A History of Simone Rocha Bringing Her Dreamy Designs to the Red Carpet
British fashion fabalist Simone Rocha will be the next guest courtier at Jean Paul Gaultier, showing a one-off collection in collaboration with the French brand during Paris Couture Week in January 2024. Rocha will follow in the footsteps of past designers who have taken on this role, including most recently Julien Dossena, Haider Ackerman, and Olivier Rousteing. Rocha, though, may be the most interesting of these collaborations to date, as her dreamy, often highly-embellished designs are possibly most at odds with Gaultier’s house codes. While JPG is known for its corsetry, structure, and trompe l'oeil, Rocha is more used to tulle confections, often with no shape at all, ruffles, layers, lace, and florals. It will be fun to see how the Dublin-native brings together these marked house codes to create a distinctive collection, and many will be watching to see the results.
In the past, the designs created by Gaultier’s guest courtiers have become red carpet fodder, showing up in a big way at the subsequent round of award shows, and there’s no reason why Rocha’s resulting collection will be any different. Really, though, she’s been leaving her mark on red carpets for over a decade now, and in honor of the recent news, we’re taking a look back at some of Simone Rocha’s best celebrity moments, as we wait for the ones that will inevitably result from the upcoming couture collection.
Billie Eilish
You truly need a magnifying glass to appreciate every bit of Billie Eilish’s custom Simone Rocha dress from the 2023 Met Gala. The singer went for a much more sultry look than in previous years, attending the event in a sheer, corseted gothic ensemble from the designer with embellished tights and opera gloves.
Chloë Sevigny
But Eilish wasn’t the first to bring Simone Rocha to the Met. That distinction is awarded to Chloë Sevigny, who wore her own dark design from Rocha to fashion’s biggest night in 2016, when the theme was “Manus X Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology.”
Paul Mescal
Rocha has more recently expanded to menswear as well, and at the 2023 Screen Actors Guild Awards, Paul Mescal stepped out in a long, embellished coat from the designer.
Maude Apatow
Balletcore hit its peak when Simone Rocha dressed Maude Apatow in a bow-covered, tutu-inspired fall 2023 dress for a party celebrating her casting in Cabaret.
Keira Knightley
Simone Rocha’s designs aren’t always gauzy and excessively embellished. In 2014, Keira Knightley wore a dress from the spring/summer 2015 collection, featuring a jacquard print and fur lining.
Chloë Sevigny
Sevigny is such an avid supporter of Rocha’s, she deserves to be on this list twice. The actress brought another more gothic design from the designer out for the premiere of her Hulu show, The Act, in 2019.
Stephanie Hsu
Stephanie Hsu usually goes for more classic red carpet looks, so this belted, floral Simone Rocha spring 2023 dress, which the actress wore to the BAFTA Tea Party, was a fun departure for her.
Aidy Bryant
Aidy Bryant brought a bit of twee to the 2021 Emmys red carpet with the help of a forest green, rose-covered Simone Rocha dress.
Lulu Wang
The layers of director Lulu Wang’s Simone Rocha dress are absolutely delightful. Rendered all in the same red and white floral fabric, the director wore a tunic, skirt, and trousers by Simone Rocha to the BAFTAs in 2020.
Caitriona Balfe
This spring 2023 dress was a popular one, and Zoe Kazan actually even wore it before Caitriona Balfe brought it to the BAFTA Scotland Awards.
