied under the late Louise Wilson, who ran the fashion department at Central Saint Martins in London. She mentioned that “I hadn't had a huge amount of respect for authority before, but with Louise, I was so engaged, so in awe and scared of her but I wanted to impress her. So I was lucky I got accepted.” Rocha showed her graduate collection at the Tate Modern gallery, and in London Fashion Week for the first time in 2010. Her first fashion installation was in the window of Dover Street Market in London, with the company the first to stock Rocha's designs.
Following her success from her graduate collection in London Fashion Week in 2010, Rocha has been able to establish a distinctive presence in the fashion industry with her innovative designs. Rocha had an outlet within the Dover Street Market store, which was located on Dover Street, and continues to have one within their new store in Haymarket. In the early days, her lines were also stocked by Paris-based boutique Colette. In August 2015, she opened her first standalone store on London's Mount Street, alongside Marc Jacobs, Roksanda and Céline Since then, Rocha has four stores in locations such as New York, London and Taiwan. More recently, Rocha has opened independent stores of her own in both London and New York. In 2017, in her native Ireland, her only stockist is Havana in Dublin. Now she is stocked in multiple boutiques across Ireland, such as Samui Cork. In 2023, she designed the met gala look for Billie Eilish, honouring the late designer, Karl Lagerfeld.
Rocha has been able to modernise Elizabethan and Victorian silhouettes as she uses traditional decorative feminine accoutrements of pearls, lace, patchwork and handwork along with pink neoprene. She has been able to take from her Irish and Chinese roots into her designs as shown in her Autumn/Winter 2017 Catwalk.
Due to her huge success in womenswear, Simone then expanded her line to menswear. When asked ''We know that women of all ages and styles wear and treasure your clothes – but who is the Simone Rocha man?'', she proceeded to answer with, ''...even with my womenswear I’ve never really had one muse. I’ve always been exploring femininity and that’s why as you say it’s all different types of women. It’s the same with the menswear, it’s about exploring masculinity and the sensitivity that can come with that and the complexity of that. It’s hard to say “one man” if I’m being honest but it’s very much a partner to the women’s. Since I introduced the menswear, I still look at the collection as one collection, it’s about the role of the woman and the role of the man, and how that influences womenswear and the menswear, but then there is also a crossover between them''.
Simone Rocha's designs have had a cultural impact as they have become a staple on red carpets. As seen on influential figures such as:
Rocha has had a fashion show every Fall and Spring since 2012, as seen on Vogue.
Simone is married to cinematographer and photographer Eoin McLoughlin. The couple work very closely together professionally and creatively as seen on projects such as 'Simone Rocha x H&M' and 'Simone Rocha X Moncler SS19'. McLoughlin has also directed a documentary-style film for her Fall 2021 Ready-to-Wear collection.
Simone and her partner, Eoin, also have two children together. Their first child was born on November 18, 2015. She mentioned her second child who was 16-weeks-old and how her latest collection was ''influenced by the idea of mother and child when designing the upcoming collection, "and the kind of procession and ceremony, and the physicality of that... that and the sleepless nights!".