An Ode to Simone Rocha FW17

As anyone who follows me on Instagram or knows me in real life would know, I am a huge Simone Rocha fan. A lot of my wardrobe has been purchased because it reminded me of a Simone Rocha piece. My favourite collection ever is her Fall 2017 collection. I re-visited it the other day, as I often do when it starts to get colder, and realised how much of my wardrobe accidentally, or maybe subconsciously, resembles pieces from this collection. 

I think my initial obsession with this collection was the fluffy shoes. I have always been obsessed with fluffy shoes, and this was the first time I had seen them in a high fashion context that resonated with me. They're styled with socks and with coats and with the classically-Simone huge dresses. The velvet, the masculine military-style coats, the red daisy pattern, the little pops of gingham, the embroidery and embellishments... it all speaks to me on a wildly personal level. I remember feeling like this collection was made for me, and I still do! When you have a very particular style, or you can't find any clothes that just feel right, it can weirdly feel like you're being completely understood when a designer with absolutely no personal connection to you makes a collection that makes endless sense to you. How did they know that this is all you have ever wanted to wear?!?!?  

I'm only 20, and it has only been in the past year or two that I feel comfortable in what I know I want to wear. This collection showed me a feminine way of dressing that resonated with me for the first time, as well as bringing together many different elements of clothing that I had always loved into outfits that made sense. I personally don't like showing much skin, and her clothes showed me that it's not prudish to cover up everything; you can still look beautiful and feminine elegant. 

Obviously Simone Rocha is extremely good at what she does. I wrote a blog post a while back about how originality is a modern concept, and something that feels fairly hard to achieve nowadays. But I do think Simone created a look that is quite original - it speaks to a lot of women who perhaps didn't see a place for themselves in the fashion world before her arrival. I'm sure that many people who follow fashion have a collection like this, a collection that you come back to when you are feeling uninspired, or hating your wardrobe. It's like a comfort TV show or book. 

I think it's really special that designers have the power to make people feel like this. Or anyone in any creative field, really. I also think it's important for designers and artists to remember that they have this power over people, because to them their work is personal. They are doing it for themselves and other people just happen to love it too. In this particular show I believe Simone took some of this responsibilty for inclusivity and included models of all ages, which still hasn't really reached mainstream fashion media yet. She also just released her collaboration collection with H&M, extending the inclusivity to those with a smaller budget, which is something many designers before her have done also. 

The fashion world can feel really intimidating and exclusive. I was 16 when I saw this show, and the fashion world definitely felt far out of reach to me then. It started to feel more personal and realistic when I began to find collections that I could see myself wearing, despite not having the budget to buy anything. There are several collections that I find myself revisiting each Autumn/Winter, which is a season I find much more inspiring for fashion, but one that I hate experiencing weather-wise. That is yet another reason why fashion can be so comforting - when everything else is shit, at least I have my favourite clothes I get to wear everyday and inspiration is just a few clicks away. 

Here are some of my favourite looks <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3