Jean-Paul Gaultier invited Simone Rocha to make her haute couture debut for his eponymous fashion house in Paris this week.
Rocha is known for presenting a subversive, sometimes dark take on femininity and womanhood – and she did not disappoint with her collection for Gaultier, which also took into consideration the codes of the house which the founder first established with the opening of his house in 1982.
Each year a guest designer takes to the helm of Jean-Paul Gaultier, to reinterpret the founder’s spirit for a new season of haute couture.
For this season’s collection, Rocha brought Gaultier’s playful provocativeness to the collection, through her own lens of femininity, the duality of which were presented through the craftsmanship of haute couture.
Rocha is very much the golden child of the fashion industry, launching her eponymous fashion house when she graduated from Central Saint Martins 14 years ago.
There were nods to classic Gaultier pieces (think Breton stripes and sailor hats) mixed with influences from her own heritage (the Irish designer discovered that the founder had used traditional Irish crochet in his archive, which she brought back for her own collection with the house).
There were Surrealist touches to be found as well, – for example, earrings shaped like dangling garter belts and footwear with feathers and pearls.
Overall, it was a creative, playful collection, which won over the crowd as well as Gaultier himself.
