Runway
On the Edge of the Future, Between Anxiety and Hope
FourNest presents "Tears of Kazakhstan," showing the collection is not just a fashion demonstration, but a strong environmental statement
Updated 11:30 pm EDT, June 8, 2025
Published 09:00 am EDT, June 10, 2025
Photography: Timur Epov
Special Thanks: Francesca Venturi (Elevate PR)
Kazakhstan Cries
FourNest, the 2025 winner of the Next Designer Award, powered by Visa, brought to the runway ‘Қазақстанның көз жасы’ (Tears of Kazakhstan). The collection is a poignant reference to the environmental challenges faced by Kazakhstan, a country known for its natural beauty and resources. The collection emerges at the threshold of the future, where anxiety meets hope. Through the eyes of young designers Dmitriy Khalitov and Maria Nesterova, the duo responds to their nation’s global environmental issues through fashion.
Dmitriy Khalitov and Maria Nesterova from FourNest, winners of Next Design Award by Visa, present the collection "Tears of Kazakhstan" at Visa Fashion Week Almaty Pre-Fall 2025
The collection explores urgent global issues by associating four elemental symbols – Earth, Fire, Water, and Air – each emotional mark represents various threats to nature, including unlawful dumping, forest fires, devastating floods, and smog in large cities. Through its urgent message, Tears of Kazakhstan demands immediate attention and reveals the critical need for change.
The fabrics and forms carry metaphors: the garments feature scorched surfaces alongside transparent sections and materials of varying weights, which together reveal the imbalance between human nature and the environment.
Earth reveals how trash has become an integral part of its natural landscape. Fire speaks of forests disappearing under ash. Water represents destructive floods and changing destinies. Air reveals the unseen danger present in the air we all breathe.
Every detail of the collection is not only a design statement but also an attempt to ask: Can we change the course of events? The design elements of harmony, evident in the balance of colors and shapes, and contrast, seen in the juxtaposition of different materials and textures, together with symbolism and directness, as well as interactive components and eco-friendly materials, work together to capture attention.
The collection serves as a catalyst for the designer’s responsibility beyond its fashion aspect. It communicates a vision of a future that remains within our power to rescue. The artistic presentation in ‘Tears of Kazakhstan’ employs style and imagery to prompt us to reevaluate our relationship with nature while empowering natural elements over our fears.
The Collection
About Visa Fashion Week Almaty
Between May 3 and May 5, 2025, Almaty welcomed the new season of Visa Fashion Week Almaty, which served as the international fashion week for Kazakhstan and Central Asia. The Ritz-Carlton Almaty served as the traditional location for the exhibition of 18 pre-fall 2025 collections from both local Kazakhstani designers and international creators.
The central theme for this season, selected by the organizers, was “Eternal Journey,” which mirrors the modern focus on exploration and movement, similar to fashion’s perpetual process of reinvention. The event invited emerging designers to join the ongoing journey by continually moving forward with each successive step.
The CEO and producer of Visa Fashion Week, Almaty Bauyrzhan Shadibekov, maintains that contemporary fashion holds transformative potential for social and economic systems. “For six years now, together with Visa, we have been creating the most fashionable event in the country — Visa Fashion Week Almaty. Each year, it grows in significance, not only for the fashion industry but also for Kazakhstan’s entire creative economy.”
The most fashionable event in Central Asia featured 14 designers from Kazakhstan and four from neighboring countries — Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, and Uzbekistan. As always, the regular participants of VFWA included top Kazakhstani designers such as Saken Zhaksybayev (Zhsaken), Liliya Mamieva (Kirpi), Aigul Kasymova, the popular brand Malli by Manshuk Kuanisheva, and last season’s breakout stars Kimmin and Mariko. Newcomers to this season included Kazakhstani brands Anima and Van Miller, and the creative duo ToSi & Mila_R will present a unique collaborative collection. The week also featured legendary Kazakh fashion labels such as Pentatonica and Mechanical Piano.
International participants included the Uzbek brand Azukar Moreno, the well-known Turkish brand The Selfmade, and Georgian designer Tiko Nebieridze with her brand Tiko — a VFWT regular. For the first time, VFWA welcomed a guest from Armenia — MANUKALEKSANYAN.
In the era of misinformation, Ava's single objective is to celebrate fashion, emerging talents, diversity, and inclusion. Also, she attempts to open an honest dialogue around the controversial and hypocritical matters that torment groups or nations, discussing facts rather than mere ideologies or idiocracies. Ava is also an avid ice cream connoisseur.
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