Emerging multidisciplinary artist Thelonious Stokes has taken a bold step into high fashion, walking for Off-White in the spring/summer 2026 show. The appearance marks one of the artist’s more visible forays into the fashion sphere, complementing his growing reputation in the visual and performance art worlds.
Stokes is perhaps best known for his evocative work as a classically trained oil painter and performance artist, originally from Chicago and currently based out of Florence, Italy. Over the years, he has cultivated a distinct voice that reclaims imagery of Black bodies, religious iconography, and personal narrative. His art spans oil painting, installation, and performance.
For the Off-White SS26 presentation, Stokes appeared walking under the creative direction of IB Kamara. The moment reflects Off-White’s current aesthetic under Kamara, which continues to blur the boundaries between art, performance, and fashion.
IB Kamara’s Off-White has already stirred conversations this season about how fashion shows can be immersive, sensory experiences that go beyond garments. For the SS26 show, Kamara paired visual art (like a graffiti installation inspired by New York City) with elevated set design, music, and the inclusion of artists like Stokes in the show itself.
Stokes’ participation is symbolic: it signals Off-White’s intent to foreground artistry in all its forms—and to place creators whose work is often categorised outside of fashion into the runway narrative. The move also underscores Kamara’s interest in cultural cross-pollination—bringing together street culture, fine art, performance, and high fashion in unexpected intersections.
Walking for Off-White gives Thelonious Stokes exposure to a different audience and context, one where visuals, presentation, and identity intersect in new ways. For an artist who often explores identity, faith, race, and the Black experience in his work, appearing as part of a major fashion show offers another platform to make visible his perspective—and to challenge how fashion sees and represents art and artists.
With the SS26 show behind us, all eyes will be on how Stokes’s artistic trajectory continues. He has already announced the upcoming launch of the Black Academy of Arts, a studio turned learning centre meant to nurture artists in his adopted home.
As the fashion world increasingly looks outside traditional models for collaboration, Thelonious Stokes’s walk for Off-White may foreshadow more such partnerships—where the edges between artist, model, performer, and subject become porous.