Simone Rocha wove a poetic tale of nostalgia, discipline, and quiet rebellion, drawing inspiration from childhood lessons and whispered schoolyard secrets for Fall/Winter 2025-2026. Set against the backdrop of Aesop’s The Tortoise and the Hare, the collection explored the interplay of patience and urgency, structure and softness—an allegory stitched into fabric. 

The show opened with Fiona Shaw in a sculptural black duchesse satin egg dress, cinched with bicycle lock chains—an emblem of youthful secrecy and constraint. This motif threaded through the collection, reappearing in faux fur stoles shaped like hares, reimagined perfecto jackets, and deconstructed bouclé tweeds shredded into tinsel-like threads. Lingerie detailing, delicate harnesses, and cascading ribbons of pink silk jacquard added a dreamlike fragility, counterbalanced by menswear pieces infused with Rocha’s signature subversion: beaded suiting, ruffled rugby shirts, and fishtail parkas accessorized with resin tortoise clutches.

With each layered ruffle and undone hem, Rocha reaffirmed her mastery of romance with an edge. As the show closed, Shaw’s words lingered in the air: “The intensity of the beauty of it. I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven.” Slow and steady, Rocha’s vision remains unwavering—steeped in history, craft, and the art of quiet defiance.