New York Fashion Week for the spring-summer 2027 season wrapped up on September 15, and one of the most talked-about moments was the appearance on the runway of a Kazakh man who was neither a model nor a participant in the shows, infohub.kz reports.
According to the Consulate of Kazakhstan in New York, three Kazakh designers presented their collections on Manhattan runways: Timur Tursunkulov, Raushan Anuarbekova and Sabina Volskaya.
Timur Tursunkulov showcased Kazakhstan's cultural heritage through vibrant colors. The young designer is 22 years old, but he has already taken part with his collections in foreign fashion weeks, though all of them were local commercial events — Paris City Fashion Week, MadMood Milano Fashion Week, Mediterranean Fashion Week, Fashion Open Air Berlin. It was this experience that allowed him to become a participant in one of the world's main fashion weeks — NYFW.
Back in 2023, Raushan Anuarbekova invited 60+ models to one of the Milan fashion weeks and drew widespread attention. After that, she was invited in 2025 to Paris and Milan fashion weeks with a unique cultural project, "Әlemdi taңqaldyrғan qazaq әjeleri" ("Grandmothers Who Conquered the World"). Older models also took part in the NYFW shows.
Sabina Volskaya specializes in haute couture children's clothing. The designer has three children, and it was her eldest daughter who inspired her to move into this segment. Sabina has many foreign fashion weeks to her credit, including Milan Fashion Week in Italy.
The Kazakh delegation numbered about 60 people. It included designers, models and members of production teams. Representatives of the Kazakh embassy and people from the country living in New York were invited to the shows.
One of the memorable moments was the unexpected runway appearance of blogger Jasulan. The man from Ust-Kamenogorsk has been showing life in the States on his Instagram for several years.
"I saw beautiful collections, including from our designers, but they were mostly women's looks. And there was no men's national look from Kazakhstan. I was sitting in the hall and realized: I just can't watch like that. I'm not a model, not a participant, I was just a guest. But this is my country, my culture, my pride. And then I walked out in a chapan — not for hype, not for the stage, but to remind people: men's looks are also part of our identity," he explained his improvisation.
Earlier, Kursiv LifeStyle published an interview with a Kazakh designer who draws inspiration from the aesthetics of death and horror for his work.