Runway
A celebration of global creativity, Unique Fashion Show brings emerging designers, sustainable fashion, and digital innovation to New York City.
Updated 02:52 pm EST, February 2, 2026
Published 09:51 pm EST, January 14, 2026
Photo Courtesy: Unique Fashion Foundation
Special Thanks: Ekaterina da Silva
A celebration of global creativity, Unique Fashion Show brings emerging designers, sustainable fashion, and digital innovation to New York City.
Updated 02:52 pm EST, February 2, 2026
Published 09:51 pm EST, January 14, 2026
Photo Courtesy: Unique Fashion Foundation
Special Thanks: Ekaterina da Silva
Good news fashion world, the runway season is upon us once again. Coming straight to the Upper East Side Manhattan on January 31, launching their 6th edition is Unique Fashion Show, a somewhat newer show on the circuit.
While based in Paris, they run an annual 3-circuit traveling show highlighting designers from around the world. For 2026, their lineup of shows include New York City, Paris, and Tbilisi.
Though the show falls just before New York Fashion Week this season, their run of shows will specifically remain offset from the fashion show calendar in an interesting and specific strategy which in turn allows their designers to get the most undivided access to industry professionals and the global fashion stage. New York is sandwiched right between the holidays and New York Fashion Week; Paris is in May directly following the Cannes Film Festival, and Tbilisi later this year.
Unique Fashion Show is a multidisciplinary international platform that intersects fashion, art, digital innovation, sustainability, meaning and impact – merging physical and digital fashion.
They are dedicated to supporting designers and artists, discovering talent, creating visibility and offering opportunities for international growth. With a multifaceted concept, their aim is to integrate these aspects into a new direction, a new way of viewing, and a new way of experiencing fashion.
Seeing how fast AI is growing, they have locked into it by adding the Metaverse experience. Spanning three days, their show seeks to provide an all-encompassing event for designers, industry leaders and professionals, and governing bodies to connect, thereby fostering relationships and avenues.
Their platform is a springboard for international designers to enter the US market, to follow the blueprint and roadmap, gain connections, and position their brands.
They facilitate direct access to buyers and industry professionals, foster media exposure, create B2B, B2C and luxury networking opportunities, mentor designers, and build global bridges between Europe, the US, Asia, and the Caucasus region.
Unique Fashion Show showcases these untapped designers, cultures, and regions that are bursting with creativity that no one knows about in order to shine a light on them and bring visibility.
Unique Fashion Show encompasses two full scale events going on simultaneously. You can attend all three days live and in person. Or you can attend all the same segments, but rather a virtual version – the digital world of the Metaverse. All events will take place in both locations as mirror experiences that are either physical or digital – you get to choose.
Day one will be their showcase featuring 20+ international designers spanning 5 runways; a session with an industry panel discussing innovation, sustainability, and cultural diplomacy; an art exhibition; and an award ceremony announcing the winners of their two contests.
The second and third days will be a B2B and B2C two-day pop-up showroom that will house collections from the designers that showed, along with numerous additional designers.
For those wanting to go to the Metaverse event, you can attend in your avatar to the digital collections or watch from the livestream on screens at the event or on their social media channels; listen to the speakers in the Metaverse speaking live; view the 3D and AI art; and attend a digital pop up specifically for the virtual world.
New to this NYC edition is the sustainable designers concept, in which they have partnered with Sustainable Fashion Week US and Inside Fashion Design who promote sustainability and help designers expand. Like AI, sustainability has been a continuing topic that continues to grow.
Feeling like sustainable designers don’t get enough visibility, integrating it into their concept was an easy next step. Being a go-to for designers and opening up pathways is within the identity of Unique Fashion Show. They want sustainability to be thought of differently.
They want to portray that it is not boring and only related to the environment or climate. But that it even goes down to the people, the labor. Clothing doesn’t have to be recycled and upcycled. There’s many new fabrics that are coming onto the market that are just as durable or fancy. With this new partnership, sustainable designers will also be included in the runway shows.
Operating under Unique Fashion Foundation Association, social impact is important to them. Through their initiative “Women in Search of Freedom”, this project highlights women’s voices, creativity, and freedom of expression across different regions, cultures, and disciplines, empowering them through art, fashion, education, and cultural dialogue.
It serves to promote equality, creative freedom, and women’s visibility on the international stage, and encompasses a broad spectrum of programs.
They have two contests running for emerging designers and those that have launched but are still in the trenches trying to make it. Both contests are built to empower next generation designers and connect them with the international ecosystem of industry leaders, global markets, and media visibility.
Cycle X, a global sustainable design competition in partnership with Sustainable Fashion Week US, where each participating designers create a collection that regenerates rather than consumes, and merges transformative potential through the use of sustainable techniques, materials and technologies.
Their second contest is the AI and 3D contest. The participants will design an avatar and a fully digital complete look. These designers merge technology, fashion, and virtual identity, bridging the gap between physical and digital fashion leading into the next generation of fashion. The winners of both contests will showcase a collection and will also receive a mentorship with the various partners providing them with support to develop their brand and take it to the next level.
In all their global initiatives and shows, whether you catch it live or in the Metaverse, Unique Fashion Show is there helping to shape the future of fashion in this digitized world. If you want to be part of this unique experience, come join me in the Upper East of Manhattan, and be part of this groundbreaking international show.
With a fashion buyer grandmother and Mack Sennett Studios producer as a great grandfather, Dana’s love for Old Hollywood and fashion ignited. Sparking wonder, accentuating one’s being, helping them reach their potential, and knowing how valuable they are is always central to everything she does.
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