Young Designers In Tashkent Are Changing What Central Asia Is Known For

Tashkent, Uzbekistan is not the first place many think of as a fashion capital. That’s precisely why Bauyrzhan Shadibekov wants the world paying attention.  

I’m sitting in a glistening hotel restaurant in the heart of the city when the CEO of Visa Fashion Week Tashkent approaches, wearing an ornate chapan (robe) and rounded sunglasses. His opening remark is self-assured. “When people say, ‘Central Asia’, they mostly think about Kazakhstan,” says Bayurzhan. “But we see how Uzbekistan has grown. People know Paris, Milan, London, Copenhagen. They also need to see what’s happening in Central Asia.”

Visa Fashion Week began in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2019 and expanded to Tashkent in 2023. The ambition driving both editions is the same: to reposition a region long overlooked by the global fashion industry.  

Uzbekistan was once the heart of the ancient Silk Road trading route and the craftsmanship and handiwork coming out of the country reflects centuries of cultural exchange across the Central Asian steppe centuries. Walk through the Chorsu Bazaar and you’ll find traditional suzani embroidery displayed side by side with Islamic calligraphy adorning ceramics and the Southeast Asian textile dyeing technique ikat.

Emerging Uzbek designers – alongside their Central Asian peers – are rooting their designs in these traditions, bringing them to contemporary buyers through considered, hands-on methods. “The designers create their collections over six months and everything is handmade. The fabrics are drawn by them. That’s why we want to show the world that we are here,” says Bayurzhan.

Ikat is a textile dyeing technique in which sections of yarn are bound to resist dye before weaving, producing intricate patterns. The word derives from the Malay-Indonesian term meaning “to bind”, and the process can involve 37 steps, multiple artisans and up to two months of work. Uzbekistan became renowned for its ikats via the Silk Road, and while weaving was automated during the Soviet era, the country has since supported a revival of traditional handmade craftsmanship.

Amira Khakimova, for example, is an Uzbek designer who incorporates ikat into her pieces for the brand Ikat by Asmira. Her collection at this year’s pre-fall Fashion Week Tashkent, Threads of Time, symbolises the passing down of values across generations, reinterpreting vintage Uzbek ikat fabrics through contemporary tailoring and handcrafted details. Blending raw textures, cross-stitch embroidery and wearable silhouettes, the collection demonstrates how cultural heritage can evolve while retaining its emotional and artistic power.

Designer Akbota Kapsalan from Kazakhstan showed her latest collection for her brand Kapsalan after becoming a finalist in February’s Next Designer Award (NDA), a launch pad for emerging fashion talent across Central Asia. Regional models wore huge fur hats and grand coats; dresses in the colour of grain and rocks; the rough textures resembling the relief of mountains. “Our generation has begun to trace our roots,” she says.  

Tashkent-born Asal Sharopova is another NDA finalist, launching her brand No.Sugar with the Roots collection this season. Her sculptural silhouettes echo roots wrapping around the body, with a palette of earthy tones reinforcing the connection to heritage and place. “Young designers, myself included, are trying to make our national elements into designs,” she says. “My collection is called Roots for a reason: I realised my identity is built on the fact that I was born in Uzbekistan, and these motifs convey my entire identity.”

Away from the runway, in the heart of Tashkent, this dedication to craft continues. Madina Kasimbaeva runs a suzani school, which hires local women to embroider fabrics in traditional styles. Suzani is a form of embroidered textile originating from Central Asia, which were originally created by women as part of a bride’s dowry. No two suzanis are alike, with designs often reflecting regional identities and family traditions.

On the walls of the school’s design studios, pictures of almonds and poppies, pomegranates and birds, are pinned alongside their corresponding illustrations, which later become embroidery patterns. Women of all generations sit in a row opposite a large open veranda, some with faster and more experienced hands than others, all equally impressive in their skill. The dedication to preserving tradition is moving to watch.  

Today, designers such as such as Rano Khamraeva of Rano Collection frequently reinterpret suzani motifs in their collections. Bayurzhan suggests that this generation’s attempt to “reconnect with their DNA and understand where they come from” might be the result of ongoing global conflicts. “Wars and instability make people want to feel closer to family, country, roots and calm,” he says.

In Central Asia, connecting to family and country also means supporting local artisans. “Ten years ago, wearing local brands was considered cringe. Now, everyone proudly wears them,” says Bayurzhan. “Audiences at Next Designer Awards buy clothes directly from the young talent to support them. Fashion becomes soft education – it tells people who you are and what your culture represents.”

Take designer Liliya Dulat, founded by designer Liliya Palyunina, which reinvents Uzbekistan’s men’s skull caps – or doppa – for pre-fall. She takes traditional doppa from the town of Chust in the Ferghana Valley – the most common caps worn in Uzbekistan – and adds her own spin. These featured curving white shapes symbolising peppers and almonds (much like suzani, these styles often bear natural motifs), and were seen hung on bags for the runway. The skull cap carries a weighty significance in Uzbek society: an Islamic form headdress signalling humility, with a style that signals where the wearer is from, among other information. Liliya keeps her designs rooted in this tradition, while reimagining the ways in which they can be worn.

In a world overwhelmed by digitisation, with AI convoluting authenticity, Fashion Week Tashkent offers a relief: a reminder that ancient tradition and manual handicraft are not only something that must be preserved but continually evolved. Something that this Central Asian city has been proving along – the rest of the world is just catching up.

Photography by Zaineb Abelque, a photographer and artist whose work explores belonging, spirituality, ritual, cultural memory and identity. Through documentary photography, she creates visual records of people and place, capturing moments from everyday life where personal observation meets shared experience.

Research and photography assistance from @rasmiarchive and @sunayah._