The De Beers Homo Faber 2026 collaboration is among the most talked-about moments of a September cultural calendar that stretches from Venice to New York, with fashion month providing the backdrop for a run of exhibitions, installations and partnerships worth your attention.
De Beers Homo Faber 2026 and Botswana’s Weaving Traditions
De Beers is continuing its support of Homo Faber, this year with a celebration of Botswana’s weaving traditions at the Venice showcase. Master basket weaver Shakunona Parata, who is based in Botswana, will demonstrate her practice live alongside “Diware”, a new sculptural work created with Beullah Serema and Peter Mabeo of Mabeo Studio. The piece draws its inspiration from “Manyevora”, a traditional Mbukushu attire associated with the healing ceremony Diware, and brings together woven palm leaves, porcupine quills, carved wood and semiprecious stones.
According to Retail Boss, De Beers Group’s involvement at Homo Faber 2026 extends beyond Botswana to include artisans from South Africa as well, broadening the scope of what the report describing the Venice presentation makes clear. The collaboration does not stop in Venice either: it will continue at Frieze Masters in London this October with a new commission featuring artisans from across Botswana.
Also presenting at Homo Faber 2026 is Dior house Alaïa, which is bringing a sculptural knitted gown to the Fondazione Giorgio Cini. The piece features a flared skirt and individually cut, hand-sewn silk feathers. The monthlong exhibition, “Homo Faber 2026: An Island of Light”, was conceived by British artist and designer Es Devlin and centres on the relationship between light, materials and the human hand.
Dior and A24, Moncler in New York, and the Rest of September
Dior has announced a two-year creative partnership with A24 spanning film, theatre and live events. A short film featuring Sabrina Carpenter, Josh O’Connor, Drew Starkey, Camille Cottin and Sophie Wilde serves as the announcement vehicle, with all of them playing Jonathan Anderson in what the campaign freely acknowledges is a self-aware setup. At the centre of the partnership is New York’s Cherry Lane Theatre, where Dior will serve as premier partner and help develop programming for artists across the creative industries.
The collaboration launches with “Both Ends”, a one-off performance by Justin Vivian Bond inspired by poet and playwright Edna St. Vincent Millay, one of the theatre’s founders. Anderson designed the costumes, including an archival Paul Poiret look for Bond. Millay wore Poiret, and the designer’s work informed Dior’s winter 2026 collection. Beyond the launch event, the partnership will support established and emerging talent, as well as students interested in both the creative and practical sides of film and theatre.
Moncler, meanwhile, is turning New York Fashion Week into something larger than the runway. From 9 to 13 September, “New York in Moncler” transforms the city into an open-air exhibition, with large-scale photographs revisiting the brand’s most memorable moments across New York. The project spans a choral fashion show at Hammerstein Ballroom through to Sarah Jessica Parker’s puffer gown on “And Just Like That…”, designed by Pierpaolo Piccioli.
Hungarian photographer Szilveszter Makó is debuting “Bauhaus Ballet”, an immersive exhibition unfolding across six rooms. Presented with The Cultivist and Capital One, the show draws on childhood memories, Hungarian folklore, art and fashion history, and the visual references behind Makó’s work. Bare brick walls, inherited cutlery and well-loved household pieces sit alongside objects that feel both familiar and strange.
Running until November 2026 at Olivia Rodrigo’s Daisy Chain Fields in Irvine, California, “Grrrl Germs” explores the lasting influence of the riot grrrl movement. Curated by Astria Suparak and supported by Loewe, the exhibition brings together handmade zines, flyers, stitched banners, self-produced records, listening areas and a collaborative map charting the movement’s connections to art, activism, publishing and community organising. The show treats the handmade as a form of self-expression and knowledge sharing.
The De Beers Homo Faber 2026 presentation runs as part of the Venice showcase before the collaboration moves to Frieze Masters in London in October, where a new commission featuring artisans from across Botswana will be unveiled.
