Meruert Tolegen Traded Science for Fashion, Now She’s Creating a Whole New Aesthetic

The designer Meruert Tolegen likes to hide symbols in her clothes: floral prints with discreet ghosts; figures that look like swans but, upon closer inspection, turn out to be women with bird bodies. “There’s a weirdness to it, but a good weirdness,” the 34-year-old tells me, sitting in her first-ever boutique, on Wooster Street, in New York’s SoHo. The shop, which had a soft opening in the fall, is full of dark wood, earthen sculptures, and Tolegen’s Mary Shelley–esque designs: clothes with lots of ruffles, eyelets, and tulle, mostly in black or ivory. Her atelier is housed there too.

Starting her brand four years ago was “accidental,” says Tolegen. She studied math and physics in college, first at the University of California, Davis, and then at CUNY, in New York—where she has lived since 2014—all with plans to go to medical school. After college, she worked as a research assistant in scientific labs that studied epidemiology and electromagnetic plates. In those days, “I wore what all the other nerds wore: sweatshirts and yoga pants,” she says, laughing. Although she also owned beautiful vintage clothes, she mostly kept them under wraps, because “you want to fit in.”

Tolegen was born in Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan, and moved with her parents to the San Francisco Bay Area when she was 5 years old. She visited her grandparents often, and spent much of her childhood at their house in Almaty. It was yellow and had a cupola on top that was lined with patchwork tapestries called korpe. In that house, she often drew pictures of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains; her grandmother taught her how to knit, sew, and crochet. Tolegen started making her own garments from a young age, but she always thought of her dabbling with clothes as an art project.

Her interest in capital-F fashion solidified when she was in her late 20s and pregnant with her first child, Anaïs. She needed an outfit for her hastily arranged wedding party. Initially, she customized an antique dress, but as the wedding approached, it no longer fit. In a hurry, she went to David’s Bridal, where she found a Zac Posen dress for the ceremony, and Century 21, where she bought a Maison Margiela dress for the party. That’s how she discovered Martin Margiela. In 2019, while away from the lab following the birth of her daughter, Tolegen started La Petite Anaïs, an online children’s boutique. She hand-sewed dresses with Peter Pan collars and full skirts from European fabrics—garments that looked ready for an outing to see The Nutcracker. The label developed a cult following online. While Tolegen had assumed she’d return to science, by the end of her maternity leave, she was reluctant. “I wasn’t satisfied in the lab, but there was also this voice in my head that said, ‘You have to do something serious,’” she explains. Her clients started asking for outfits to match their kids’, so she began making womenswear out of thick velvet and embellished lace. When she started making a living with her clothes, fashion finally felt serious.

Tolegen officially launched her namesake line in 2021. To produce her debut collection, she cold-called people in the Council of Fashion Designers of America directory, asking for help finding seamstresses. She held a small presentation showing garments with hand-crafted cages, boning, and corsetry—modern twists on 19th-century designs—at a rented space in TriBeCa. Buyers from Maxfield, in Los Angeles, attended, and they immediately placed an order. Big-shouldered, frilly tops from her debut were worn by both Rosé and Jennie from Blackpink, which brought the brand early attention.

Tolegen’s work is often ethereal, but her most recent collection marked a turn toward structure, with exaggerated tailoring, including puffed shoulders and nipped-in waists that evoked Victorian dolls. There were also menswear looks—oversize black cardigans and loose pants styled with feminine ballet slippers—which she’s been sprinkling in since fall 2024.

Tolegen, a nominee for this year’s CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, is steadily building the next strong, woman-led New York brand. Right now, she’s most excited about finally meeting her customers at her store. She imagines the Meruert Tolegen woman as “an intellectual—she doesn’t care about labels. She likes to read; she’s educated.” Much like the designer herself.

Hair by Esther Langham for Roz at art + commerce; makeup by Marco Castro for Saie Beauty. Models: Raysa De Jesus at Heroes Models, Cami Foos at Women Management, Ena Poppe at Women Management; Casting by Ashley Brokaw Casting; Photo Assistant: Storm Harper; Digital Technician: Anthony Miller; Retouching: Slick Studio; Fashion Assistant: Kayla Perno; Hair Assistant: Harley Beman; Makeup Assistant: Shiori Sato.