Art Hearts Fashion ran its September season from the 10th to the 13th, and it was, by the platform’s own count, the biggest and most international one yet. That is the part worth paying attention to. The headline was the 22 Miss Universe titleholders who walked the runway, but the reason FVM covers Art Hearts is the thing underneath the spectacle: it is one of the few New York Fashion Week platforms built specifically to put international and emerging designers on a real runway.

“Having 22 Miss Universe titleholders walk our runway was incredible,” said Erik Rosete, Founder and President of Art Hearts Fashion. “These women represent countries and cultures from around the world, and that is exactly what Art Hearts Fashion has always been about. We’ve built something that goes far beyond a traditional fashion week. It’s become a global meeting place for fashion, entertainment, beauty and culture.”

The lineup ran long and genuinely global: Karl Kani, Michael Cinco, Cross Colours, Mister Triple X, Giannina Azar, Alexis Monsanto, Kentaro Kameyama, David Tupaz, Merlin Castell, Pia Bolte and many more, from legendary American streetwear to international couture to independent labels showing at NYFW for the first time. Rather than march through all of it, here is the FVM edit: the looks that stopped us.

The range was the whole point. Karl Kani and Cross Colours held down the streetwear end, leather separates and easy tailoring carried on the shoulders of the models rather than styled to death. At the other extreme, the couture houses went full drama: silver bugle-beaded menswear cut like armor, feather-caped evening gowns, and Giannina Azar’s sheer, crystal-worked columns that are built to catch every light on the runway.

Eveningwear was where the room got loud. Strapless ball gowns in black and gold, liquid satin in oxblood and champagne, a white and gold draped gown with a train, all of it photographed against the Art Hearts step-and-repeat that changes name every few looks as the next designer comes up. It is a lot to take in, and that is the format working as intended.

The FVM read: the big magazines skip Art Hearts because the Miss Universe angle reads as spectacle, and spectacle is easy to dismiss. That is a mistake. Strip the pageant headline away and what is left is access, a working NYFW runway for designers from countries and price points the calendar shows rarely make room for. The looks above are not all going to end up in a museum. Some of them are very good, and all of them earned a New York runway that would not otherwise exist. That is the story.

Art Hearts Fashion is at artheartsfashion.com and @artheartsfashion on Instagram.

Images courtesy of Art Hearts Fashion. Runway photography: Mark Gunter.