Simone Rocha, daughter of fashion designer John Rocha, has opened up on how her love for fashion began at an early age. Now a very successful designer herself, Simone says she has been attending fashion shows since age “zero” and started working on her career as young as 11, before beginning work with her father by the age of 14 and then moving on to fashion college:
“I’ve been going to shows since I was zero. I started working on them when I was 11, I started assisting when I was 14, then I worked with dad until I was 17, when I went to college.”
Simone reveals that her parents weren’t keen on her having a design career because they were already aware of how hard it can be, but when they realized it was her biggest dream, they encouraged her to apply for the best design school:
“My mum and dad didn’t want me to do fashion. They know how difficult it can be. But my dad said, ‘Well if you’re going to do it, it’s a really difficult career, you have to be the best you can be before you go into… you need to go and do the MA with Louise Wilson.’ And I was like, ‘OK. I’m never going to get in, but I’ll apply!’ And it changed everything.”
Simone recently collaborated with denim label J Brand, but laughed that she didn’t own any pairs of jeans when they approached her for the project: “One of the first questions the people at J Brand asked me was what style of jeans I liked – and well, I wasn’t going to lie. So I told them I didn’t have any.”
