welcome to a new era show noteswhich has an ongoing cycle of contributors from around the world gq The network will deliver breaking menswear intel, fearless trend reporting and entertaining information straight to your inbox throughout fashion month. (Sign up here to get it free.) First up: Senior Style Editor Yang-Yi Goh Excerpt from a spectacular Simone Rocha show in Florence.
For his first standalone menswear show on Thursday evening, the Irish designer simone rocha Commanded Florence’s highly ornate Teatro della Pergola, one of the oldest opera houses in Italy. The models stepped onto the stage, circled its raw, ornate outline, and then climbed the aisle between neat rows of red velvet seats and descended into the audience.
“As soon as I walked into the theater, I felt like I was transported to a new universe,” Rocha said the morning before her spring 2027 presentation, explaining that she had designed 38 looks with specific characters in mind: painters, traditional people, dancers. “I wanted them to perform and put them on stage.”
Ironically, Rocha’s parade of romantic leading men – delicately clad in ruched windbreakers and eyelet-embroidered bloomers, with the occasional tulle boa slung over a shoulder – often had a grown-up feel. Less More demonstrative and costume-y than a few guys wearing over-accessorized pastel suits outside Pitti Immagine Uomo, the major menswear trade show that brought Rocha here as a guest designer.
“It feels gentle, but also feels grassroots,” Rocha said of the collection, which spans from billowy tailoring to bookish knits to playfully suggestive aprons. While the 39-year-old Launching its men’s line in 2023It feels like the opportunity to focus solely on this has opened up a whole new level of craft and depth. “What’s been really interesting is thinking about codes and details,” she said, “and forcing myself to slow down and see what I can do, what I want to offer as a masculine wardrobe, and then making space for myself in this space.”
The resulting line is Rocha’s most fully realized — and Simone Rocha-first — offering for men to date: preppy and punk, handsome and provocative, flirty and full of emotion. It’s all geared towards a bunch of goofy, sensitive Internet boyfriends currently working in Hollywood; Don’t be surprised to see Josh O’Connor or Hudson Williams in lacy blouses or kilt-like pleated shorts at Cannes next spring.
Here’s a closer look at some cheeky style moves that are worth emulating and charming grails that are worth wooing.
The tee-and-tailoring combo goes turbo
Do you remember those crocheted camp shirts that became the menswear catnip du jour a few summers ago? Turns out they were merely laying the groundwork for the full-tilt lace tops and silky bowlike tunics we saw on stage last night. While Rocha sent some models down the runway in unashamedly feminine sleeveless shirts, Alexander Skarsgård in his slinky Dior going-out top, I was far more taken with them peeking out from beneath the drapey tailoring. Consider it an upgraded alternative to the old T-shirt-under-a-blazer standby — or a very welcome upgrade on the recent rush of celebrities choosing to go shirtless with their suits on the red carpet.
