PAIR OF ACES Looks from H&M X Simone Rocha span kids wear and menswear, featuring the designer’s trademarks
For this issue, dedicated to love and romance, I started listing the designers we would consider ‘romantic’. But the list made me pause to wonder: what really is sartorial romanticism today? Is it the fantasy of couture imagined in reams of tulle and taffeta? Is it a nod to Victoriana? Or is it the bohemian medley à la the quintessential icon Talitha Getty?
In the case of Simone Rocha, within her prettiness lies a hint of the eerie. Her clothes have a haunting beauty, their appeal richly layered with the ceremonial (Irish communion dresses and papal influences), the historical (Nell Gwyn, the mistress of Charles II, along with Anne Boleyn, have made up her vision board), the personal (china dolls in Victorian dresses from her childhood, Aran knitting native to Ireland), all created, as Rocha has stressed over the years, for different generations, sizes and shapes.
In 2021, I believe this is the sartorial romanticism that women are looking for. As Dublin-born Rocha, a graduate of Central Saint Martins and the daughter of designer John Rocha celebrates a decade in the business, she reintroduces archival pieces to bring all her aesthetic tenets—signature pearls, scalloped edges, broderie Anglaise and more to an H&M collaboration.
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Blurred lines
Couturiers Shantanu and Nikhil Mehra are flouting labels with their bridge-to luxury brand S&N. As it turns one, Vogue India dresses three next-gen creatives in the label’s gender-agnostic spring/summer 2021 collection.
Dressing for our dreams
Nap dress, house dress or just that nondescript silhouette worn at home and beyond has become the emblem of a pragmatist’s wardrobe, finds Akanksha Kamath
Creative licence
In a light-filled penthouse in London, filmmaker Tarsem Singh has created an evocative study of comfort and charm that breaks boundaries, genres and styles, much like his movies
Master of none
From calling out hustle culture to finding the right balance while juggling multiple jobs, writer-broadcaster-podcaster Emma Gannon makes a case for why the multi-hyphenate way of work might be the way forward
Sonam X Iris
From a common love for dance and growing up in a family steeped in the arts, to nerding over nature and its wonders, couturier Iris van Herpen and actor Sonam Kapoor Ahuja catch up over a Zoom call between London and Amsterdam. Akanksha Kamath listens in
Best foot forward
How are women in hospitality, despite incredibly gruelling schedules, always so impeccably turned out? In an industry which prioritises first impressions and formal dressing norms, these hoteliers, restaurateurs, chefs and communications experts find ways to express their style.
Up next
Meet Amita Suman, the actor set to shine on the global stage as a badass knife wielding assassin in the upcoming series Shadow And Bone.
Ananya's Key To Self-Love
Actor Ananya Panday may have found the key to achieving self-love, and it’s pretty simple—respect your body.
She's all that
She’s the voice of a movement as much as she is a voice of her own. Writer and activist Christina Dhanaraj, the co-founder of Dalit History Month, is changing the narrative and raising the bar for women across the globe, finds Divya Malhari
Young & Restless Ananya Birla Talks Music, Microfinance and Mental Health
Singer, entrepreneur and mental health advocate Ananya Birla is using her privilege purposefully to pave her own multi-hyphenate path and spread kindness along the way, finds Rishna Shah
DREAM A LITTLE DREAM
The wonderful world of Simone Rocha, where strength and softness are one and the same, is now open to all with her new H&M collaboration.
Worlds Collide
Irish-Cantonese fashion designer Simone Rocha is a proud hybrid of two cultures—one of many dualities she explores in her ambitious collections
SS19 Beauty Report
Makeup made a statement this season, with looks that battled for attention on and off the runway.