In Simone Rocha's vision, roses signify a lifeline; bows, her lineage; and boldly voluminous, ultra-feminine dresses embody everything. Since January 24, the Dublin-born designer has elevated this ethos into a new realm—couture, as the next guest creative director for Jean Paul Gaultier. Presenting her spring 2024 collection on Wednesday, she wowed a packed audience, including Kylie Jenner (donning PVC-inspired high heels and a sheer gown straight from the runway). Despite her already illustrious career, this marked a significant moment, arriving 14 years after the launch of her eponymous brand, which has garnered a fervent following for its oversized babydoll dresses, intricate platform shoes, and bedazzled crowns.
Identifying a Simone Rocha devotee is simple - they're likely adorned in label signatures like pearls, ribbons, or heels reminiscent of birthday cakes. Indeed, Rocha herself often dons her creations. Recently, while attending Yorgos Lanthimos's film "Poor Things," she felt her label's presence keenly. "I looked like this freaky, intense fan," she remarked. "I wore our leather biker coat with Victorian leather-puff sleeves." Such moments of self-realization aren't rare for Rocha, who once found herself resembling a character from "The Crucible."
These idiosyncratic feminine elements, tinged with a dark and wonderfully weird essence, permeated Rocha's Jean Paul Gaultier debut in Paris. Imagine her brand's staples amplified with an extreme perspective: bedazzled bras, ruffled bustles, sheer panniers, and devil horn bustiers. Blending these dramatic silhouettes with Gaultier's iconic codes like corset lacing and cone bras injected Rocha's epic tulle proportions with a fresh edge. With only 36 looks, the spring 2024 collection felt curated and sentimental, underscored by Rocha's status as only the second female guest designer in Gaultier's history, after Sacai's Chitose Abe.
Amidst haunting operatic melodies and aluminum roses held by models, Rocha's collection centered around these flowers and conical corsets. "The thorn from the rose has been interpreted as a new conical in the collection as well," Rocha explained. "There's a fragility to it, but also there's a very sharp edge. From bud to decay, every stage is telling you something."
Despite her status as an indie fashion icon, Rocha had never intersected creatively or socially with Jean Paul Gaultier prior to this collaboration. "When I got the call, I was surprised, actually," she admitted. "But I really, really admired the concept. And Glen Martens's collection had captivated me." Setting powerful intentions, Rocha aimed for femininity, provocation, playfulness, sensuality, embellishment, adornment, and restraint. "These words were the very first ones that came to my mind and have very much been the process," she emphasized. However, one motif runs through the collection: the use of red thread.
Like her predecessors at Jean Paul Gaultier Couture, Rocha delved into the label's archives for inspiration, particularly drawing from the unforgettable 1994 "Tatouage" collection and the spring 1998 "Age of Enlightenment" line. "I felt a personal, knee-jerk reaction to these specific collections," she reflected. Visiting the archives weekly, she explored and even tried on the garments, envisioning how proportions could change when worn differently.
"My own brand often works with volume," she noted. "But here, I've been more attuned to the body. I wanted to create pieces that are more languid, sculpted, with a provocative, sensual look—then push them into a surrealist moment. I aimed to strike a balance of modernity with the historical weight of craftsmanship in the garments."
