Elon Musk‘s estranged daughter Vivian Musk just claimed her spot on the New York Fashion Week stage — and she didn’t do it quietly.
The 21-year-old made her runway debut Sept. 12 in Alexis Bittar’s Spring-Summer 2026 show at Abrons Theater. The collection, titled “MISS USA 1991: a Dream Sequence,” played out as a surreal beauty pageant where every contestant represented a state currently gutting trans rights.
Wilson wore a sparkling red dress with ruffled sleeves and a sash reading “Miss South Carolina.” The pageant styling wasn’t just costume — it slotted her directly into Bittar’s critique of how states are rolling back trans rights. On Instagram, she posted her own caption: “Just debuted my SS26 Presentation… it is a story about misogyny, unchecked predators, objectification and trans rights.” She tagged castmates like Tommy Dorfman and Amara Xtravaganza, plus the glam team that pulled the vision together, grounding her debut in community as much as spectacle.
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The moment comes after months of Wilson carving out space in fashion. Back in May, she fronted Wildfang’s identity-driven campaign, where one look featured a T-shirt that read, “Existing shouldn’t be revolutionary.” That ethos carried straight into her NYFW turn — a runway appearance that doubled as a statement of who gets to belong in American pageantry.
She’s also been blunt about the personal realities behind the headlines. In a recent The Cut interview, Wilson shut down assumptions that she’s benefiting from her father’s fortune: “I don’t have that inheritance… I can afford food. I have friends, a shelter, and some expendable income, which is nice and much more fortunate than most people my age in Los Angeles.” Earlier this month, she also called out the “creepy” online commenters who fixate on her body — a throughline for a young woman navigating both fame and relentless transphobia.
None of that noise was onstage Thursday night. Instead, Wilson’s sash and gown landed inside Bittar’s dreamlike critique of misogyny and objectification, turning her first NYFW walk into a cultural flashpoint. Call it a debut, yes — but more than that, it was proof that Wilson knows exactly how to use a platform when she has one.
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