Harlem Fashion Row Celebrates Style Awards – WWD

Hours of rain didn’t dampen the spirits Tuesday night at Harlem’s Fashion Row Fashion Show and Style Awards at the General Grant National Memorial.

Guests were easily entertained at the Louis Vuitton-sponsored event, mingling under large white tents over Chandon Spied cocktails, listening intently to awards and taking in the fashion show. Shannon Abloh, Bevy Smith, Dapper Dan, Ty Hunter, Linda Fargo of Bergdorf Goodman and Julie Gilhart were among the 400 attendees. The fashion show featured collections by Jonathan Hayden, Clarence Root of the Côte d’Armes and Nicole Benefield.

Issa Ra received the Virgil Abloh Award presented by LVMH, Sergio Hudson the Designer of the Year Award, Ade Samuel the Stylist of the Year Award and Robin Givhan the Editor of the Year Award. Janet Jackson picked up the Icon of the Year Award after party at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

In an industry where success can depend on self-promotion, HFR’s annual awards are generally communal. Grateful recipients recognize the people who helped them get there, whether parents, grandparents, employers or industry supporters. Even more poignant, it was a recurring message of wanting to clear the way for those who might follow, without labels – or limits –. True to form, Ruth took his final turn with a young man wearing a black singlet bra similar to the one worn by a male model on the show.

From the beginning of the “Future Past” chapter, Brandis Daniels, the founder of Harlem’s Fashion Row, spoke of the importance of the event near the grave of Ulysses S. Grant, praised by abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Prejudice, too humane to despise the humble, and too great to be slighted at any time. President Grant fought harder than any 19th century president to protect the rights of African Americans. So tonight we are here at Grant’s Cemetery.

In 2020, “How Daniel reminds us that we all have to face the truth. We weren’t doing enough. We all had to step up to the plate, didn’t we? However, business is very difficult now. We are dealing with pandemics, a pending recession, climate change and a dangerous environment. Now we have to decide that black lives matter. I believe they will.”

Honorees have strengthened the standard for designers, companies, executives, media and all people to show through their actions rather than their words and intentions. The prospect of fortune was celebrated as much as the success of the prize-winners. Accordingly, HFR & Co., the “ultimate shopping record featuring Black and Latinx brands,” will launch this fall, as announced during the evening’s program and confirmed by an HFR spokesperson.

“Being a woman from the Bronx, I’ve never seen this life before,” Samuel said. Sitting in the front row with her sister, her parents came from Nigeria and created an inspiring dream of a “dynamic family.” Acknowledging their sacrifices and encouragement, she added, “And thank you for not pushing me to become a doctor or a lawyer.”

Givhan, in his book on Virgil Abloh titled “Make It Ours,” credits Daniel for championing designers whose work has been “overlooked or sometimes misunderstood, as advocates, trusted leaders, authentic leaders, and therapists for the design community.” I don’t want anything special. They just want to be able to compete. In other words, they’ve been in the trenches doing this…”

Pulitzer Prize winner Givhan, who has had the chance to witness all that hard work, says she’s “changing the way she can unravel the narrative, tell a few truths, lift up the powerful and shine a little light.” Neglected areas. That has been the joy of my job and I get paid to do what I love. This award is truly a bonus, a blessing in disguise. I am honored and very grateful.

In praising her editors at The Washington Post, Givhan, a leading critic, said, “They are the mainstream media at its best, aiming to connect many diverse and unique interests in a thoughtful, fact-based, heartfelt conversation.” He said. Its editors praise fashion for treating it like any other industry and advise anyone who wants to write about the industry, “Don’t be a fashion journalist. No need to qualify. Just be a journalist. Give the industry its due. Because they deserve it.

Before presenting the inaugural Virgil Abloh Award, Abloh said Ra exemplified many of the qualities she admired most about her late husband — “innovation, integrity, strength, and a deep commitment to serving one’s platform to others.” Her award recognizes not only Rae’s book and podcast “The Misadventures of a Troubled Black Girl” in “Insecure” and a leading role in founding Hoorae Media, but also Rae’s commitment to giving back to her communities in South Los Angeles, California, through non-profit programs and entrepreneurship.

Although Rae never knew Ablon, she was his admirer from afar because of “his pure wit, his bold breaking of barriers, his way-defining confidence, and all the doors he deliberately and visibly opened to others.” Because he was, because he believed in himself and cared for others, there will be many others who look like him and like us.” she says.

Noting how validating and encouraging the first recipient was, Ray said: “It means you guys can see me and see everything I do. And that means many of us try. We believe in fairness.

Accepting the designer of the year award, Hudson said, “When I started out, I never thought I would be a black fashion designer. When I was growing up, I thought I would be a designer. But when I went to the first store, that shot me in the arm and the buyer said, ‘Your clothes should be urban.’ That’s when I realized that a designer who looks like me doesn’t have to design the clothes I design, Hudson.

From that day on, Hudson said he made it his mission to “make us a regular face in the ready-to-wear space, in American sportswear, because we’re not a single people.” We don’t do one thing – we do everything. We are people. We’re not just black people,” to applause from the crowd.

Hudson added, “I’m not running away from being a black man. I am a black man, like a designer. I’m a designer, now a black man.”

Earlier this year, LVMH North America announced a partnership with HFR. In addition to being the lead and sole sponsor of Tuesday’s anniversary celebration, many Louis Vuitton executives were in attendance — and none more so than LVMH North America CEO Anish Melwani, president of the zone, and US CEO Lanesa Elrod, vice president of D&I Corey. Smith and Chief Human Resources Officer Gena Smith. A few dozen workers held the fashion show; At Daniel’s request, they showed their presence with their hands.

Elrod talked about how the company hosted 75 designers as part of this year’s HFR Designer Retreat. The event took another turn, designed to provide a networking opportunity with company executives who were ready to share ideas with designers on how to grow their businesses. Elrod explained, “We really learned—and most of my team is here today and will testify to that—we learned more from them. They had many questions, they had hard questions. Challenge us. They asked us to look outside ourselves. It was a very inspiring day not only for them but also for us. What I saw that day was love, enthusiasm and perseverance. These are the values ​​we love so much at Louis Vuitton.

As part of its commitment, Louis Vuitton has gifted 360 of Harlem’s Fashion Row icon to each of the three designers who showed runway collections.

In closing, Daniel quotes Virgil Abloh’s quote that life is collaboration. She said: “Tonight is about the village – the village that needs to create black design directors, creative directors and lifestyles, the village that rewrites the strategic history of black designers in fashion, the village that uses its resources and connections.” To open more doors for color designers.

“I am the village,” Daniel said, leading the crowd into two sections, asking each person to look at the person next to them one last time to repeat that. “We are the village,” she said before the audience returned to their stormy mood.