The fashion designers expanding their offering for both mens- and womenswear
“I love the oversized egg bomber. Especially the look with the taffeta apron escaping underneath,” says Simone Rocha. “But my favourite piece is the shawl collar jacket with the voluminous bomber sleeve. I felt that this was a reflection of my introduction to menswear.” Rocha is pointing out items from one of her most recent collections, designed for this spring and summer. It’s an important season for Rocha. Because, while she made her official debut at London Fashion Week in 2010 and has been one of its marquee names ever since, her SS23 show marked the designer’s all-embracing foray into menswear.
Her designs had for a while crossed over definitions of mens- and womenswear. In turn influenced by fine art, folk traditions or traditions of making clothing (think nostalgic embroideries or intricate knitting stitches unique to Ireland’s Aran Islands), Rocha has also made details drawn out in lace, pearls, tulle, ruffles and furbelows her signature. These touches from Rocha – who was born in Ireland and trained at Central Saint Martins in London – contrasts with biker jackets, tailored separates and sometimes flat brogues; all traditionally building blocks of the masculine wardrobe. “I wanted to explore menswear as part of the Simone Rocha narrative and it felt like the right time to explore the relationship between my womenswear and menswear,” she explains. “To introduce my codes to their own menswear identity.”
Rocha unveiled her SS23 designs in a cavernous space inside London’s Old Bailey, staging a co-ed show. “There is a crossover of ideas and emotion, and influences of fabrications and silhouettes,” she says. “They are coming from one place, but each is their own reactive individual character.” For men to choose from: the aforementioned bomber jacket, fitted with billowing sleeves and smock-like dropped shoulders, white cotton shirting, a rain mac with bishop sleeves. Army green fatigues come zipped and buckled, matched with sandals and socks embroidered in white pearls tracing a floral daisy motif. “I looked a lot at uniforms, tailoring, and how they would be unzipped to reveal what was underneath, both rough and smooth, healing and harnessing,” she notes.
This season, Rocha is but one of the designers mirroring what they usually create with a mens- or womenswear offering. At their production set-up in Bali, Indonesia, Cecilia Basari and Yuli Suri of fledgling label Isa Boulder worked with local makers to define what their menswear could look like. The two founded Isa Boulder in 2010 with a line of swimwear, later branching into knitwear; this season, cue free-flowing knits woven from recycled textiles and hand-spun yarns.
“We had developed some womenswear ideas over the last couple of years but never fully committed,” Stefan Cooke and Jake Burt write in an email. The two met whilst studying for their Master’s degree from Central Saint Martins; Cooke and Burt launched Stefan Cooke, their brand, in 2017. At Stefan Cooke, silhouettes are slim-fitting, knitwear is made in the UK and comes with cut-outs placed just so, and this season, denim is finessed with cord braiding, nodding to fantasy uniforms. It was also this season that the duo decided to fully launch womenswear. “SS23 was different because we started with womenswear and were really happy with the early results,” they reflect. “We scheduled fittings all the time and had a friend model so the process was really quick, instinctive and fun.”
Their instincts gave shape to light blue denim bomber jackets embroidered with a ceremonial chain motif, printed silk scarves and ruffled skirts. A white mini dress ends in two tiers of volants and blue taffeta bows, embroidered into a web-like pattern. “Our approach to designing women’s only differs slightly from menswear,” Cooke and Burt explain. “The research is the same, but we found we could be more direct with how this research was referenced. So much of the decisions were made instinctively during fittings and the process was less laboured compared to making convincing menswear with the same research.” Their latest work has been embraced by many. “The group of people we collaborate with on shows and campaigns have always really encouraged us to create a focused women’s offering too.”
Photography Joanna Wzorek
Styling Julie Velut
This article is taken from Port issue 32. To continue reading, buy the issue or subscribe here
