A spectacular campaign shot in Roundstone, Connemara, features Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, Celia Holman Lee, Max Hart, Travy, KhakiKid, Lauren Whelan, Marwa Noelle Ali and Ivana Miličević.
Coming Home: An Island in Motion, the striking 2026 campaign from Ireland Fashion Week powered by Visa, has just been unveiled, gathering eight leading names from Irish music, film, sport, fashion and culture amid the majestic Atlantic scenery of Roundstone, Connemara.
The campaign launched on 18 September, when the Ireland Fashion Week 2026 hero image appeared in monumental projection on the Convention Centre, before a city-wide OOH push spread to 85 Dublin locations.
Captured by Damian Foxe, the Irish photographer of international renown, the creative venture begins the countdown to Ireland Fashion Week, which returns next week, running 7 to 12 October 2026, with its eight shows and more than 90 designers folding established labels, rising talent, graduates and the wider creative community of Ireland into one programme.
Fronting the launch are actor Jamie-Lee O’Donnell; racing driver Max Hart; Irish fashion icon Celia Holman Lee; Marwa Noelle Ali, Ireland Fashion Week Model of the Year; musicians Travy and Abdu Huss, who performs as KhakiKid; digital creator Lauren Whelan; and actor and model Ivana Miličević.
Taken together, the cast reflects the innumerable ways of living in Ireland today. Their stories span generations, countries and cultures, yet all are linked by a sense of home and by a part in shaping Irish life today.
Ashley McDonnell, Founder of Ireland Fashion Week, who played a pivotal role in casting and producing the campaign, commented: “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.
The founder 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 the shoot, the harbour, shoreline and streets of Roundstone became an arresting fashion backdrop. Old boat sheds, weather-beaten buildings and the dramatic Connemara coastline frame pictures that feel at once familiar and surprising, pairing the rugged spirit of Ireland’s west with the gloss and aspiration found in international fashion editorial.
Actor Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, speaking on her part in the project and Ireland Fashion Week 2026, 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 added: “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.”
Headlining this year’s Ireland Fashion Week City Hall show is the internationally respected Irish designer Sinéad O’Dwyer, whose forward-looking approach to inclusivity, representation and ingenious pattern-cutting is remaking luxury today. Winner of the Zalando Visionary Award and a recipient of British Fashion Council NEWGEN backing, she was a semi-finalist in the 2025 LVMH Prize. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute currently holds two of her pieces. Lauded for her forward-thinking stance on inclusivity and representation, O’Dwyer is redrawing luxury for our era through inventive pattern-cutting and a broader dialogue between garment and body.
The six-day programme also features Brother Wolf by Pádraig Whelehn, Mná by Sarah Plunkett Chadwick, Aoife McNamara, Sasha Donnellan, Bold Golf and RASHHIIID. The opening Irish Roots show at St Helen’s will spotlight Irish labels both established and emerging, while Damhsa, the graduate show, brings more than 40 designers to the RDS. A further 30 designers will be presented in the Irish Edit showroom at 1 Windmill Quarter.
This year’s attendees are expected to number more than 20 international publications, as well as prominent creatives, journalists and models, and the international model Coco Rocha. Spotted at 14 as she took part in an Irish dance feis, Rocha has gone on to walk for fashion houses including Dior, Chanel and Jean Paul Gaultier.
Built on community, contrast and celebration, Coming Home is the IFW 2026 campaign created by Artistic Director David Allen. The people and working life of Roundstone thread through the whole story, while the cast personifies an Ireland that cherishes its heritage yet never stands still.
Dublin-born and London-based, campaign photographer Foxe has seen his work published in international editions of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Vanity Fair, after a period as Fashion Director of the Financial Times’ HTSI. Returning to Ireland to shoot the campaign, he pairs a world-class fashion sensibility with an intimate feel for the nation’s visual character.
Looks were chosen by stylist Brian Conway from designers participating in Ireland Fashion Week 2026, among them Paul Costelloe, Sasha Donnellan, Triona, Magee 1866, Louis Copeland, Jack Murphy and Alacoque Daly. Hair was created by the Dylan Bradshaw team using L’Oréal Professionnel, while makeup was led by Lan Nguyen-Grealis using SOSU Cosmetics.
Returning as title sponsor for 2026, Visa supports Irish designers and creative entrepreneurs in scaling their businesses, embracing digital commerce and reaching fresh audiences. Ireland Fashion Week also draws support from Tourism Ireland and Dublin City Council, whose involvement will count for a great deal in this year’s programme.
As well as saluting the Irish landscape, Coming Home is a statement of intent from Ireland Fashion Week. Irish creativity deserves staging on the scale, assurance and production standards found in any leading fashion capital worldwide.
Ireland Fashion Week reveals its line-up for 7 to 12 October 2026
Wednesday, 7 October: Slane Castle hosts the Opening Ceremony
Ireland Fashion Week opens with an evening ceremony and dinner at Slane Castle in Co. Meath, returning for a second year alongside Marks & Spencers to honour the designers and makers at the core of Ireland’s fashion industry and to set up six days of programming.
Under the theme Coming Home: An Island in Motion, Ireland Fashion Week and M&S connect Ireland’s worldwide creative influence to a domestic fashion ecosystem of international standard. Working with strategic partners, they are enabling creatives here at home to steer the industry’s next chapter.
As M&S marks 100 years in fashion, the night will acknowledge the brand’s imprint on the Irish market and its part in developing some of the biggest fashion figures the country has produced, in Ireland, in London and well beyond.
The opening ceremony celebrates a mutual devotion to creativity and craftsmanship, with Irish chef Mark Moriarty leading the culinary direction and Corina Gaffey handling creative styling.
Thursday, 8 October: Sportswear and Irish Roots
The Irish Roots Show at St Helens Hotel in Booterstown, Dublin, starts Thursday’s schedule. That evening, the Bold Golf Sportswear Show takes place at The Exo Building in Dublin’s Docklands.
Friday, 9 October: Sinéad O’Dwyer and The Irish Edit
The Irish Edit Showroom sets up at 1WML on Windmill Lane, Dublin 2. Dublin City Hall is the venue that evening for Sinéad O’Dwyer’s show.
Saturday, 10 October: Streetwear, showcases and graduates
The RDS Concert Hall hosts the Damhsa Graduate Show to open Saturday, putting emerging talent centre stage in the programme.
Next comes the Rashhiiid Showcase at the Gerard Byrne Gallery on Trinity Street, with the Brother Wolf Streetwear Show held that evening at The Douglas Hyde Gallery in Trinity College Dublin.
Sunday, 11 October: MNÁ, conversations and contemporary fashion
Dion Rooftop Restaurant at One Central Plaza on Dame Street hosts the Sasha Donnellan Contemporary Show to start Sunday.
Throughout the day, Medley, in the Old Irish Times Building in Dublin city centre, hosts a series of panel discussions billed as Visa Presents: Ireland Fashion Week Talks.
Closing the day is the MNÁ Fashion Show at The Stapleton in Powerscourt Townhouse Centre.
Monday, 12 October: Mount Juliet and modern heritage
Co. Kilkenny closes out the week with the Aoife McNamara Modern Heritage Show at Mount Juliet Estate, Thomastown.
Ranging from graduate collections to runways from well-known designers, Ireland Fashion Week’s 2026 programme asks audiences to experience Irish fashion in its entirety and to meet those designers and creatives shaping what comes next.
For more on Ireland Fashion Week 2026, visit https://irelandfashionweek.substack.com/
