Rocha has also been smart to ensure there is a range of prices that allows her to meet every customer at their level. A puff-sleeve biker jacket currently listed on the brand’s website retails at £2,695 and a pair of jacquard socks at £50. Most items sit between the £400 and £600 mark.
“From the beginning, there would be pieces in the collection that could become their own little incubators of the brand universe that people could step into more easily. Pieces that could work for our retailers. It’s why we always had accessories, and why we introduced things like the cotton poplin jerseys — core pieces that really carry my identity,” she explains.
Simone Rocha x Moncler Autumn/Winter 2019.
Photo: Courtesy of Moncler
Simone Rocha x H&M 2021.
Photo: Courtesy of H&M
Jean Paul Gautier by Simone Rocha Spring 2024.
Photo: Isidore Montag / Gorunway.com
In September 2022, Rocha launched her menswear line, and developing it is one of this year’s priorities. About 10 looks from that collection will be shown alongside womenswear at the show taking place in the City, London’s historic financial district, this coming Sunday, before a 30-strong lookbook is released a few weeks later.
“For me, whether it’s men’s or women’s, it’s all an expression of the same brand. But my job as a designer is to provide the customer with outlets for self-expression. To do that, I have to present it in a space where they feel invited, whether it’s on the menswear or the womenswear floor. You just need to be there, willing to propose something,” she offers.
Another way Rocha grew her company from indie label to international brand is through collaborations; like taking part in the inaugural Moncler Genius project from 2018 to 2020, being H&M’s guest designer in 2021, and her widely lauded takeover of Jean Paul Gaultier Couture in January 2024. In October 2024, she also released her first monograph with Rizzoli.
Considering her growing fame, has she not been tempted to leave London for Paris or Milan?
“I absolutely adored doing Jean Paul Gaultier, and it was an incredible opportunity to work in Paris,” Rocha replies. “But the one thing that experience really gave me was perspective. I was also working on the book at that time, and it all made me feel really proud of what I do here for my own label and for what I’ve built. It didn’t make me want to find an additional creative director role. I dipped my toe in Paris with Jean Paul Gautier and with Moncler, I got to show in Milan — and I got a lot from that. But for me, it’s about: where can I put on the best show? And today, that’s London.”
