How does one translate a trip to Antarctica into a fashion collection? This was the challenge and inspiration for fashion designer Pamella Roland who is famous for her cocktail dresses and evening gowns. Indeed, how do you concoct a ballgown when your starting point is a frozen, frigid landscape?With recent temperatures in New York rivaling the bitter cold of Antartica, the exercise seemed pretty effortless for Pamella.

The show was held at the New York Public Library’s conservatory-like Celeste Bartos Forum where images of a snowy landscape and penguins where projected on the glass dome ceiling. The runway was a pristine white carpet alluding to the inspiration, and perhaps to convey that the Pamella Roland woman defies the elements. That she is unbothered by the mounds of black snow littering the streets of New York just steps outside the library.

As for the clothes, they were a parade of glamour. There were chic and cheeky references to penguins via a black and white tuxedo pant suit, a halter neck column dress with a white bodice and a black skirt, and a feathery cocktail frock with Art Deco-like embroidered rays across the body.

It was the evening gowns that made a lasting impact however, some in glacial tones and dripping with exquisite beadwork. For women who prefer their event dressing gowns without ornamentation, Pamella offered silk and organza numbers that look like sculpted liquid, nude pleated Grecian-style dresses, and a stunning emerald green ball gown that was sublime in its simplicity. The show closed with an ivory column gown with icicle like beading paired with a supremely chic tone-on-tone floor-sweeping puffer coat.

“The result is a collection that balances strength with fragility, precision and fluidity – an expression of modern elegance shaped by one of nature’s most remote and breathtaking landscapes,” described Pamella of her fall 2026 collection in her show notes.

With an A-list celebrity clientele, it won’t be a surprise if a few of these dresses will be making the rounds this coming awards season.