Conner Ives Spring 2026 Is an Ode to Pop Music, Addison Rae and, of Course, the Dolls

Just before the Conner Ives Spring 2026 runway show began on Monday afternoon, the venue’s overhead lights flashed in bright primary colors, creating a rainbow effect over the split crowd of showgoers. It set the tone for a joyous show featuring equally mesmerizing vivid neons, as well as an incredible celebration of life.

“The times we find ourselves in are so perilous and scary,” Ives told Fashionista backstage. “I wanted to sit with that and confront it and find joy in it and just give us something that we can celebrate.”

No stranger to advocacy, Ives famously debuted a “Protect the Dolls” T-shirt at his Fall 2025 show. It became a phenomenon after stars like Pedro Pascal and Troye Sivan wore it to high-profile events, leading Ives to donate all proceeds from the shirt’s sales to the charity Trans Lifeline. But for his most recent show, Ives grounded his activism less in words and more in visual representation, like color scheme, casting and loosely — but powerfully — choreographed walks.

“I think this [collection] was a fully realized version of what this brand is meant to represent. And I think that a lot of that was more deeply understood over the last six months,” he said, referring to his brand’s virality. “This was the first time that I really experienced a level of community that was as universal as the support I’ve gotten over the last six months, and I really wanted to honor that. I mean, the T-shirt is one thing, but it’s not just ‘protect the dolls.’ It’s employ the dolls, it’s champion the dolls, elevate them…that was really what I tried to do with this show.”

A mix of notable models (i.e., Iris Law), members of Ives’ tight-knit community and street-cast girls came out in creamsicle-colored long-sleeve polos, bright-pink tights under fringey crochet belts, seafoam sequin mini dresses, cherry-red floor-length gowns and even literal metal armor.

They walked to a continuous remix of varied pop songs, including punches of the recognizable synthesizers from Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” and the first verse from Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own,” narrowly kept in time by the sound of rhythmically clacking heels. Those top-tier pop songs weren’t chosen on a whim: The collection is, in fact, titled “On Pop” as an homage to the often underestimated and undervalued genre of music.

“Pop music as an easy vehicle. Pop as a machine that reconstitutes itself. It ebbs and flows, while the scaffolding remains largely unchanged. It’s reductive. Look it up,” read the show notes. “Pop music will never be low brow.”

But just because Ives used his favorite songs of pop’s past, doesn’t mean the clothing is as nostalgic. “The references for me, they were really kind of all quite modern,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of conversations with my friends where I think we’re all experiencing a bit of reference fatigue. Just this idea that an archival look you’ve maybe kept from a magazine in the ’90s, when you were studying, is now on five different celebrities who don’t even know the designer of it…this collection was almost an effort to create new references.”

Despite the vintage Versace-coded movement direction of the show or the ’80s-themed color palette, Ives insisted there was only one specific person on his moodboard this season — an especially of-the-moment source of inspiration.

“The neon really came from Addison Rae and what Dara’s doing with [her],” he explained. “The little AP [Agent Provocateur] sets that she’s been wearing on stage, I saw that a few months ago and I was like, that feels so new. And there was something really lively and exciting about that…it’s so rare in 2025 to feel any type of feelings like that in fashion. So I wanted to honor that.”

From a technical standpoint, Ives also shifted away from existing materials, in line with his intention to build something entirely fresh: “We’ve relied a lot on deadstock fabrics…this season was a lot more about developing textiles that are more [responsibly made]. We make a lot of this stuff in-house…that’s something I really enjoy, the craft nature of building it with a team. I really make these pieces with our interns.”

He continued, “I experienced a little bit of being removed from the wider culture because I have a job that makes me have to work seven days a week…so it was just a means to tap back into that, get some new ideas, get some new blood in there and I think it really worked.”

Keep scrolling to see every look from Conner Ives Spring 2026.