A spectacular campaign shot 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 unveiled its striking 2026 campaign, Coming Home: An Island in Motion, assembling eight leading figures drawn from the worlds of film, music, fashion, sport and cultural life in Ireland and placing them before the extraordinary Atlantic vistas of Roundstone, Connemara.
The campaign launched on 18 September, with the Ireland Fashion Week 2026 hero image beamed at enormous scale onto the Convention Centre. A city-wide OOH push followed, appearing across 85 Dublin locations.
Shot by Damian Foxe, the Irish photographer acclaimed around the world, the creative project begins the countdown to Ireland Fashion Week. The event returns next week, running 7 to 12 October 2026, with eight shows and more than 90 designers across a line-up embracing household names, emerging talent, graduates and Ireland’s wider creative community.
The launch features 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.
Together, the cast reflects the myriad ways Ireland is experienced in the present day. Their stories span generations, nations and cultures, though all are united by a common sense of home and by a role in shaping Irish life today.
Ashley McDonnell, Founder of Ireland Fashion Week, a driving force behind the campaign’s casting and production, 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.
She 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 streets, shoreline and working harbour of Roundstone became a striking fashion backdrop. Weathered buildings, traditional boat workshops and the dramatic Connemara coastline frame pictures that feel at once familiar and surprising, pairing the rugged spirit of Ireland’s west with the polish and aspiration of a global fashion editorial.
Speaking about her role 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.”
Headlining this year’s Ireland Fashion Week City Hall show is the globally respected Irish designer Sinéad O’Dwyer, whose progressive approach to inclusivity, representation and imaginative pattern-cutting is remaking contemporary luxury. She has received the Zalando Visionary Award and British Fashion Council NEWGEN support, and was a semi-finalist in the 2025 LVMH Prize. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute currently holds two of her pieces. Known for her forward-looking stance on inclusivity and representation, O’Dwyer is rethinking modern luxury through inventive pattern-cutting and an expanded dialogue between clothing and the body.
The six-day schedule also includes 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 established and emerging Irish labels, while the RDS welcomes more than 40 designers for the graduate show, Damhsa. A further 30 designers will be presented by The Irish Edit showroom at 1 Windmill Quarter.
More than 20 international publications are due to attend this year, along with top creatives, journalists and models, Coco Rocha, the international model, among them. Discovered at 14 while competing in an Irish dance feis, Rocha has gone on to walk for fashion houses such as 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 of Roundstone and their working life run through the whole story, and the cast embodies an Ireland proud of its past but determined to keep moving.
A Dubliner now living in London, Foxe is the campaign’s photographer. He has been published in international editions of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Vanity Fair, and previously served as Fashion Director of the Financial Times’ HTSI. Coming back to Ireland for this shoot, he brings a world-class fashion eye together with an intimate understanding of Ireland’s visual character.
Looks were chosen by stylist Brian Conway from designers on the Ireland Fashion Week 2026 line-up, 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 is supporting Irish designers and creative entrepreneurs in scaling their businesses, embracing digital commerce and finding new audiences. Tourism Ireland and Dublin City Council also stand behind Ireland Fashion Week, and their support will play a significant part in this year’s programme.
Both a tribute to the Irish landscape and a statement of intent for Ireland Fashion Week, Coming Home makes the case that Irish creativity deserves the same scale, assurance and production quality afforded to any leading international fashion capital.
Ireland Fashion Week reveals its 7 to 12 October 2026 line-up
Wednesday, 7 October: Slane Castle hosts the curtain-raiser
The week opens with a ceremony and evening dinner at Slane Castle in Co. Meath, where Marks & Spencers returns for a second year to honour the designers and makers at the core of Ireland’s fashion industry and to launch the six-day programme.
Under the theme Coming Home: An Island in Motion, M&S and Ireland Fashion Week are connecting Ireland’s worldwide creative reach to a first-class fashion ecosystem on home soil. With strategic partners on board, they are enabling creatives at home to determine the industry’s next chapter.
As M&S marks 100 years in fashion, the evening will acknowledge the brand’s influence on the Irish market and the role it played in nurturing a number of the most prominent fashion leaders Ireland has sent to London and beyond.
A shared commitment to creativity and craftsmanship underpins the opening ceremony, with culinary direction from Irish chef Mark Moriarty and creative styling by Corina Gaffey.
Thursday, 8 October: Irish Roots Show plus sportswear
The Irish Roots Show at St Helens Hotel in Booterstown, Dublin, opens Thursday’s schedule. The Bold Golf Sportswear Show follows that evening at The Exo Building in Dublin’s Docklands.
Friday, 9 October: Sinéad O’Dwyer plus The Irish Edit
1WML on Windmill Lane, Dublin 2, hosts The Irish Edit Showroom. Sinéad O’Dwyer then stages her show at Dublin City Hall that evening.
Saturday, 10 October: streetwear, showcases and new graduates
Saturday begins with the Damhsa Graduate Show at the RDS Concert Hall, placing emerging talent at the forefront of the programme.
Next comes the Rashhiiid Showcase at the Gerard Byrne Gallery on Trinity Street, with The Douglas Hyde Gallery in Trinity College Dublin hosting the Brother Wolf Streetwear Show that evening.
Sunday, 11 October: MNÁ, contemporary design and panel talks
Sunday opens at Dion Rooftop Restaurant, One Central Plaza, on Dame Street, with the Sasha Donnellan Contemporary Show.
Throughout the day, panel discussions run at Medley, in the Old Irish Times Building in Dublin’s city centre, under the banner Visa Presents: Ireland Fashion Week Talks.
Closing proceedings is the MNÁ Fashion Show at The Stapleton in Powerscourt Townhouse Centre.
Monday, 12 October: Mount Juliet and modern heritage
Co. Kilkenny brings the week to a finish, with the Aoife McNamara Modern Heritage Show at Mount Juliet Estate, Thomastown.
From graduate collections to presentations by established designers, the 2026 Ireland Fashion Week programme asks audiences to explore the whole spectrum of Irish fashion and to encounter the designers and creatives shaping its future.
Further details on Ireland Fashion Week 2026 are available at https://irelandfashionweek.substack.com/
