For who of us loves bows, embroideries and sugary atmospheres, Simone Rocha is something not to be missed. Nobody is as much able as the label's designer and owner to create every time again a collection so extravagant and feminine, in the most affected sense of the term. Her last collaboration with Moncler transformed the most technic garment, the down jacket - the trademark of the Geneva company - into the epitome of female aesthetic, made of volumes, flounces, trine and embroideries.
The Spring Summer 2020 collection stay true to this style, even if it's clear from the first sight that a new inspiration took the designer during the creative process. It took the moves from the Irish culture where she is born and raise: traditional house of traditional local families, with doilies, cute curtains and fine potteries drawn with oil colours. And then it looked at the other side of the coin: to the punk subculture, the esoteric ritual background of the region, the dark folklore all declined in a masculine way. This male import mix wonderfully with the sugary sweetness of Rocha's imaginary.
Colours and patterns are in line with the aesthetic we are used to. Chinese light blue drawings, like the one on tea sets, chintz and brocade, in pink, green and Borgogna red, and black, always very dramatic. Together we find accessories made of raffia, so summer-ish indeed, but also so visceral in this collection it recalls more Irish forrest and some ritual passages we don't know about.
Beautiful and full of meanings, strongly connected with the local culture but also with the deep human spirit, dark of shades. Simone Rocha did not disappoint us, as usual.
Words by Giulia Greco