Contributed content: this article was written by a third-party contributor and does not necessarily reflect the views of Columnist24. Editorial and Advertising Policy
A spectacular campaign photographed in Roundstone, Connemara, stars Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, Celia Holman Lee, Max Hart, Travy, KhakiKid, Lauren Whelan, Marwa Noelle Ali and Ivana Miličević.
Ireland Fashion Week powered by Visa has now unveiled Coming Home: An Island in Motion, its stunning 2026 campaign, which brings together eight standout names from sport, music, film, fashion and culture in Ireland, set amid the extraordinary Atlantic scenery of Roundstone, Connemara.
The launch unfolded on 18 September, with the Ireland Fashion Week 2026 hero image beamed in monumental scale onto the Convention Centre. A city-wide OOH initiative spanning 85 Dublin locations then followed.
Shot by Damian Foxe, an Irish photographer of international renown, the creative venture begins the countdown to Ireland Fashion Week, returning next week from 7 to 12 October 2026, when eight shows and more than 90 designers will populate a programme covering graduates, emerging talent, established names and the wider creative scene across Ireland.
Fronting the launch are actor Jamie-Lee O’Donnell; racing driver Max Hart; Irish fashion icon Celia Holman Lee; Ireland Fashion Week Model of the Year Marwa Noelle Ali; musicians Travy and Abdu Huss, known as KhakiKid; digital creator Lauren Whelan; and actor and model Ivana Miličević.
Taken as a whole, the line-up reflects the countless ways Ireland is experienced now. Their personal histories span generations, nations and cultures, though all of them share a common sense of what home means, along with a role in moulding Irish life as it stands today.
Ashley McDonnell, Founder of Ireland Fashion Week, a driving force in casting the campaign and producing it, said: “Coming Home: An Island in Motion is a celebration of Irish creativity in all its forms. We have brought together an extraordinary cast spanning fashion, film, music, sport and culture, dressed in Irish design and photographed against the breathtaking landscape of Roundstone.”
“We wanted this to feel both familiar and unexpected. To capture the Ireland we know and love while showing the confidence, diversity and creative energy shaping the country today. Each person involved brings their own story and interpretation of home, but together they represent an Ireland that is proud of its roots and excited about its future.
Her point continued: “Ireland Fashion Week is ultimately about celebrating the remarkable talent we have here and giving people across the country the opportunity to discover, support and take pride in Irish fashion.”
For as long as the shoot lasted, the village streets, shoreline and working harbour of Roundstone became an arresting fashion terrain. Time-worn buildings, traditional boat workshops and the dramatic Connemara coastline frame images that feel at once recognisable and surprising, wedding the raw character of the west of Ireland to the gloss and ambition of global fashion editorial.
On her involvement in the campaign and in Ireland Fashion Week 2026, actor Jamie-Lee O’Donnell said: “Fashion has always been a brilliant form of self-expression for me. It can say so much about who you are, where you come from and how you want to present yourself to the world. Ireland is full of fearless, imaginative creatives who deserve to be seen on an international stage.
She went on: “Being part of this campaign feels incredibly special. The landscape in Connemara is unmistakably Irish, but the fashion and creative direction show a country that is constantly evolving and redefining itself. I’m genuinely proud to help launch it.”
Globally respected Irish designer Sinéad O’Dwyer, whose forward-thinking approach to inclusivity, representation and inventive pattern-cutting is remaking luxury for our era, headlines this year’s Ireland Fashion Week City Hall show. A recipient of the Zalando Visionary Award and British Fashion Council NEWGEN support, she also made the 2025 LVMH Prize semi-finals. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute currently holds two of her pieces. Widely admired for her progressive position on inclusivity and on representation, O’Dwyer is rescripting luxury now via imaginative cutting and a more generous conversation between bodies and the garments they wear.
The six-day programme also features Brother Wolf by Pádraig Whelehn, Mná by Sarah Plunkett Chadwick, Aoife McNamara, Sasha Donnellan, Bold Golf and RASHHIIID. Established and emerging Irish labels get their platform at the opening Irish Roots show at St Helen’s, while the graduate show, Damhsa, takes more than 40 designers to the RDS. At 1 Windmill Quarter, The Irish Edit showroom presents a further 30 designers.
This year expects more than 20 international publications in attendance, plus top creatives, journalists and models, as well as international model Coco Rocha. Discovered at 14 while taking part in an Irish dance feis, Rocha has gone on to walk for the likes of Dior, Chanel and Jean Paul Gaultier.
Community, contrast and celebration are the foundations of the IFW 2026 campaign Coming Home, created by Artistic Director David Allen. Running through the story are Roundstone’s residents and their working traditions, with the line-up embodying an Ireland that cherishes where it came from yet never stays put.
Dublin-born and now living in London, campaign photographer Foxe has seen his work published in international editions of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Vanity Fair, and he was formerly Fashion Director of the Financial Times’ HTSI. Returning home to shoot the project, he pairs a world-class fashion sensibility with an intimate understanding of how Ireland looks and feels.
Looks were chosen by stylist Brian Conway from designers taking part in Ireland Fashion Week 2026, among them Paul Costelloe, Sasha Donnellan, Triona, Magee 1866, Louis Copeland, Jack Murphy and Alacoque Daly. The Dylan Bradshaw team created hair with L’Oréal Professionnel, and makeup was led by Lan Nguyen-Grealis with SOSU Cosmetics.
Returning as title sponsor for 2026, Visa will help Irish designers and creative entrepreneurs scale up, embrace digital commerce and reach new audiences. Tourism Ireland and Dublin City Council are supporters of Ireland Fashion Week too, and their contribution will prove vital to the 2026 programme.
Coming Home pays tribute to the Irish landscape and serves equally as a declaration of intent from Ireland Fashion Week. Irish creativity deserves a platform matching the scale, confidence and production standards of any major international fashion capital.
Ireland Fashion Week reveals its programme running 7 to 12 October 2026
Wednesday, 7 October: Slane Castle hosts the Opening Ceremony
A ceremony and dinner held in the evening at Slane Castle in Co. Meath launches Ireland Fashion Week, returning for a second year alongside Marks & Spencers to honour the designers and creators at the core of Ireland’s fashion industry and to frame the six days ahead.
Under the theme Coming Home: An Island in Motion, M&S and Ireland Fashion Week are linking the creative influence Ireland wields worldwide with a world-class fashion ecosystem built at home. Alongside strategic partners, both are backing the local creative community as it shapes the future of the industry.
As M&S marks 100 years in fashion, the night will recognise how the brand has shaped the Irish market and helped nurture several of Ireland’s best-known fashion leaders, in Ireland, in London and beyond.
What the opening ceremony toasts is a mutual commitment to creativity and craft, with food overseen by Irish chef Mark Moriarty and creative styling by Corina Gaffey.
Thursday, 8 October: from Irish Roots to Bold Golf sportswear
Thursday starts with the Irish Roots Show at St Helens Hotel in Booterstown, Dublin. Later, The Exo Building in Dublin’s Docklands hosts the Bold Golf Sportswear Show that evening.
Friday, 9 October: showroom hours, then Sinéad O’Dwyer
The Irish Edit Showroom sets up at 1WML on Windmill Lane, Dublin 2. Sinéad O’Dwyer then stages her show at Dublin City Hall that evening.
Saturday, 10 October: graduate talent, a gallery showcase and streetwear
Saturday opens at the RDS Concert Hall with the Damhsa Graduate Show, placing fresh talent squarely in the programme’s spotlight.
Next up is the Rashhiiid Showcase at the Gerard Byrne Gallery on Trinity Street, with the Brother Wolf Streetwear Show rounding off the evening at The Douglas Hyde Gallery in Trinity College Dublin.
Sunday, 11 October: contemporary looks, panel talks and MNÁ
Dion Rooftop Restaurant, One Central Plaza, on Dame Street, opens Sunday with the Sasha Donnellan Contemporary Show.
Throughout the day, panel discussions run at Medley, in the Old Irish Times Building in the centre of Dublin, as part of Visa Presents: Ireland Fashion Week Talks.
The MNÁ Fashion Show at The Stapleton in Powerscourt Townhouse Centre closes out the day.
Monday, 12 October: Mount Juliet welcomes modern heritage
Co. Kilkenny hosts the finale, with the Aoife McNamara Modern Heritage Show at Mount Juliet Estate, Thomastown.
From graduate collections through to shows by long-established designers, the 2026 Ireland Fashion Week programme lets audiences experience Irish fashion in its entirety and encounter the designers and creatives mapping its next chapter.
For further detail on Ireland Fashion Week 2026, visit https://irelandfashionweek.substack.com/
