MODERN MAGIC

Designer Simone Rocha talks about family values and practical femininity

- LAURA ANTONIA JORDAN

I had not expected to arrive at Simone Rocha’s studio soaked to the bone. But a sudden downpour, so badly timed it was almost comic, saw to it that I did. Still, there are worse places to take cover than the designer’s HQ in north London, where women in airy cotton dresses welcome me and promptly offer tea and a change of clothes.

So it is that I am sitting opposite Rocha, hair dripping, wearing either a short dress or long shirt depending on your height and perspective) in white cotton with poet’s sleeves. It should all be very awkward, but Rocha, in person and via her clothes, has a natural instinct for making women feel at ease. Personally and creatively, she is generous the reason her designs resonate with such a broad audience. One thing that a lot of women say to me is they feel like they’re wearing armour,” she tells me. Which I always love because from the outside that can be seen as femininity, fragility, but then once you wear the pieces, you can see that all these other nuances have gone into it and built this kind of strength.”

That duality has been at the core of her work since she presented her graduate collection in 2010. She has an innate understanding that women, that people, are contradictory and complicated. Rocha’s designs are at once peculiar and pretty, romantic and pragmatic, sweet and subversive, comfortable and challenging, luxurious and unprecious. In a black dress with a pilgrim collar, pigtails and Nike trainers, Rocha exemplifies her brand.