A feast for the eyes

John Rocha has a landmark birthday looming. He chuckles. “Yes, I am in my 60th year,” he says.

It seems an appropriate time for the Dublin-based designer to survey his empire. And an extensive empire it is, too, with a portfolio spanning his own John Rocha fashion label, his jewellery line, his collections for Waterford Crystal, his Rocha.John Rocha diffusion clothing, homewares and accessories ranges for Debenhams, and his work creating interiors for private jet cabins, residential schemes and hotels including the Morrison in Dublin. There can be few lives which have not, in some way, been touched by the serene and transforming magic of John Rocha.

His spring/summer mainline fashion collection stunned critics because of the display of bright, rich colour, considered a step away from his more usual nature-inspired, calming creativity. “There’s silk, lots of silk and lace, beading, hand stitching – 20 metres of silk, all hand cut and stitching them together,” he explains, the intonation of his Hong Kong upbringing still much in evidence. “What I try to do is really bring back the element of the couture of fashion in the Fifties, in a modern way, so that people can feel that they are wearing something really, really special, but at the same time not old fashioned.

That bright colour, he explains, was the result of spending the previous year in Aix-en-Provence working on a chapel and being surrounded by beautiful colour. “When I showed the collection in September, it took most people by surprise,” he says.

Born in Hong Kong of Chinese and Portuguese descent, Rocha came to London in the Sixties to train as a psychiatric nurse, before realising his true calling and studying at the Croydon School of Art, where the Irish wool he used in his graduate collection inspired a trip to Ireland. He moved there and established his Chinatown label in the 1980s. In 1993 he was named British Designer of the Year, and a CBE followed in 2002. He has been with his wife and business partner, Odette, for three decades and they have two children, while Rocha has an older daughter, Zoe, from his first marriage.

Odette and Rocha share their Dublin home, and a flat in London over the Rocha lifestyle emporium on Dover Street, and an earthly paradise of a home in Cap Ferrat in the South of France. Of Odette, he says: “We love each other, we respect each other, and I think that’s the important thing, when you respect each other’s opinion. I think that’s a very important part of any partnership. We have just spent our 30th anniversary in Hong Kong for 10 days... it’s working.” He chuckles again.

Their daughter Simone is a fashion designer too, and launched her own collection two years ago, but Rocha says he tends not to pass on tips. “Obviously she is a different generation. I advise her more as a father than as a designer.”

He has added to his portfolio a range of eyewear for Specsavers, wearable but statement glasses at affordable prices. “One thing about eyewear is that it is easy for it to get lost, so if you lose it, it won’t cost you an arm and a leg,” he says. “There is a synergy with what I do, everything from fashion to interiors, to menswear, womenswear to childrenswear.

“Looking back at my career, and all the things I love and treasure, I bring into this collection.”

What has changed in fashion since he started, he says, is that people no longer follow designers religiously and are now more confident about creating their own style. “Fashion is in a very good moment right now,” he says.

Rocha is in a very good moment right now, too. “I am very happy doing what I do,” he says. “I am very lucky that I have been working for Waterford for the past 15 years and we are still making very beautiful things. I have been working 
with Debenhams for over 12 years and we still enjoy working together and the same with my jewellery collection, and hopefully we will travel the same road with Specsavers.”

But it is the reach of his work and his ability to provide so many beautiful 
pieces, especially in fashion and homewares, at affordable prices, that pleases him most.

“I think, when I look back at my career, that’s the most important part, the most satisfaction, when people are walking past and say, ‘Hey, John, I love what you do’. For me that means a lot and hopefully I can continue to do that.”

Twitter: @yorkshirefashQ

John Rocha’s new and exclusive range for Specsavers is available now at www.specsavers.co.uk