Last night Irish designer Simone Rocha hosted an intimate dinner at Scott’s restaurant in Mayfair to celebrate the launch of her collaboration with L.A. denim specialist JBrand. With three installations of the line at Dover Street Market stores in New York, London and Tokyo opening concurrently and work on her own collections in full swing, the British Fashion Award Emerging Talent prize winner has certainly had her hands full. We managed to grab a few minutes with her to talk denim memories, signature palettes and Christmas holiday plans.
The Dinner Table at Scotts, Susie Bubble in Simone Rocha x JBrand
Grazia Daily: What are your abiding denim memories and how did they influence the collection?
Simon Rocha: I have like two really distinct memories form my youth – the first was of a denim skort – denim shorts with a skirt tie at the front – I think it was from Gap. I wore a lot of skirts when I was younger, I actually didn’t wear a huge amount of jeans. My other memory was having cutting a pair of jeans up the side and inserting a piece of fabric into to make a really dodgy flare… I think the skort really influence the collection – I really wanted to do dresses and skirts and approach denim a feminine side. In my own work I always look to create a balance and a contrast and I wanted to maintain that ethos in the collaboration collection. I wanted to push it be as feminine as I could but do it in boxy, boyish feminine shapes.
Grazia Daily: This collection turns the democracy of denim on its head – each piece is so precious – was that the intention?
Simone Rocha: What I love is that denim is that it’s classically workwear – that’s what really attracted me to the project initially. I love the utilitarian feeling of it bit it was about seeing how far I could push it, to make it my own.
Grazia Daily: As far as pushing it goes, what were the biggest challenges?
Simone Rocha: It was definitely interesting to cut denim to create volume, because it’s so unusual – especially for JBrand the home of the skinny jean. So I think for them it was a challenge on that side but we managed to work together to achieve it.
Grazia Daily: The palette of the collection is very Simone Rocha – did you always aim to create a signature palette?
Simone Rocha: It’s something that has totally evolved. I’ve just always loved pink and red together as a mix. For this collection for JBrand I wanted to do use colour to create emotion. The same silhouttes in the different colours have a totally different feeling. The pink creates a much more naive atmosphere, whereas the black has a harder feel – I loved the power and the energy of that. I also wanted to break the mould and not do indigo. There’s lots of indigo denim out there right now, so I really wanted this collaboration to create something new.
Grazia Daily: After all this hard work are you taking a break over Christmas?
Simone Rocha: I fricking love Christmas - I really cannot wait for it. I’m going to go back to Ireland and just hang out with my friends and family - I haven’t had a break since the shows. I won’t be wearing a onesie – but we’re pretty casual and super chilled at home!