Fashion & Culture · Fashion Week
International Heritage Fashion Week Closes Season 05 With Fashion, Culture and Creative Excellence
From afternoon runway presentations to an evening honoring emerging talent and established creatives, International Heritage Fashion Week brought its fifth season to a close in New York City with fashion, performance and cultural heritage sharing the spotlight.
By Robyn Antonius
Urban Global Entertainment & Media | Editorial Desk
September 10, 2026 · New York City
NEW YORK — International Heritage Fashion Week closed its fifth season Thursday with a day of runway presentations and an evening devoted to recognizing the people working across fashion, beauty, media, performance and cultural heritage.
Season 05 concluded at the 3 West Club in Midtown Manhattan, where two runway shows earlier in the day gave way to the International Heritage Fashion Week Season 05 Awards Gala.
The closing celebration reflected the increasingly broad world surrounding fashion itself. Designers and models shared the larger story with photographers, beauty professionals, performers, media figures, entrepreneurs and young creatives, creating a program centered as much on the people shaping culture as the clothing appearing on the runway.
A Runway Rooted in Individuality
The day's runway presentations brought together a range of aesthetics, from sleek contemporary silhouettes and vivid color to handcrafted pieces and more theatrical eveningwear.
Rather than presenting fashion through a single point of view, the Season 05 runway offered space for distinctly different creative identities.
That range could be seen across the collections presented throughout the day, including work connected to designers later recognized during the evening's awards program.
Ruchi Goyal of Ruchi Goyal Crochet received the IHFW Excellence in Handcrafted Fashion & Crochet Artistry Award, while Rohan Narang was recognized with the IHFW Emerging Designer Excellence Award. Jennie Fear of Willow Bean Studio received the IHFW Excellence in Fashion Design & Creative Storytelling Award.
The recognition extended beyond designers.
Olesja Mueller received the IHFW Distinguished Excellence in Fashion Photography & Creative Direction Award, Deval Parikh was honored for Excellence in Fashion Media & Visual Storytelling, and Luana Larkin received the IHFW International Fashion Model Excellence Award.
31 Honorees, Multiple Generations
At the center of the evening was a group of 31 honorees whose work represented different generations and disciplines.
Thirteen young recipients were recognized in categories spanning performing arts, athletics, humanitarian work, fashion, journalism, leadership, academics and entertainment.
Among them, Willow Craig received the IHFW Young Performing Arts Excellence Award; Kendall Leigh was recognized for Young Creative & Humanitarian Excellence; Maddie Hope Eaton received the Young Rising Star Excellence Award; Sasha Bas was honored for Young Fashion & Media Excellence; and Hailey Bella received the Young Fashion & Journalism Excellence Award.
The youth recognitions gave the evening a forward-looking dimension, placing developing voices alongside established professionals rather than treating the next generation as separate from the larger creative industry.
The professional and distinguished honorees represented an equally wide range of work.
H.H. Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe, who hosted the gala, received the IHFW Global Leadership & Humanitarian Excellence Award.
April Morgan was recognized with the IHFW Women in Leadership & Entrepreneurial Excellence Award, while Holly Zuelle received the IHFW Distinguished Achievement in Film, Television & Fashion Award.
Beauty professionals were also prominently represented. Samantha Bifulco received the Beauty Innovation & Education Excellence Award; Sierra Crawford was recognized for Excellence in Textured Hair & Editorial Artistry; Evelin Gonzalez received the Distinguished Beauty Artistry & Leadership Award; Diana Salgado was honored for Emerging Beauty Artist Excellence; and Sophia Retuerto received the Excellence in Hair Styling & Beauty Artistry Award.
Arjun Pandey — Season 05
Across the Season 05 runway, model Arjun Pandey appeared in a range of presentations that reflected the event’s broad creative direction — moving between contemporary streetwear, textile-driven design and formal cultural influences.
Performance Meets Fashion
Performance was woven into the awards program throughout the evening.
Vocalist Lizzie Blazquez opened the program, while Willow Craig appeared as both an award recipient and dancer. Joannie Taveras, recipient of the IHFW Young Performing Arts & Media Excellence Award, also delivered a vocal performance.
Moulin Rouge Dance, featuring Victoria Nowak, Nadia Neubert and Jaelyani Corrine Gregor, provided the closing performance.
The crossover between runway, performance and recognition underscored a larger theme of the evening: creative disciplines rarely exist in isolation.
For many emerging artists today, fashion intersects with music, media, photography, performance and personal identity. International Heritage Fashion Week's Season 05 program reflected that increasingly interconnected creative landscape.
Where Heritage Meets the Runway
The evening ultimately returned to the idea at the center of International Heritage Fashion Week: using fashion as a vehicle for cultural expression.
Prashant Goyal, founder of International Heritage Fashion Week and the designer behind Heritage India Fashions, received the evening's IHFW Distinguished Excellence in Fashion & Cultural Heritage Award.
It was a fitting conclusion to a season built around the relationship between creativity and heritage.
Fashion weeks are often measured by collections, trends and who occupies the front row. International Heritage Fashion Week approached its closing day through a wider lens, using the runway as one part of a platform that also recognized the designers, performers, storytellers and creative professionals working around it.
Season 05 ended not simply with a final walk, but with recognition of the community behind the work — and of the emerging generation preparing to carry it forward.
Reporting based on official press information and media materials provided by International Heritage Fashion Week.
