For years, Russian fashion has been considered a contradiction in terms, something akin to the Wendy's Soviet Fashion Show ad, in which a stocky, kerchiefed woman repeatedly marches down a runway in a gray smock.

Jump to 2008 and the world of 15-year-old designer Kira Plastinina. It's stocked with sheer dresses, gravity-defying black tutus, and bubblegum-pink accessories. Already famous in Russia for her rich father, heiress friends, and position designing clothes for the Russian edition of American Idol, Plastinina opened her first U.S. store in New York's SoHo on May 2.

Meanwhile, Veronika Jeanvie just teamed up with mentor Paco Rabanne to become the first Ukrainian designer to debut a collection in the U.S. Moscovite Alexander Terekhov is a fixture at New York's fashion week, with four seasons of well-attended shows under his belt. Russian designers Valentin Yudashkin, Denis Simachev, and Igor Chapurin—some of the better-known names in Russia—show their collections in Europe.

"The world is shifting," says Fern Mallis, organizer of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Weeks in New York and Los Angeles. "Russia, India, and China—that's where more people are making money now, and they can afford to fund and show collections abroad."

Fifteen years ago, no one but Yudashkin was known outside the region. In 1991, he was invited to Paris Fashion Week and, after presenting a collection of dresses inspired by Fabergé eggs, became the first Russian designer to be chosen as a member of the Syndicate of High Fashion in Paris. Chapurin followed, with his tailored, feminine clothing winning a Nina Ricci competition for young designers in Paris in 2002. Around that same time, Simachev, known for his avant-garde street style for women and men, began showing in Milan.

Though the domestic market for fashion has grown dramatically in the past decade, there are obvious reasons to chase the fashion dream outside of the former Soviet bloc—money and prestige chief among them. Though there are Russian and Moscow fashion weeks, foreign buyers and press don't bother to attend. Capital can be nigh impossible to come by at home because Eastern European investors generally consider fashion a poor investment. And even a bit part on the global fashion stage can give a brand cachet back home.

That's not to say that these fashion defectors have an easy time abroad.

Each season in New York, Terekhov sends his label, Terexov, down the runway. With its streamlined look and feminine flourishes, the line can hold its own next to those of American fashion ingenues like Phillip Lim or Jenni Kayne. For fall, standout pieces include a belted, silver down coat, a crimson V-neck gown and a sheer cocktail dress with a ruffled hem. Neiman Marcus and Barneys New York buyers sit front row, but the 29-year-old Terekhov has yet to score an order from a major department store.

"They have more to prove than American or European designers," says Mallis. "[Buyers see] them as a business risk in terms of sales and distribution." Mallis predicts that eventually American buyers, who wrestle with sameness in their stores, will take a gamble on a designer who can show stability and consistency season after season. "Terekhov is doing it right," she says.

At the consumer level, designers still have to overcome the perception that Russian style is drab or gaudy. Their names pose a challenge to brand recognition too. Remembering (let alone pronouncing) a name like Valentin Yudashkin is more difficult than, say, Valentino or Calvin Klein.

Ukrainian designer Jeanvie made a play for the American customer with her first U.S. show at Los Angeles Fashion Week in March. But even with a major name like Paco Rabanne behind her, American boutiques weren't snapping up her gold lamé catsuits or midriff-baring neon blue and green cocktail dresses. "It's hard to break into another country—another part of the world with another people and culture—if you don't have somebody's helping hand," she says. Still, the 28-year-old was "delighted" with the runway shows and plans to be back.

Meanwhile, there is still a real gold mine in their backyard. Alexander Shumsky, owner of Russian Fashion Week, says the number of Russians embracing homegrown designer goods is on the rise, particularly at the boutique level. Total clothing, footwear, and accessories sales amounted to $63.3 billion in 2007 and is projected to climb at least 10 percent annually by 2010. "The American market is the biggest in the world, but it's a hard market," he says. "Russia is one of the biggest emerging markets in terms of fashion. It's smarter to expand in Russia."

Terekhov is covering his bases. He operates a store in Moscow but says he will stay the course in New York, too, explaining that his shows in the U.S. make him more covetable back home. "There's a very high level of professionalism in New York," adds the designer, pointing to American designers like Halston and Michael Kors as major influences. "I'm learning from other American designers. I just want to put my line on a very sturdy path right now. I feel in New York I have a really high chance."

And the Russian teen idol will be forging ahead on her sugary path Stateside. Financed by dad, whose produce and dairy business has a market cap of $4.4 billion, some 12 Kira Plastinina shops are set to open in Los Angeles and New York by August. An additional 50 are planned for the next three years. (There are 40 or so already in Russia and the Ukraine.)

The chain claims high fashion, but at price points averaging $48, it is going up against cheap-chic purveyors like H&M and Forever 21. "It's really taken off as a phenomenon in Russia," says Robert Higgins, president of Kira Plastinina U.S.A., based in Los Angeles. He hopes to hit average retail sales of $1,000 per square foot, about what the Russian stores pull in. "We think it's going to be so compelling here. It's a designer label, but not at designer prices."

Americans just might buy that.