Simone Rocha Debuts a Sensual Jean Paul Gaultier Couture Collection

Presented on silver flooring in Jean Paul Gaultier’s seven-storey palatial headquarters in Paris, home to the designer’s atelier, yesterday Simone Rocha showcased her highly-anticipated first couture collection as Gaultier’s latest guest designer. 

Some years ago, designers had to qualify via invitation to be called couturiers – but each couture season, since 2020 Gaultier has been entrusting his favourite designers (Haider Ackermann, Glenn Martens, Julien Dossena to name a few) to take the reigns of his house. Given the privilege to rummage through his enviable archives – surely a treasure trove of Breton-striped gowns to incredible satin corsets – they provide the starting point for collections that melds their own creative visions with that of Gaultier’s. For Rocha, this meant bringing her joyous, folkloric romanticism to Gaultier’s playfully daring designs. 

Such an amalgamation was evident in Rocha’s melding of iconic Gaultier-isms. Cone bras twisted upwards towards the sky, reminiscent of the thorns of rose stems (a recurring motif through the designer’s work), while Breton stripes were made from delicate navy ribbon lining a gauzy top, and corsetry strewn with satin ribbons which tentacled to the floor. A show-stopping metallic gown of patchworked Irish lace and crochet dazzled, having been coated in resin and dipped in silver. Responding to the demands of coquette girls around the world, Rocha made sure to bind her frothy shrouds in plenty of feminine ruffles and bows. Charming earrings with hairy adornments were tied in bows, and decked with some glistening crystals. Ruched, frilled, and layered in tulle, Rocha’s sartorial confections were whipped into shapes that fashion can’t seem to get enough of – the kind that makes the body beneath disappear altogether – but with a sensual edge; gowns that expose legs and drape at the back. Even alongside more structured pieces, with flattened chests and harnesses, the tailoring was seldom masculine.

The colours were balming: blushing beiges, black, whites and ivories, pops of passionate red. They too seemed to reflect those girly tropes and scents of Victoriana. Especially evident was the extraordinary workmanship involved in the creation of garments. Beaded embroidery – a main staple in a Simone Rocha collection – appeared more delicate than ever, in the shape of silver flowers adorning a garment’s bodice and decking the brims of Gaultier’s signature sailor caps. 

Closing the show, former AnOther Magazine cover star Kiki Willems wore a white bridal gown fitted with a white tulle veil that ballooned at the edges. In a conversation with Alexander Fury prior to the show, Rocha told AnOther, “I wanted it to feel really light and modern and really set in today.” Couture is, of course, the ultimate fantasy trip, with looks expected to cost between five and six figures, yet with social media abuzz with cries for Rocha’s arrival at the helm of Chanel as soon as possible, and make-up mogul Kylie Jenner sat front row, it appears Rocha has yet again tapped into the zeitgeist. The Irish designer will be returning to London to present her ready-to-wear collection on February 17, assuredly with more eyes on her than ever.