Away from the more traditional fashion venues of central London, a converted mid-century laboratory in Fulham provided the setting for Joseph’s return to the runway during February’s London Fashion Week AW26. Absent from the show schedule for nine years, the presentation marked the runway debut of creative director Mario Arena – in a venue that spoke to the quiet experimentation that’s been underway at the London-based brand since Arena assumed the reins in 2024.

Arena, fashion followers will be aware, has form when it comes to breathing new life into storied luxury houses. After completing a Masters degree in fashion design at Paris’ American Academy, Arena, born in Adelaide to Maltese parents, cut his teeth at Saint Laurent, before serving under Phoebe Philo at Céline. Projects with Balmain, Christopher Kane, Moschino and DKNY followed, before an in-house gig at JW Anderson, where Arena worked as director of product and design. Despite his résumé, Arena hasn’t yet garnered the sort of household-name status enjoyed by higher-profile designers – a fact his appointment to Joseph in August 2024 might go some way to changing.

West Londoners of a certain vintage may remember how Joseph grew out of the King’s Road hair salon of Moroccan hairdresser, Joseph Ettedgui. The side project, which, in the 1970s, saw Ettedgui stock fashion collections from up-and-coming designers – including Azzedine Alaïa, Yohji Yamamoto, Margaret Howell and John Galliano – turned the hairdressers into a fashion destination in its own right. In 1983, Ettedgui was encouraged to launch his own line of stripped-back premium knitwear. Jumpers soon expanded into a full ready-to-wear collection, whose clean lines and understated look has been credited for helping set the tone for the minimalist aesthetic of 1190s luxury fashion. In that decade, Joseph expanded internationally, opening stores in Paris, New York and Tokyo. By 2004, the brand operated 63 boutiques around the world.

Arena lives in Marylebone with his partner, a menswear design director, and their dog, Hugo. Before he took the Joseph gig, Arena would walk past the brand’s store on Marylebone High Street – one of six standalone stores it currently has in London – and fantasize about where he would take the label if given the chance. Between 2020 and 2024, creative direction had been steered by husband-and-wife team, Frederik Dyhr and Anna Lundbäck Dyhr. Before then, Louise Trotter, now creative director at Bottega Veneta, had shaped Joseph’s refined silhouettes for almost a decade, helping put the brand front-and-centre in the minds of fashion editors and stylists looking for elevated essentials. Big shoes, then. The question was, in which direction would Arena point them?

The veteran designer answered with his first full line, the SS26 collection. A brand overhaul this wasn’t going to be. Instead, after months trawling through the company’s design archives, Arena has returned Joseph to its roots. The qualities that made the brand so popular in the ’90s – high-quality fabrics, sophisticated tailoring, chic, non-shouty basics – formed the bedrock for a collection that, nonetheless, recognised how woman dress now, and pointed towards how they might like to dress in the future.

The follow-up High Summer 2026 collection, which arrived in May, saw Arena dive even deeper into Joseph’s back story. Seeking inspiration from Ettedgui’s native Morocco, the collection celebrates the vibrant blue fishing boats of Essaouira and the fuchsia-hued sunsets over Marrakech. A palette of sun-bleached neutrals – sandstone, cactus, fig leaf and espresso – sit alongside standout shades of Siam blue and vivid pink.

As with collections from the ’90s and ’00s, emphasis was placed on materials. A refined, crease-resistant silk-viscose blend features a horizontal barre stripe and a special washed finish to create a subtle seersucker effect. Elsewhere, there’s an open, three-gauge knitted cotton that produces a luxurious, three-dimensional textural feel, and a cotton raffia fringe that features intricate hand-crocheting that requires five hours of handwork. Pieces are light, fluid and deliberately designed to be mixed and matched. There’s an architectural flow to the collection; a confidence that suggests Arena has already hit his stride. 

Back in that converted Fulham laboratory in February, guests were provided a glimpse of what to expect from Joseph in the future. On the runway, all the Joseph hallmarks were there. But so too were the signs of an invigorated designer ready to embrace innovation and the future of the fashion industry. Joseph’s AW26 collection introduced laser-cut leather, experimental fabric treatments, and artistic references inspired by sculptor Richard Stone. The brand might be known for its upscale minimalism, but it’s clear that Arena doesn’t want Joseph to become just another quiet luxury label.

Expect an even stronger fashion identity to emerge in the seasons ahead.

Visit joseph-fashion.com.

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