Four years after revealing her first-ever menswear look, Simone Rocha will present her first-ever menswear show in Florence this June. Later today she will be named guest designer at this summer’s 110th edition of Pitti Uomo.
“It’s an amazing opportunity,” Rocha said. “So far the menswear has been very hand in hand with the womenswear. Now I feel ready for it to stand on its own and be its own proposition.”
The Dublin-born designer launched her acclaimed label at the turn of the 2010s. She put her first menswear on the runway in spring 2023, when she told Sarah Mower of her desire to articulate her vision of “beautiful masculinity.” Pitti represents the ideal podium for presenting that vision in full for the first time; typically, it presents only one or two shows a day to a cadre of the world’s key menswear buyers and editors.
Rocha will become the latest in a line of designers to make Florentine cameos under the Pitti umbrella, including Raf Simons, Rick Owens, Martine Rose, Glenn Martens with Y/Project, Jun Takahashi of Undercover, and the late Virgil Abloh of Off-White. All were invited by Pitti’s veteran special events coordinator, Francesca Tacconi. Speaking about her latest guest designer recruit, Tacconi hailed the “mystery, magic, and drama” of Rocha’s vision.
Tacconi added: “I think menswear needs this. We have to add a female point of view, from women who can penetrate men’s souls. It is very personal what Simone Rocha does…. It’s her own storytelling, with its own cadence, accent, and musicality.”
Rocha’s most recent menswear, for fall ’26, was presented within last month’s womenswear show in London. There she debuted a major new collaboration with Adidas, which, perhaps tellingly, was showcased exclusively on women. She also referenced the seminal 1999 book Pony Kids by the photographer Perry Ogden, who himself walked in Rocha’s fall ’23 runway show.
Rocha said: “Referencing the Pony Kids is related to the way I reference Louise Bourgeois. There are these inherent things that recur and represent femininity and masculinity, or naivete, or playfulness, or grotesqueness, or whatever they may be.”
Finding the right venue for her menswear debut has demanded a deep dive into the finest palazzos, villas, and parks in a city that has specialized in producing beauty since it birthed the Renaissance. “There’s an embarrassment of riches to choose from there,” said Rocha. “I want to put on a show that, even though it’s in Florence, feels like it’s a Simone show, in its own world. So I’ve picked a location that is a little more displaced, which I really like the idea of. “
Although her work inhabits its own often dream-touched world, Rocha hinted that, in her upcoming collectsion, that world might still be accented by its special context. “Florence is beautiful, and I’ve always loved A Room With a View, one of my all-time favorite Merchant Ivory films. So that has been fun to play with. How do you contextualize that and make it contemporary and bring it into this idea of a new men’s Simone uniform that I’ve been thinking a lot about?”
Rocha hinted, without committing, that this summer’s show might well act as the preface for her menswear’s regular stand-alone inclusion in the seasonal calendar. As she prepares to deepen and broaden her menswear offer, she has also been working to profile the masculine character she is building through clothes. Rocha said: “He’s into texture, craft, and conversation. He’s down to earth, and he’s also very comfortable with femininity. He’s interested in tradition but twisting it. We’ve been thinking a lot about who he is!”
That identity will become manifest on Rocha’s runway sometime between June 16 and 19, when the next Pitti Pool–themed edition of the 55-year-old trade fair is due to take place.
