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.
Coming Home: An Island in Motion unites eight prominent names from Irish cinema, music, fashion, sport and culture in the striking 2026 campaign unveiled by Ireland Fashion Week powered by Visa, set amid the magnificent Atlantic scenery of Roundstone, Connemara.
On 18 September the campaign began life as a large-scale projection of the Ireland Fashion Week 2026 hero image onto the Convention Centre, with a city-wide OOH roll-out across 85 Dublin locations following.
Captured by the internationally acclaimed Irish photographer Damian Foxe, the creative venture launches the countdown to Ireland Fashion Week, returning next week from 7 to 12 October 2026 with eight shows, more than 90 designers and a line-up embracing household names, emerging talent, graduates and Ireland’s wider creative community.
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; the musicians Travy and Abdu Huss, known as KhakiKid; digital creator Lauren Whelan; and actor and model Ivana Miličević.
Collectively, the cast reflects the multitude of ways Ireland is inhabited today. Their personal histories span generations, nations and cultures, though a shared sense of home unites them, as does the role each plays in shaping Irish life now.
Pivotal to the campaign’s casting as well as its production, Ashley McDonnell, Founder of Ireland Fashion Week, 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 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, the streets, shoreline and working harbour of Roundstone became a daring fashion backdrop. Long-standing boat workshops, time-worn buildings and the dramatic Connemara coastline frame images that feel recognisable and surprising at once, setting the rugged character of Ireland’s west beside the polish and aspiration of international fashion editorial.
On her role in the campaign and in Ireland Fashion Week 2026, actor Jamie-Lee O’Donnell remarked: “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.
Her comments 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.”
Globally respected Irish designer Sinéad O’Dwyer headlines this year’s Ireland Fashion Week City Hall show, with her forward-thinking approach to inclusivity, to representation and to innovative pattern-cutting recasting contemporary luxury. She has won the Zalando Visionary Award, received British Fashion Council NEWGEN support, and was a semi-finalist for the 2025 LVMH Prize. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute holds two of her designs. Lauded for her forward-looking position on inclusivity and on representation, O’Dwyer is remaking contemporary luxury through innovative pattern-cutting and a broader, freer dialogue between body and garment.
Also featuring over the six-day schedule are 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 puts both established and up-and-coming Irish labels on display, while Damhsa, the graduate show, takes more than 40 designers to the RDS. A further 30 designers will be presented by The Irish Edit showroom at 1 Windmill Quarter.
This year’s expected guest list takes in more than 20 international publications, as well as prominent creatives, journalists and models, including the international model Coco Rocha. Discovered at 14 as she took part in an Irish dance feis, Rocha has gone on to walk for houses such as Dior, Chanel and Jean Paul Gaultier.
Devised by Artistic Director David Allen, Coming Home, the IFW 2026 campaign, rests on community, contrast and celebration. The people of Roundstone and their working culture run through the story, with the cast representing an Ireland that treasures heritage while refusing to stay still.
Dublin born and London based, Foxe, the campaign’s photographer, has produced work for international editions of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Vanity Fair and formerly held the post of Fashion Director at the Financial Times’ HTSI. Returning home to Ireland for the campaign, he pairs an intimately personal feel for the nation’s visual identity with a world-class fashion sensibility.
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 using L’Oréal Professionnel, with makeup led by Lan Nguyen-Grealis using SOSU Cosmetics.
Returning as title sponsor in 2026, Visa is supporting Irish designers and creative entrepreneurs in scaling their businesses, embracing digital commerce and finding new audiences. Ireland Fashion Week also enjoys the support of Tourism Ireland and Dublin City Council, whose involvement will prove hugely significant to this year’s programme.
Coming Home salutes the Irish landscape and doubles as a statement of intent from Ireland Fashion Week. Irish creativity deserves to be staged with the ambition, assurance and production standards found in any major international fashion capital.
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 begins with an evening of ceremony and dinner at Slane Castle in Co. Meath, back for a second year with Marks & Spencers to honour the makers and designers central to Ireland’s fashion industry, establishing the mood for six days of events.
Under the theme Coming Home: An Island in Motion, M&S and Ireland Fashion Week are linking Ireland’s creative reach overseas with a world-class fashion ecosystem on home ground. Alongside strategic partners, they are supporting the creative community here in shaping the industry’s future.
With M&S celebrating 100 years in fashion, the evening will recognise what the brand has meant to the Irish market, and how it has cultivated several of Ireland’s best-known fashion leaders, at home, in London and beyond.
The opening ceremony pays tribute to creativity and craftsmanship alike, with Irish chef Mark Moriarty heading the culinary direction and Corina Gaffey on creative styling.
Thursday, 8 October: Irish Roots meets sportswear
Thursday’s schedule opens with the Irish Roots Show at St Helens Hotel in Booterstown, Dublin. The Bold Golf Sportswear Show follows that evening at The Exo Building in Dublin’s Docklands.
Friday, 9 October: Sinéad O’Dwyer and 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: Graduate talent, showcase and streetwear
The Damhsa Graduate Show at the RDS Concert Hall begins Saturday, putting emerging talent at the programme’s centre.
Next up is the Rashhiiid Showcase at the Gerard Byrne Gallery on Trinity Street, with the Brother Wolf Streetwear Show staged that evening at The Douglas Hyde Gallery in Trinity College Dublin.
Sunday, 11 October: MNÁ, talks and contemporary design
Dion Rooftop Restaurant, One Central Plaza, on Dame Street, hosts the Sasha Donnellan Contemporary Show to start Sunday.
A programme of panel discussions, Visa Presents: Ireland Fashion Week Talks, runs through the day at Medley, in the Old Irish Times Building in Dublin city centre.
The day closes with the MNÁ Fashion Show at The Stapleton in Powerscourt Townhouse Centre.
Monday, 12 October: Modern heritage at Mount Juliet
Co. Kilkenny brings the week to its close with the Aoife McNamara Modern Heritage Show at Mount Juliet Estate, Thomastown.
From graduate collections to presentations by well-established designers, Ireland Fashion Week’s 2026 programme asks audiences to experience Irish fashion in its entirety and to meet the designers and creatives shaping what lies ahead.
For more on Ireland Fashion Week 2026, visit https://irelandfashionweek.substack.com/
