In a city that mythologizes itself daily, DKNY is staging a comeback that feels less like a revival and more like a séance. For Spring 2026, the brand returns to its downtown roots, tapping Hailey Bieber as both muse and mirror in a campaign that reframes fame as fine art. Shot in stark black and white by Mikael Jansson under the creative direction of Trey Laird, the images unfold like a contact sheet from some lost ’60s loft party — all cigarette haze, hard light, and harder attitude.
This is Bieber’s second act as the global face of DKNY, but here she’s less poster girl, more pop apparition. The concept is deliciously meta: Hailey positioned at the centre of a photo series of herself, a hall-of-mirrors meditation on celebrity in the age of self-curation. If Warhol screen-printed influencers instead of soup cans, this might be the result.
The setting — an artist’s loft, that archetypal New York incubator of chaos and genius — becomes a playground for reinvention. Bieber moves through it with studied nonchalance: a trench coat thrown over a denim shirt worn open and layered close to the skin; tailored trousers and loafers offset by a bra and an oversized top that slips between boardroom and bedroom. The infamous “Naked Dress,” once immortalized by Sex and the City, reappears in black with clear straps — less ingénue Carrie, more downtown dominatrix. A polished pinstripe minidress slices through the nostalgia, while relaxed jeans and a sharp blazer channel a ’90s insouciance that feels ripped from a Soho sidewalk circa 1995.
And then there’s the Yankees cap — that eternal badge of New York belonging — reworked in collaboration with DKNY. It’s a reminder that in this city, fashion is sport and sport is fashion; identity is something you wear on your head and dare the world to question.
The palette stays disciplined: black, white, beige, denim. Eyewear is strong, bags are sharp, silhouettes are stripped back to their essentials. It’s utility with a pulse — a nod to Donna Karan’s original mission to dress the woman who never knew where the day would take her. Only now, that woman might be leaving a gallery opening, heading to a casting, or live-streaming her own mythology.
Credits:
Creative Direction by Trey Laird
Photographed by Mikael Jansson
Styled by Clare Richardson
Set design by Stefan Beckman
Hair by James Pecis
Make – up by Hannah Murray
BTS Images by Tyrell Hampton
