On September 12, 2026, Conner Ives brought his runway operation across the Atlantic for his New York Fashion Week debut. Staged at The Pool Room inside The Grill, housed within Midtown Manhattan’s historic Seagram Building, the Spring/Summer 2027 collection bore a telling dual title: “Across the Pond,” also billed in show materials as “It’s Great to Be Home.” Guests gathered around the venue’s illuminated central pool, stamped with the Conner Ives brand logo, to witness a homecoming that was both an artistic re-examination of American archetypes and a calculated business realignment.
For Ives, the presentation served as a return to his geographic roots after a decade abroad. Raised in Bedford in Westchester County, New York, he graduated from Fox Lane High School in 2014 before moving to the United Kingdom that same year to attend Central Saint Martins. After graduating in 2020, he established his namesake label in London, making his official London Fashion Week runway debut in February 2022. The British fashion ecosystem embraced him early, supporting his growth through BFC NEWGEN, a 2024 BFC Fashion Trust grant, and the prestigious 2025 BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund.
Even while entrenched in the London system, Ives never entirely disconnected from his American sensibilities. Ahead of his New York show, he designated the city as his guiding creative compass, remarking that “New York is my Paris” and observing, “Passion and flamboyance are my most inherently American traits.”
That energy was visible across a runway cast that featured Lila Moss, Iris Law, Dominique Jackson, Grace Burns, Osman Ahmed, and local stylist Yohana Lebasi. Actress Hari Nef walked in a bright red slogan T-shirt reading “Bring Back Shame,” a subversive moment following the designer’s philanthropic 2025 “Protect the Dolls” tee, which raised over $600,000 for Trans Lifeline and other trans-led organizations after being worn by Pedro Pascal and Troye Sivan. From the front row, guests including Kim Cattrall, Ivy Getty, and Jessie Andrews watched the narrative unfold before heading downtown to an afterparty at Greenwich Village club People’s.
The clothes bridged transatlantic craftsmanship and American pop vernacular. Footwear created in collaboration with Jimmy Choo grounded ensembles that juxtaposed beaded Victorian embroidery and bandana patterns alongside iridescent watercolor prints of rainbow trout and exotic fish scales. For his second foray into menswear, Ives teamed with Savile Row tailoring house Gieves & Hawkes, producing disheveled power-lunch silhouettes cut with traditional bespoke precision, styled with bright pink and green shirts, popped collars, and geometric-print cummerbunds. To close the show, he sent out “Lady Liberty,” a sheer mint-green chiffon gown whose silhouette and construction were pulled from the Belle Époque archives of French couture house Callot Soeurs, founded in 1895.
Beneath the theatricality lay a deliberate commercial expansion. Ives’s New York show coincided with active steps to widen his wholesale channels, including preparations to launch on Net-a-Porter alongside efforts targeting North American department stores and private-client platforms like Moda Operandi. By staging his latest collection in the heart of Manhattan, Ives demonstrated that looking back home can serve as an effective springboard forward.