Simone Rocha has always known how to create a world. For fall 2026, she built one on a hill. The setting was Alexandra Palace, a Victorian-era venue sitting above North London with a worn grandeur that looks better in person than in photographs. Described as being in a state of “arrested decay,” the theater provided an appropriate frame for the collection: beautiful, slightly unruly, and impossible to ignore.
| 📌 Key Facts |
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| 🏛 Show staged at Alexandra Palace, North London 🐎 Inspired by Tír na nÓg and the white horse Enbarr 📸 Referenced Perry Ogden’s 1999 Pony Kids portraits 🎨 Color palette drawn from Jack B. Yeats paintings 🧵 Tribute to Lily and Elizabeth Yeats and craft feminism 👟 Integrated collaboration with Adidas Originals 🧥 MA1 jacket redesigned with detachable furry snorkel hoods 🎀 Ribbons used as recurring structural motif |
The collection unfolded in three distinct parts, each rooted in Irish culture, history, and mythology. The first part drew from the Celtic legend of Tír na nÓg, the land of eternal youth, and its white horse, Enbarr. The opening look was an ethereal ivory garment. The second part referenced Perry Ogden’s 1999 photographic portrait of Dublin’s Pony Kids, young people from Irish Traveller communities whose wardrobes naturally fused heritage and contemporary sportswear. The third part paid tribute to Lily and Elizabeth Yeats, sisters of the poet W. B. Yeats. They were central figures in the Irish Arts and Crafts movement, and their quietly radical domestic lives informed the tailoring and womenswear throughout.
The color palette was inspired by the paintings of Jack B. Yeats. His depictions of Tír na nÓg set the seasonal range of earth tones, including moss greens, deep rubies, and rich olives, which were featured on gowns, shearlings, and lace-trimmed separates.
The most talked-about element of the show was Rocha’s collaboration with adidas Originals. Rather than presenting it as a separate capsule, she wove it throughout the mainline collection. Track jackets with reengineered three-stripe details by Rocha appeared over layers of tulle. A ruffled ivory dress made of paper nylon featured a redesigned adidas trefoil. The iconic MA1 jacket was refashioned with detachable furry split snorkel hoods that could be worn as collars over entirely different looks. The partnership did not feel tacked on. It felt earned. Rocha said that as a teenager, she wore Adidas running shorts under vintage tutus, and that personal history was evident in the way sportswear and ceremonial dressing occupied the same garments without friction. Zip-front track jackets were waisted with lace, and ruffled-front track pants were paired with crinolined gowns fastened with hooks and eyes and scarlet ribbon. The result was clothes that looked lived in and loved.
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Ribbons appeared throughout the collection with the frequency of a leitmotif. They were pinned to woolly knee socks, tied onto the fronts of dark suits, and woven through eyelets on corset-like bodices. One dress appeared to be composed almost entirely of long, ribboned rosettes, and two olive taffeta dresses were presented as single, imagined, rosette-shaped silhouettes. Pockets shaped like ribbon knots were sewn into the hips of several outfits, a detail that felt both decorative and quietly subversive.
Rocha also incorporated hardware throughout the collection. Shiny grommets and metal details inspired by harnesses contrasted with the rough texture of dark shearling coats, collars, and gloves. The collection remained grounded in something practical, even when it was at its most ornate, with chunky shearling outerwear placed beside sparkle-embellished lace dresses and boxy wool coats.
Fashion weeks produce interesting shows and necessary shows. Rocha’s Fall 2026 presentation was both. She approached Irish mythology, working-class street culture, and craft feminism not as mere decorative references, but as structural elements that determine the cut, proportion, and choice of materials. The adidas collaboration grounded that conceptual ambition in something accessible and commercially viable without softening the edges.
