It Brit Designer Simone Rocha Debuts Clique-Inspired Denim

Photo: Benjamin McMahon

This article appears in the November 2014 issue of ELLE magazine.
Denim isn't the first thing that comes to mind at the mention of Irish designer Simone Rocha—she of the Perspex platforms and faux-prim fluorescent guipure frocks spotted on fashion darlings Alexa Chung and Chloë Grace Moretz. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find a pair of trousers in her namesake collection—all the more reason why her latest collaboration, with denim label J Brand (available in mid-November at Dover Street Market), will thrill her ardent fans.
The 28-year-old Rocha, who founded her line in 2011, was first approached by the L.A.-based denim maker earlier this year, shortly after the highly praised presentation of her pearl-studded, Elizabethan-inspired fall collection. Given that J Brand has collaborated with critics' favorites in the past—Proenza Schouler, Hussein Chalayan, Christopher Kane—you could say Rocha is following in fairly big footsteps. But J Brand is lucky to have the young talent onboard given all the industry whispers regarding LVMH's intentions for her label. Rocha admits switching gears was a new challenge. "I'd never worked with denim before. It was a bit tricky, but interesting to see how it could be manipulated," she says. And these are no basic five-pocket numbers. "I really wanted to introduce volume into the skirts, dresses, and jackets. I felt that was the best new way of working with the existing silhouettes," she explains. The result: The designer has melded her feminine aesthetic and voluminous shapes with that most proletarian of textiles, producing full, ruffle-trimmed skirts and dresses that can be easily worn over the line's (also frilled) cropped skinnies.
Rocha envisioned the collection as a sort of urban uniform, but one that doesn't feel at all restrictive. "I really wanted the collection to seem youthful and fun," she says. "I was thinking of girls in uniforms in a gang and how everyone is part of that uniform but in their own way. I saw these girls outside my studio in East London mucking about, so the colors came from nature. I was attracted to how each style in a different color felt like a different personality."
In addition to the aforementioned eye-popping lace, the bold use of color—butter-yellow python or bubble-gum-pink neoprene, for example—is one of Rocha's hallmark. So while the J Brand collection will introduce a new customer to her designs, existing fans will likely be pleased to pair the off-duty styles (prices range from $250 for jeans to $590 for a dress) with their fresh-from-the-runway pieces. And just who is that customer? Rocha describes her as "a bit of a free spirit, cool and real," not unlike the teenage Rocha, who "used to just hang out down by the canal" in her favorite jean skort. With her newfound affinity for denim, will Rocha be unearthing that vintage skort anytime soon? "I think I'll stick to my new collection," she says with a laugh.

Celebrity Red Carpet Style: Get the Look With These Bridal Fashion Week Wedding Dresses

If you loved Taylor Swift’s crop top moment at the American Country Music Awards or Kendall Jenner’s legs-for-days look at the MuchMusic Video Awards this year, you can steal their red carpet style for your wedding day! We saw lots of wedding dresses at Bridal Fashion Week that looked like some of our favorite celebrity gowns of 2014 — with some of the most of-the-moment trends. Crop tops, fringe and sexy silhouettes, anyone?
See five of our favorite looks below:

Maria Valentino / MCV Photo; Getty Images

Taylor Swift wore a J. Mendel crop top and skirt combo to the 2014 American Country Music Awards and totally rocked the sexy look.
Wedding dress by Reem Acra

Maria Valentino / MCV Photo; Getty Images

Kendall Jenner turned heads in a daring (and hip-baring) Fausto Puglisi gown at the 2014 MuchMusic Video Awards.
Wedding dress by Inbal Dror

Maria Valentino / MCV Photo; Getty Images

Heidi Klum had lots of fringed fun at the 2014 Creative Arts Emmy Awards in a twirl-worthy dress made by Project Runway contestant Sean Kelly.
Wedding dress by Theia

Getty Images

Jennifer Lawrence‘s cinched Dior Haute Couture gown at the 2014 Golden Globe Awards was romantic and modern.
Wedding dress by Badgley Mischka

Maria Valentino / MCV Photo; Getty Images

4 Weddings and 3 Divorces: An Expert's Guide to Love Gone Wrong

Ann Landers (Photo: Getty Images)

Margo Howard has advice in her veins. She’s the daughter of Ann Landers (otherwise known as Eppie Lederer), the niece of Dear Abby, and an advice columnist in her own right—she was behind Slate’s Dear Prudence column for eight years and she had her own syndicated column called Dear Margo until 2013. Though she’s dished out her share of romantic advice, she’s not exactly the best at taking it. She’s on husband number four, and in her kicky new memoir Eat, Drink & Remarry, Howard is transparent about her many romantic missteps.
But Eat, Drink & Remarry isn’t strictly self-help—it’s more of a cautionary tale about avoiding the wrong men. Here’s the best advice that Howard never took, but wished she did. And the one piece of advice she did take, and was glad for it.

Photo: Courtesy of Publisher

Lesson 1: Don’t Ignore the Greek Chorus

When Howard was just a senior in college, she met her first husband. In hindsight, she describes him as "an unattractive Prince Charles." That should tell you about how well their marriage turned out. She agreed to marry him on their fourth date. "Reader, I said yes," she admits. "Do not ask me why because I could not tell you." She proceeded to ignore a lot of red flags, including a drinking problem and the fact that he was a cold fish. Her parents begged her not to marry him, but she was 21, and no one was going to tell her what to do. She writes 40 years down the road:

“After many years of life experiences granting me distance from Coleman, not to mention many years of my reader mail, I now understand that a Greek chorus saying, 'Don’t do this' should not be disregarded. If I knew then what I know now, as they say, the question I would have asked myself is, Why would your friends and family go out on a limb to tell you this was a bum choice, taking the risk of becoming persona non grata?”
Good question! And one you should ask yourself.
Lesson 2: Know Thyself—and Don’t Settle.

Howard chose her second husband as a reaction to her first. Where her first husband was work-obsessed and stiff, her second husband was easygoing and attentive. "I didn’t have to question his honesty, and he was lovingly solicitous of me…we didn’t argue and the relationship was comfortable," she writes. That comfort made her gloss over the fact that they didn’t have very much in common. She also just assumed that he would be a good step-parent to the three children she had with her first husband. Both of those assumptions were incorrect: "Obviously I did not know myself very well at the time or acknowledge my need for excitement," Howard writes. "Ordinary didn’t do it for me. I would advise anyone not to settle—yet that is what I did."

Ann Landers and daughter Margo Howard (Photo: Getty Images)

Lesson 3: Don’t Borrow Other People’s Husbands

After a decade-plus marriage to a famous actor—Ken Howard—their relationship dissolved. Then Howard dated a married guy, who she refers to as a "borrowed husband." "Dallying with a married man seldom ends well (For you, that is. He is usually fine.)" she writes. "Time flies when you’re sabotaging yourself."

Lesson 4: Always Give Second Chances

When she was in her late '50s, Howard was set up on a blind date with a surgeon, who she didn't think was her type. She described him, on first meeting, as "balding and avuncular." But she liked talking to him, and so agreed to a second date. It might be a cliché, but Howard found that "being able to get beyond the surface…made it possible for me to look for things that mattered. This is what prompted me, both in my advice column and when counseling friends, to always advise giving a new person a second look, as it is not possible to get a read on someone after just one encounter."

Reader, she married him. And this is her current—and she hopes, last—husband.

Social Media for Florists Workshop

Something a little different on the blog today, although very interesting and of course I still manage to sneak in some pretty flowers for you! On Wednesday I attended a workshop in London which focused on ‘Social Media for Florists’ delivered by the inspiring Rona Wheeldon who writes the brilliant floral blog Flowerona and Fiona Humberstone, who is an expert in business branding (and much, much more!) The workshop was designed specifically for florists to address how they use their social media, offering key concepts and top tips on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Blogging, Pinterest alongside branding info. As a self employed florist social media has become very important to me and my business as a way of connecting with the outside world and sharing my floral work, therefore as soon as I read about this workshop I knew it would be so relevant and interesting I signed up!

Working for yourself I think it is so easy to get engrossed in the running of the weddings, which is great as they are my passion and I love nothing more than beautifully preparing and delivering a happy couples flowers on their big day. However, I think it is so important to address your business and your journey and focus on where you are going next. I came away from the course so inspired (I actually went on a planned week off, which did nothing for my holiday time as I was back writing my actions, re looking at my blog and spending time letting all this ever so important information sink in!)

I was inspired as soon as I set foot in the building, a space called Brixton East, in Brixton where everyone commented what a cool place this would be for a florist workshop! From the beautiful floral plates from Anthropolgie that we ate our lunch off of to the thoughtful goody bags filled with ribbon and stunning vases from Serax and LSA. Lunch was amazing: wholesome, healthy, tasty and it looked so pretty and colourful with viola flowers on the cakes and nasturtium flowers on the salad created for us by Maddie Hatton. It was this attention to detail that added so much more to the day in making this a fun and inspiring place to learn.

Alongside the social media information which was presented in an articulate, informative yet simple and easy to understand way, I came away having met some great florists who I swapped stories with and exchanged experiences which again added to the relevant nature of the course, knowing that we were all in the same boat! Thank you to Rona and Fiona who have both inspired me so much and made me look at my business in a fresh and exciting way, it is amazing what a day out of the workshop can do… bring on those autumnal October weddings and the on going floral journey at The Rose Shed.