OC Fashion Week takes its 2026 runway seasons to television

OC Fashion Week is bringing its 2026 shows to television in November with the return of Behind the Seams. The programme will combine coverage of the event's March presentations with its S/S27 season, held at the end of August in Orange County, California.

The broadcast revisits designers, models, beauty teams and participating brands from both seasons, and will introduce new hosts and industry voices. According to the organisers, the aim is to extend the media life of each collection beyond the runway, through photography, social media, editorial coverage and television.

The organisers also point to social media reach. According to OC Fashion Week's own Instagram data, its first 2026 season generated more than two million organic views between January and June, while the second season had reached 609,000 views by September 21. These figures count views rather than unique users.

Two days in Tustin and Laguna Beach

The S/S27 season opened on August 28, almost two weeks before New York Fashion Week began on September 10. The opening night at EVER Members Club in Tustin was hosted by plastic and reconstructive surgeon Karen Leong, a lead surgeon with Mission Plasticos' ReShaping Lives programme, which provides free breast reconstruction to uninsured and underinsured women. Her Cup Couture Gala has raised more than 108,000 dollars for reconstructive care.

The evening runway featured Jesse J Collections and Luna Fashion House, with Californian denim label Joe's Jeans closing the night.

On August 29 the event moved to Dawson Cole Fine Art in Laguna Beach. Melissa Pellone opened the morning show, followed by an encore from Luna Fashion House. Australian designer Senzela Jade closed the morning runway with a collection drawing on Afghan heritage and themes of women's freedom of expression through dress.

The afternoon finale shifted from a conventional catwalk to a performance format, with Latin American avant-garde designer Llenuel Fro presenting sculptural silhouettes in the gallery's Sculpture Garden.

A regional retail market

OC Fashion Week positions itself within what it calls the Luxury Market of California, a regional consumer economy that combines luxury retail with coastal lifestyle, hospitality and car culture.

The organisers cite the scale of local retail to support that case. South Coast Plaza reports more than 2.5 billion dollars in annual sales across more than 230 boutiques and 30 restaurants, and will mark its 60th anniversary in 2027. Irvine Company's retail portfolio of more than 40 centres, including Fashion Island, Irvine Spectrum Center and The Market Place, records more than 153 million visits a year.

New pop-up ahead of 2027

In November, OC Fashion Week will also launch DREAMCATCHER – Get Fashioned for the Future, a pop-up event created with Dream Homes Magazine. The event is intended as a preview of the collaborations and creative directions planned for 2027, and marks a move towards year-round programming beyond the twice-yearly runway calendar.