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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 arresting 2026 campaign from Ireland Fashion Week powered by Visa, has been revealed, uniting eight prominent names from Irish film, music, fashion, sport and culture against the vast Atlantic scenery of Roundstone, Connemara.
The campaign launched on 18 September, when the hero image for Ireland Fashion Week 2026 was projected at vast scale onto the Convention Centre, with an OOH push following city-wide across 85 Dublin locations.
Shot by Damian Foxe, the Irish photographer celebrated internationally, the creative project starts the countdown to Ireland Fashion Week, which is back next week from 7 to 12 October 2026 with eight shows, more than 90 designers and a programme taking in household names, rising talent, graduates and the broader Irish creative community.
The launch cast includes 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.
As a group, the cast mirrors the many ways Ireland is lived today. Generations, countries and cultures are crossed by their stories, yet each shares a sense of home and a hand in shaping Irish life now.
Ashley McDonnell, Founder of Ireland Fashion Week, who was central to the casting and production of the campaign, 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.
McDonnell went on: “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, Roundstone’s streets, shoreline and working harbour were turned into a striking fashion landscape. Weathered buildings, traditional boat workshops and Connemara’s dramatic coastline set the scene for imagery that reads as familiar and unexpected at the same time, pairing the rugged character of Ireland’s west with the polish and ambition of international fashion editorial.
Discussing her part in the project 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 continued: “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.”
The spotlight at this year’s Ireland Fashion Week City Hall show falls on Sinéad O’Dwyer, the internationally respected Irish designer whose forward-thinking take on inclusivity, representation and inventive pattern-cutting is reshaping contemporary luxury. She has won the Zalando Visionary Award, received British Fashion Council NEWGEN support and reached the semi-finals of the 2025 LVMH Prize. Two of her designs sit in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. Celebrated for her progressive stance on inclusivity and representation, O’Dwyer is reshaping contemporary luxury through inventive pattern-cutting and a broader relationship between garment and body.
Brother Wolf by Pádraig Whelehn, Mná by Sarah Plunkett Chadwick, Aoife McNamara, Sasha Donnellan, Bold Golf and RASHHIIID also appear across the six-day programme. Established and emerging Irish labels will fill the opening Irish Roots show at St Helen’s, while the graduate show, Damhsa, brings more than 40 designers to the RDS. At 1 Windmill Quarter, The Irish Edit showroom will present a further 30 designers.
Expected this year are more than 20 international publications, along with leading creatives, journalists and models, plus international model Coco Rocha. Having been discovered at 14 at an Irish dance feis where she was competing, Rocha has gone on to walk for fashion houses such as Dior, Chanel and Jean Paul Gaultier.
Community, contrast and celebration shape the IFW 2026 campaign Coming Home, created by Artistic Director David Allen. Roundstone’s people and working culture are threaded through the story, and the cast stands for an Ireland that prizes its heritage while refusing to stand still.
Foxe, the campaign’s photographer, was born in Dublin and is based in London, and his credits include Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Vanity Fair in their international editions, as well as a former post as Fashion Director of the Financial Times’ HTSI. Returning to Ireland for the project, he combines a world-class fashion eye with an intimate understanding of how the country looks and sees itself.
Stylist Brian Conway pulled looks 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 came from the Dylan Bradshaw team using L’Oréal Professionnel, and makeup was led by Lan Nguyen-Grealis using SOSU Cosmetics.
Visa comes back as title sponsor for 2026, standing behind Irish designers and creative entrepreneurs as they grow businesses, adopt digital commerce and reach fresh audiences. Support also comes from Tourism Ireland and Dublin City Council, whose involvement will matter greatly to this year’s programme.
Coming Home salutes the Irish landscape and, at the same time, declares Ireland Fashion Week’s intent: Irish creativity deserves to be presented with the scale, confidence and production values of any leading international fashion capital.
The Ireland Fashion Week line-up for 7 to 12 October 2026 revealed
Wednesday, 7 October: Slane Castle hosts the Opening Ceremony
Ireland Fashion Week begins with an evening ceremony and dinner at Slane Castle in Co. Meath, back for a second year with Marks & Spencers to honour the designers and creators at the core of the Irish fashion industry and to set up the six days ahead.
Working to the theme Coming Home: An Island in Motion, M&S and Ireland Fashion Week are joining Ireland’s global creative impact to a world-class fashion ecosystem at home. With strategic partners alongside them, they are helping the local creative community shape the industry’s future.
With M&S reaching 100 years in fashion, the evening will recognise the brand’s standing in the Irish market and the part it has played in developing fashion leaders who rank among the country’s most prominent, from Ireland to London and further afield.
A shared commitment to creativity and craftsmanship runs through the opening ceremony, with Irish chef Mark Moriarty directing the food and Corina Gaffey on creative styling.
Thursday, 8 October: Irish Roots followed by sportswear
The day’s programme opens with the Irish Roots Show at St Helens Hotel in Booterstown, Dublin. Later, the Bold Golf Sportswear Show runs at The Exo Building in Dublin’s Docklands that evening.
Friday, 9 October: Sinéad O’Dwyer and The Irish Edit
1WML on Windmill Lane, Dublin 2, is the home of The Irish Edit Showroom, and Sinéad O’Dwyer stages her show at Dublin City Hall that evening.
Saturday, 10 October: Graduate talent, showcases and streetwear
Saturday starts at the RDS Concert Hall with the Damhsa Graduate Show, putting new talent at the centre of the programme.
The Rashhiiid Showcase comes next 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, talks and contemporary fashion
Sunday starts with the Sasha Donnellan Contemporary Show at Dion Rooftop Restaurant, One Central Plaza, on Dame Street.
Panel discussions run across the day at Medley, in the Old Irish Times Building in Dublin city centre, under the banner Visa Presents: Ireland Fashion Week Talks.
The MNÁ Fashion Show at The Stapleton in Powerscourt Townhouse Centre brings the day to a close.
Monday, 12 October: Mount Juliet and modern heritage
The week finishes in Co. Kilkenny with the Aoife McNamara Modern Heritage Show at Mount Juliet Estate, Thomastown.
Taking in everything from graduate collections to shows by established designers, the 2026 programme from Ireland Fashion Week gives audiences a chance to see the full span of Irish fashion and to find the designers and creatives defining its future.
For more on Ireland Fashion Week 2026, head to https://irelandfashionweek.substack.com/
