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Conner Ives Makes His New York Debut With a Homecoming Collection

Iconic Original Media Editorial Team

September 16, 2026

Models walking a dimly lit runway, an illustrative image of a fashion show

Since graduating in 2020, Conner Ives has built his reputation on the London schedule. Last week the designer brought it home. His spring 2027 collection, shown during New York Fashion Week, marked his first appearance on the official New York calendar, one of ten names the CFDA listed as new to the schedule for a season that ran September 10 to 15.

The context matters. Ives was born in Bedford, New York, graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2020 and, as W Magazine notes, has shown in London ever since. The FashionUnited season preview described him as the designer “who went viral in 2025 with his ‘Protect the Dolls’ T-shirt”. Moving a young label’s show across the Atlantic is a statement of intent, and Ives made the most of it.

A room with a past

He staged the show at The Grill in the Seagram Building, the Philip Johnson-designed dining room that was once the Four Seasons. AnOther Magazine reports that Ives had always wanted to show there. The choice fit his story. Old New York glamour served as the backdrop for a designer who, by his own account, has always drawn on where he grew up.

“My work has always explored where I came from and the people I met growing up there. It’s grown to encompass a lot more, but home has always served as a cornerstone for me.” (Conner Ives, in an Instagram post before the show, via W Magazine)

Ives called the collection Across the Pond. Speaking to AnOther’s Alexander Fury, he described it as “a reflection of my somewhat strained and complicated relationship with where I’m from.” He added: “Rather than thinking about Americana and Americanisms through clothing, it became a lot more about exploring the state of America.”

Trout, chinoiserie and Lady Liberty

The references were unexpected. AnOther reports that the collection drew on the holdings of the American Museum of Fly Fishing. On the runway that became what W described as “weightless gowns in vibrant hand-painted rainbow-trout-fish patterns and rich pastel colors.” W reports that Ives opened with a chinoiserie-print minidress and closed with a mint gown, modeled on the work of the Paris dressmaking house Callot Soeurs, that he nicknamed “Lady Liberty.” A menswear collaboration with Gieves & Hawkes added softly handled suiting to the lineup, according to AnOther.

The casting mixed fashion insiders with names from the wider culture. According to W, Lila Moss, Iris Law, Grace Burns, Hari Nef, Dominique Jackson and Princess Olympia of Greece were among those who walked, and Kim Cattrall, Ivy Getty and Jessie Andrews watched from their seats.

Research, by accident

The collection also came out of a stretch of unplanned time in the city. AnOther reports that while the collection was taking shape, Ives spent seven to eight weeks stuck in New York waiting for a UK work visa. He told the magazine: “It was the most incredible market research I think I have ever done.”

His own summary of the show, written in the show notes and quoted by W, was more personal: “This is a tale of two cities. The places I knew then, the places I return to now. And how much I’ve changed and how much I’ve remained the same. A flamboyant kid, who loves to put on a good show.”

New York has spent several seasons trying to win back young designers who left for London and Paris. One show does not make a trend. But a Bedford-born talent choosing his home city’s official calendar in the same season that the CFDA made its fur-free policy mandatory and added ten new names says something about where the schedule is heading. For Ives, whose career has been built on remembering where he came from, the return was also the story of the collection itself.

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