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After eight years away, Joseph is returning to the runway.
The contemporary British brand will show its Autumn/Winter 2026 collection — the second showing under creative director Mario Arena — in February at London Fashion Week.
The step marks a move into a more expansionist strategy from the London-based label after a period of retrenchment that entailed store closures and the paring back of its product offer.
“Rejoining the London Fashion Week schedule reaffirms Joseph’s positioning as a designer brand,” Barbara Campos, Joseph’s chief executive, said in a statement to The Business of Fashion. “With Mario’s creative leadership now firmly established, this feels like the right moment to re-enter the global fashion conversation, with a collection that speaks to both creativity and purpose.”
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Campos has steered Joseph away from the US market and focused on business in other key markets like the UK since taking the helm of the brand in 2018, when she joined from Marni. In 2024, she appointed veteran designer Arena, who previously directed product and design at JW Anderson, to head creative direction. The brand’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection featured tailored, monochrome looks and spare use of patterns as well as textures including a brushed Alpaca wool.
While Joseph is known primarily for its tailoring and knitwear, Arena is also emphasising accessories with new designs for bags, shoes and jewellery, such as the “Bean” line of chunky gold bracelets and necklaces with round edges. Handbags are priced in the £600 to £700 ($800 to $940) range.
Joseph traces its roots to London in the late 1960s, when Moroccan-born Joseph Ettedgui opened a concept store featuring emerging designers. Over the years, it drew a loyal clientele selling brands like Azzedine Alaia, John Galliano and Margaret Howell, and in more recent years, labels Khaite, The Row, Celine and Gabriela Hearst.
In 2005 it was acquired by Japan-based Onward Holdings, which today also owns the preppy American label J. Press as well as clothing factories in China and Vietnam.
Design direction was headed for nearly a decade by Louise Trotter, now at Bottega Veneta. She succeeded founder Ettedgui in 2009, bringing a more fashion-forward perspective, and introducing the brand to the runway in 2014.
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