Why didn't we see Marimekko at autumn/winter '26 Copenhagen Fashion Week? The brand was planning a grand homecoming to Finland to celebrate its 75th anniversary. Below, we take a detailed look at Marimekko's AW26 collection, with exclusive backstage images from its Helsinki spectacle
After seasons spent showing at Copenhagen Fashion Week, for autumn/winter ‘26, Marimekko returned to its home turf, staging its runway spectacle in Helsinki. The timing for the homecoming wasn’t random, but symbolic: this year, the beloved Finnish design house heralds its 75th anniversary, a milestone best celebrated in the place where it all started. Quite literally, as Marimekko was born when its founder, Armi Ratia, organised a fashion show in Helsinki in 1951.
Friends and fans of the brand embraced the moment in full force, with over 300 invitees across fashion, media and culture flocking to the AW26 show, held in the city’s contemporary art gallery, Makasiini Contemporary.
And what better way to commemorate 75 years of Marimekko than honing in on what has made it a household name in Finland and a sought-after brand worldwide: its vibrant, joy-sparking prints.
“The overarching conceptual theme for our 2026 collections is the celebration of the art of printmaking,” explains Rebekka Bay, Marimekko’s creative director. “For the autumn/winter ‘26 ready-to-wear collection, we explored this theme through the lens of repetition and randomness: in the collection, we have bold placement prints, unexpected artwork insertions and layers, as well as sculptural silhouettes.”
Photo: Marimekko
Photo: Marimekko
Photo: Marimekko
Surrounded by abstract paintings hung on the gallery’s white, blank walls, models meandered around the minimalist space to a hypnotic soundscape, recorded at the brand’s Helsinki printing factory. Amid Marimekko-coded flowy A-line dresses and skirts, more structured forms emerged, as seen in balloon-sleeved jackets and clean-lined Maridenim pieces. Occasionwear takes centre stage in the AW26 line-up, where frocks, ranging from maxi to mini – some fashioned from airy silk and cupro, others from weighty jacquard – are rendered in vivid hues that “bring energy to the end of the year as nature gradually loses its colours.”
As has become Marimekko’s MO, the AW26 collection blends new and archival prints. “What I especially love about this collection is that we brought new prints in familiar interpretations and familiar prints in new interpretations,” Bay muses. She points to Maija Isola’s 1973 striped ‘Basso’ pattern, which this season slices through puffer jackets and deep V-neck mini dresses. Elsewhere, Antti Kekki’s new ‘Lossi’ floral and Masaru Suzuki’s 2025 ‘Kukkahattu’, both delightfully vibrant, are splashed across those classic A-line silhouettes.
“While Marimekko has a long history, there are so many aspects to the design language that have this sense of modernity. For example, when I look back at the early 1950s Marimekko pieces, they really suit everybody because of the freeing silhouettes. Instead of simply wearing a piece of clothing, it was more about the idea that you are the bearer, or the carrier, of a piece of art,” Bay says. “This collection continues that sense of treating the dress as a canvas with the art of printmaking complementing the silhouette and vice versa.”
Photo: Marimekko
Photo: Marimekko
Fittingly, Marimekko’s return to its roots was crowned by the unveiling of an upcoming collaboration with fellow beloved homegrown brand, Rolf Ekroth, and Danish textile artist Vibeke Rohland. Rohland spent the past year at Marimekko’s printing factory, conceiving a colourful, geometric pattern through hand printing while also harnessing the possibilities of industrial textile production, opening up new scales and palettes. Ekroth, meanwhile, explored the new pattern through his signature utilitarian, streetwear-infused lens, resulting in covetable creations that lend a distinct, youthful edge to the AW26 offering.
Not many brands make it to 75 years, yet Marimekko’s charm endures – a success Bay chalks up to a few key elements. “One of my favourite quotes from Marimekko’s founder Armi Ratia is that ‘Marimekko is not about trendy fashion, with a few minor exceptions. We make lasting and timeless products. Timelessness may, however, occasionally come into fashion by chance, like now,’” she says. “That timelessness remains a guiding principle in our design ethos, and I think that, along with our mission of bringing colour and joy into lives and homes everywhere, is what makes us relevant today and in the future.”
See the full Marimekko AW26 collection below.
