TÜRKSOY ethno-fashion meeting: designers from 11 Turkic states and autonomous republics bring Silk Road motifs into modern clothing

The 9th TÜRKSOY Women and Ethno-Fashion Meeting, organised by TÜRKSOY, Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism and TİKA, was held at the Estergon Turkish Cultural Centre in Ankara's Keçiören district. Designers from Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Northern Cyprus, as well as from the Russian republics of Bashkortostan, Sakha (Yakutia), Tatarstan and Tuva, presented their collections.

The collections used silk, felt, velvet, brocade and handwoven fabrics, reinterpreting Silk Road motifs in a modern style. Yakut musician Yuliana Krivoshapkina played the khomus, a traditional Yakut instrument, and painter Zeliha Saçlı showed oil paintings on the theme "The Turkic World and Women". Sagynbubu Alayeva, wife of TÜRKSOY Secretary General Sultan Raev, said that by keeping their culture alive women carry a nation's memory into the future.

A second stage was scheduled for 9 October in Ürgüp, Cappadocia: a "TÜRKSOY Ethnic Clothing Show on the Silk Road" with work by 20 designers, an exhibition of traditional women's clothing, headwear and jewellery, and performances by Yuliana Krivoshapkina, Cholpon Melisbekova and Akyerke Tajibayeva. The aim is to promote Turkic clothing culture worldwide and encourage young designers to draw on their shared heritage.