by Charly Suggett
A tapestry often tells a story, be it that of battle or religion. Simone Rocha chose to tell her story via the influence of the sculptor Louise Bourgeois.
Bourgeois’ parents owned an antique tapestry gallery and the weaving together of elements and fabrics to create a final piece was evident in Rocha’s AW15 collection. Fabrics of varied textures and weights were brought together in the forms of chiffons with hounds tooth and tulles with heavy velvets.
Rocha has come a long way in her, so far, only short career. Having only graduated in 2010, and experimenting with shapes and silhouettes, she has paved her way to signature aesthetic of red/pink colour palettes and stiffer outlines.
Her first offerings provided bustling hips underneath stunning velvet shapes reminiscent of petals, a shape which later reappeared in tulles and cottons, and tucked billowing sleeves which suggested a Victorian influence, keeping with Rocha’s love for historic referencing and its evolution from collection to collection.
Elements of deconstruction were apparent in areas throughout as pieces appeared to reveal different textures underneath, crossing over the fabrics from look to look and keeping to Rocha’s excellent knack for creating ethereal yet structured silhouettes. These clever tying ins walked us through the darker start of mourning dress style pieces and into the well recognised and well loved Rocha style of clever shaping of lighter weight fabrics.
One element which was constant throughout the Simone Rocha AW15 show was Rocha’s habit of adding a little playfulness into her collections. Mary Janes and Brogues in velvets, furs and ginghams along with (my favourite element) mesh gloves with embroidered painted fingernails in blacks and nudes maintained that level of opulence created by the fabrics presented as well as that little bit more down to earth topping.
Now that really is the icing on the cake.
