The curtain rises. The first character seems to have stepped out of a Gothic novel. A black double-breasted blazer, tailored shorts, knee-high socks, ballet slippers. In his hands, a bouquet of fresh cornflowers. His expression is solemn, almost mournful. One era has ended; Simone Rocha S/S 2027 has begun.
Everything exists in black and white. Masculine tailoring collides with Simone Rocha’s unmistakable softness. Deep V-necks, ruffles and bows. Flowers become recurring protagonists: carried as bouquets, embroidered in glass bugle beads, pinned to bags, worn as brooches and corsages. At one point, the models step off the stage of Teatro della Pergola, breaking the fourth wall and dissolving the boundary between performance and spectator.
Marking both Simone Rocha’s first standalone menswear show and her debut as a guest designer at Pitti Uomo in Florence, the collection stages a dialogue between opposites. Strength and softness. Workwear and ceremony. Venetian wool and broderie anglaise. The black swan and the white one. Delicate boxer shorts peek beneath leather trenches. Sheer bib tops are tied with bows. Rugby jerseys gain ruffled edges. Leather aprons, embellished Oxford shoes and backless jackets gently redraw the boundaries of menswear.
There is a powerful tension between discipline and romance. Sartorial classicism serves as the point of departure, filtered through Rocha’s own vocabulary. Her menswear debut carries an almost vampiric elegance: double-breasted tailoring, silk organza blouses and tunics, and feather boas that wrap around the neck like living swans.
Sensual, romantic and unmistakably Simone Rocha, the collection meditates on different stages of manhood: childhood, adolescence and adulthood. On artists, workers, dancers. Underpinnings emerge as outerwear, linen is hand-embroidered, and smocked gingham and silk jerseys evoke different states of becoming.
The soundtrack mirrors the emotional arc of the collection. It builds slowly towards a crescendo that feels almost prophetic. As though something hopeful is about to happen. As though tenderness is destined to prevail. As though the white swan ultimately wins.
The final character appears carrying the last bouquet of cornflowers. Simone Rocha S/S 2027 comes to an end. And, scene.
