He is the first Azerbaijani designer to have his collections shown at fashion weeks in Dubai, Istanbul, Tehran, Paris, Milan, Beirut, New York City, Florence, and Bucharest.
[4] At the age of 19, Rufat Ismayil moved to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and began working with Valentin Yudashkin, Paco Rabanne, and many other designers.
[12] Rufat Ismayil exhibited his new collection alongside Turkish actress Nebahat Çehre in September 2020.
[14] In Paris in October 2021, he debuted his Haute Couture Sumakh collection, which was inspired by Azerbaijani rug, culture, and the victory in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.
[5] The Sumakh collection, created with the help of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the State Committee on Work with Diaspora, features 21 pieces of apparel inspired by Azerbaijani rug themes such as Chalabi, Khanlig, Nalbeki-gyul, and others.
Lo, Ariana Grande, Lil' Kim, Paris Hilton, Dua Lipa, Jordana Houston, Ashanti, Lauren Jauregui, Christina Aguilera and others are among Rufat Ismayil's celebrity clients.