"It was never something I thought I could actually do": Simone Rocha model Aimée Byrne on starting in fashion

Simone Rocha favourite Aimée Byrne discusses the glory of Ireland, fashion faux pas and entering the industry

Aimée sits across from me, perched comfortably with one leg folded under the other. The 19-year-old model is relaxing for the evening in a pastel pink hoodie and checked pyjama bottoms, an unusual sight as she is rarely seen outside of a black monochromatic outfit. Her dark curls are piled atop her head in a messy bun, and currently, she is far from the alternative, edgy model most would know her to be. She is a picture of comfort and ease, the Aimée I am most familiar with.

Photo: Simone Rocha

The Irish national, while still relatively new on the fashion scene, has already begun cementing her name as one of the faces of the season. Scouted in a nightclub in Dublin around Halloween 2023, it was a quick transition from student to runway walker. “I had my face painted like a skeleton, which is ridiculous,” says Byrne, on how she got scouted. “Isa [a scout from her mother agency] approached me like ‘Oh, I love your makeup! I know this is going to sound super weird, but have you ever thought about modelling?” I questioned her on this: was modelling ever a consideration? “I’d dress up as a kid and be like, yes, I am a supermodel,” she replied. “But it was never a thing I thought I could actually do until they said hey!” She giggles as she says this. Despite having been on the scene for six months now, she is still clearly in disbelief over the whole situation.

It was from there that conversations began with Premier, her now agent in London. Byrne video called with the agency’s booker and had a contract signed with them, but it wasn’t until February 2024 that she was asked to come to the capital to try out for London Fashion Week: “It was a Friday that I got the call, and I was in London on the Monday!” Quite a jump for the teenager, who had never been to London before, let alone the UK. “It was definitely an adjustment,” she says, a look of amusement on her face. “The most time I’d ever spent away from home was when I would go to visit my sister on the Isle of Mann without my mam or dad. But that’s to go see my sister, you know, it’s very different.”

L>R: Simone Rocha SS25, Giambattista Valli AW24, Simone Rocha AW24, Standing Ground SS25. All photos from Vogue Runway

While many models try and sadly fail to secure a show in their first season, this was not the case for Byrne. One of the lucky few, she walked her debut runway for Simone Rocha’s AW24 collection. As we begin discussing Rocha, Byrne sits up a little straighter, and her already fast prose picks up the pace. “It was wild,” she exclaims. “I think it was my fourth ever casting.” When I ask her what that was like, a gentle blush spreads across her cheeks, and she tells me what she believes to be one of her most embarrassing stories. “I put my bag down, and things just started falling out of it, and I’m like falling over myself and stuff,” she cringes. “This woman comes in – and she looked very important, you know, like poised. She had heard me talking and asked if I was Irish. She spoke in a clearly Irish accent, but I still went, ‘Y-yeah…are you? And all the girls around me started laughing. I only found out, the night of the runway, that the woman I had made a show of myself in front of was Odette Rocha, Simone’s mother!” This incident happened well over six months ago, yet she still throws her head into her hands in embarrassment.

Before all this excitement, Byrne was planning to be an art student in Dublin, Ireland. “When I left secondary school, I was kind of in limbo. I didn’t know what to do with myself, so I signed up for an art course at Coláiste Íde College. Modelling kinda de-railed that a little bit, but I never really found my passion in it, so it doesn’t feel like a loss.” Byrne now finds herself living in a model flat in West London with up to 10 other girls at one time. “You’re surrounded by people constantly,” she says of the living arrangement. “It’s great when you make friends, but sometimes it does feel like I’m surrounded by people, but I’m still on my own,” I ask her if she gets homesick much. “Definitely. When I have downtime, that’s when it really kicks in, that’s when I would just rather be at home, doing nothing. Especially in the flat when you are trying to cook food, and someone has left eggs in the pan for two days. It’s moments like that when I think get me home; I need my mam!”

Aimée on the cover of Lula Japan Magazine. She is wearing AW24 Simone Rocha Silk Taffeta Cape with Front Bow and Embellished Pointed Balaclava. Photo: @simonerocha_

We talk about going back to Ireland and how it was for her growing up there, “I feel like my take is going to be very biased,” she laughs. “It’s home! I loved it there – I do love it there. There is no place I love on the planet more than Ireland.” I bring up how the nation is getting more recognition, with the likes of Sally Rooney and Cillian Murphy proudly owning their Irish heritage. “I notice a lot more media coverage,” she muses. “I remember as a kid, you’d watch iCarly, and someone would mention Ireland, and we would all stop to cheer. It felt like, ahh they know us, because it kind of felt like we didn’t exist at times. We’re so small we always just get lumped in with the UK, you know. We’ve weaseled our way into mainstream media, and we’re all so proud of that.”

“How was it to go back home after your first season?” I ask Byrne. She takes a minute to ponder over how to respond. “People… umm, they care a lot more,” she says tentatively. “Neighbours want to know more, like where were you last, where are you off to next, which I love. Others come across as a bit more superficial. I remember when I got home the first time. I went to a pub with my mam, and we met a girl I went to school with. She had never in her life had time for me, but she stopped me to chat, like, ‘Oh, I need to get into modelling as well!’” She is considering how to phrase her response here. “It’s not as much with my close personal friends but with people in my wider circle. I remember when I debuted for Simone, I had people texting me, who would have had to add me on Instagram just to text me. I had never spoken to them before, but I knew of them, and they were suddenly messaging me. You have to separate who was there before and who wasn’t.”