Jacob Lillis
In July 2021, contributing Vogue editor Ellie Pithers posited: “Are you ready for Croc girl summer?”. Hot on the rubbery heels of a successful 2020, and a record 64 per cent increase in sales for the first quarter of 2021, the world was, in fact, very ready for a Croc girl summer.
“In times of stress and uncertainty, consumers seem to want comfort, and that’s a trend that they link with our brand,” Adrian Holloway, Crocs VP and general manager (EMEA), told Vogue at the time. Fast-forward to 2024, and the brand’s latest collaborator, Simone Rocha, is ready to reignite the appetite.
“We had Simone in our minds for a while,” Lucy Thornley, global vice president of trend, consumer, design & product at Crocs, who reached out to the designer early last year, tells British Vogue. “Looking at her work, we felt sure we could create something unique, one-of-a-kind, yet wearable. Simone has such a strong identity and is clearly willing to take some risks with her work – that resonated with our team. We felt her signature blend of femininity and utilitarian forms would perfectly align with our bold DNA.”
For those familiar with Rocha’s work – whimsical dresses, bedazzled details and romanticism aplenty – Simone Rocha X Crocs is exactly what you’d expect. Three core silhouettes, comprising the platform “Siren Clog” – which the designer has been wearing on repeat – the beloved “Classic Clog” and the #Gorpcore-esque “Quick Trails”, as styled with taffeta tracksuits on Rocha’s spring/summer 2024 runway, which will arrive in black, white, khaki and rose colourways, swathed in crystal and pearl embellishments. “I wanted to create a crossover from my world and theirs to create something otherworldly,” she says, as an avid Crocs champion. “I was introduced to them because my daughters wear them, and I’ve always worn them for gardening”.
Crocs stocks its very own customisable adornments – known as “Jibbitz” – but Rocha’s designs feature another level of magpie details. See: the shimmering flowers and pearly strands inspired by wedding cake icing on the stacked Siren mules, or the gargantuan protruding pearls and teardrop crystals on the classic clogs, which are also complete with a logo-stamped pearl at the hinge of the heel-strap. (The unabashed maximalism echoes that of her Croc collab predecessor, Christopher Kane, who partnered with the brand for spring/summer 2017.)
The spring/summer 2024 collaboration will be available available at Crocs.co.uk on 10 April, while her latest autumn/winter 2024 show – which debuted in February – suggests that more styles are on the way. Set your alarms.
This article was originally published on British Vogue.
