Remember When Simone Rocha re-worked her own nostalgia for her FW25 Collection?

Simone Rocha FW25

Looking at things from within is sometimes the best way to create something new—not just in clothes, but in life. Simone Rocha is the perfect example of that.

And it’s not always going to be clear to everybody else what kind of work you had to do within yourself to arrive where you are. It’s independent of whatever is happening outside. No matter how noisy it gets, what is new to you must feel beautiful to you and nobody else. It’s shocking to realize that today, very few have the opportunity to know exactly how that feels—to have creative freedom.

Simone Rocha’s evolution may not be evident to everyone, but only to a select few. She started from the simplest things in life: a white canvas. (Her first-ever collection was completely white.) This was then followed by a world of her own, filled with curiosity and study. A true designer never stops learning.

The four celebrities chosen to walk in her Fall/Winter 2025 collection—Alexa Chung, Fiona Shaw, Andrea Riseborough, and Bel Powley—were not selected randomly. Each one felt like a theatrical interpretation of the role they played through their clothing. Fashion as a confidence tool is so real—when you dress a certain way, you portray a different type of character. Alexa Chung, for example, was dressed as the It girl she has always been, she had to wear a leather jacket and a faux fur bralette.

More than anything, Rocha’s main goal this season was to show that whatever you did in the past can absolutely be reworked into something new. This Fall/Winter 2025 collection might have initially felt like a throwback, as she decided to present her runway at Goldsmiths’ Hall, the same venue where she held her Fall/Winter 2018 collection.

Lately, we talk a lot about designers’ archives. We’re surrounded by “remember when” buzzwords all over social media, but only a few designers are taking that nostalgic throwback and turning it into: Well, what if we reworked that? What if we remade it, but this time, made it new? Likewise, some looks in this collection felt like modern reinterpretations of her past designs. The exact shade of blue from a 2018 dress reappeared, but with a changed silhouette and added signature bows. Pants filled with bows were transformed into a skirt. A black dress was reimagined with a different fit and length. A quilted, floral-printed dress with ruffled details was streamlined into a cleaner-cut silhouette. Ruffled coats were replaced by leather ones.

Simone Rocha proves she is one of those designers who begins her work from a place of freedom. It’s almost as if her world is always a blank canvas. Just as people say you should write about what you know, you are also allowed to design and tell a story about what you know.

We’re constantly reminded that innovation is the only way to move forward. And innovation is inevitably reached through comparison. So we’re forced to come up with something new—but that something new has only two possible paths: we either do what everybody else is doing and copy calling it a day, or we find that innovation within ourselves.

When it comes to fashion design, I prefer the second option, to be honest. That path gives you the most creative freedom, even if it means not everybody is going to get the message.

Simone Rocha FW25