NEW YORK, United States — Trinidad Carnival has made its way onto the New York Fashion Week stage, with five-time National Carnival Commission Large Band of the Year THE LOST TRIBE making its debut at the international fashion event.

The band showcased designs from its 2026 presentation, Island Circus, across two events in New York, bringing elements of Trinidad Carnival’s movement, storytelling and costume craftsmanship to audiences in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The first presentation took place on September 10 in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District as part of a showcase by the Caribbean Fashion Collective.

With sections of the cobblestone streets closed to traffic, THE LOST TRIBE brought its contemporary mas into one of New York’s luxury fashion corridors, with the costumes moving between designer storefronts and outdoor cafes as editors, stylists and members of the public watched.

The showcase continued on September 13 in Brooklyn at The Arches BK during the Wi Style presentation, co-presented by Carib Biz Network and Rum & Music.

The Brooklyn event offered a different setting, combining runway presentations with a pop-up shop and a fireside conversation featuring THE LOST TRIBE Band Leader Valmiki Maharaj and designer Shari Winchester.

For Maharaj, making the journey to New York Fashion Week represented a full-circle moment.

“As a child, you sketch in your notebooks and copybooks, dreaming about getting to somewhere like Fashion Week,” he said.

Maharaj recalled participating in Caribbean Fashion Week at the Hyatt in Port of Spain early in his Carnival career, saying the experience of eventually presenting THE LOST TRIBE’s work in New York was “really a full-circle moment”.

He said seeing the costumes being appreciated in the Meatpacking District was particularly meaningful.

“I didn’t feel like I was walking with LOST TRIBE alone – I felt like I was walking with the whole culture on my back,” Maharaj said.

He also credited the organisations behind the New York showcases for creating platforms for Caribbean creatives and businesses.

Maharaj said it was especially significant to meet members of the Trinidadian community in Brooklyn, including people who had travelled to Trinidad over the years to play mas with THE LOST TRIBE and second-generation Trinidadians who continue to follow the band from abroad.

“For all these years, they came to us. To finally bring our work directly to them in their space, to see them wearing pieces of past costumes, and to share that pride together is something I will hold onto for a long time,” he said.

The New York showcases also opened the door for THE LOST TRIBE to explore expanding its educational initiative, Carnival Campus, into North America.

Maharaj said the band is actively exploring opportunities to bring the programme to New York through partnerships with educational institutions and organisations such as Carib Biz Network.

The proposed expansion would combine digital design modules with in-person masterclasses focused on Carnival design theory and cultural history.

The NYFW presentations featured costume designs created collaboratively by THE LOST TRIBE’s full roster of designers.

The band said the showcases reflect its wider goal of positioning Carnival arts as a sustainable and globally recognised design discipline, while creating opportunities for Trinidadian Carnival creativity to reach new audiences beyond the Caribbean.