February 23, 2026 |
With her excellent new Adidas collection to showcase, Simone Rocha brought a youthful energy to her AW26 collection.
She wove together many strands of inspiration, from Perry Ogden’s ‘90s photographs of the Dublin’s Pony Kids and Jack B.Yeats’ paintings and his ‘weird sisters’ who were major figures in the Irish Arts and Crafts movement, to creatures from the Tír na nÓg Irish folktale (Land of the Young), questing for eternal youth.
Showing her men’s, women’s and Adidas collection together in a the derelict theatre space at Alexandra Palace, the designer wanted to layer her feminine aesthetic with, “Rugged, feral elements to cut through the beauty.”
She grounded the collection in earthy colours and styled her Adidas pieces with her main collection. “Sportswear is something I’ve wanted to do for a really long time wanted to bring a feminine perspective and do something new with it,” she said.
Styling sporty gym knickers underneath delicate lace dresses, pairing side-split track tops with mini tutus (just as the designer paired them in her youth), or track pants heavy with frills, the designer noted that she liked how the sportswear “cut though the heavier and more fragile pieces.”
There were plenty of those to please the Rocha faithful, from embroidered flowers sprigs on tailored jackets to the ribbon and lace festooned artisanal pieces that closed the show. Rugged and ravishing – Rocha did both.
Photography courtesy of Simone Rocha.
