New York Fashion Week opened on September 9, 2025 in a way that only Harlem’s Fashion Row can manage: with a black-tie ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street that felt less like an industry event and more like a homecoming. The 18th Annual Fashion Show and Style Awards, themed “This Is the Table,” gathered designers, editors, entertainers, and executives to honor the Black creatives who continue to push the fashion industry forward — and to remind the room, as HFR founder and CEO Brandice Daniel put it, that this table belongs to everyone.

For Jordan Baker-Caldwell, the evening carried personal weight. For more than a decade, Baker-Caldwell has designed the iconic award statues presented at the HFR Style Awards — sculptures that have entered the collections of some of the most influential names in culture. This year’s awards were no different, and the honorees who received them were among the most celebrated in recent memory.

Usher Receives the Virgil Abloh Award, Presented by LVMH

The night’s most anticipated moment came when Corey Smith, Head of Diversity and Inclusion for LVMH North America, took the stage to present the Virgil Abloh Award to eight-time Grammy Award-winning entertainer and entrepreneur Usher. The award, named in honor of the late Virgil Abloh — the architect, designer, and creative director who redefined what it means to hold a seat at fashion’s highest table — is given each year to an individual who champions culture, community, and innovation while embodying Abloh’s spirit and boundless creative ambition.

Usher, resplendent in a green leather suit, received the honor for his decades-long influence on fashion, style, and cultural identity — not merely as an entertainer, but as someone who has consistently pushed the boundaries of what Black creativity looks like in the public eye. In a speech that drew the room to its feet, he reflected on growing up without his father, on learning to define himself through imagination and drive, and on what it means to carry confidence without apology.

He drew a direct connection to Abloh’s philosophy of innovation, describing how Virgil’s idea that meaningful change often begins with something small — a 3 percent shift in the familiar — had reshaped how he approached his own art and reinvention. He also invoked one of Abloh’s most enduring ideas: that everything you do is ultimately for the younger version of yourself still watching, still dreaming. “We are taught to be humble,” Usher told the room, “but I say we need to give ourselves more praise. It’s not cocky, it’s not conceited, it’s confidence.”

He closed by honoring the room itself — the designers, the executives, the advocates — and the organizations like HFR that do the ongoing work of elevating Black creatives across every corner of the industry.

The Full Class of 2025 Honorees

Jason Bolden, one of Hollywood’s most sought-after celebrity stylists, received the Stylist of the Year Award from industry legend Sam Fine, accompanied by surprise video tributes from Nicole Kidman, Cynthia Erivo, and Michael B. Jordan — a testament to the reach and depth of his influence across film and culture.

Nikki Ogunnaike, Editor-in-Chief of Marie Claire, was named Editor of the Year in a presentation delivered by her sister, Lola — a personal touch that grounded the evening’s most professional honors in something genuinely human.

Christiane Pendarvis, co-CEO of The Pattern and a long-respected voice in retail leadership, took home the Corporate Impact Award. In her acceptance, she spoke about her grandmother’s style philosophy — stacked jewelry, heels, standing tall — as the original blueprint for the kind of presence she has brought to every boardroom she has entered.

Ruth E. Carter, the legendary costume designer behind the wardrobes of Black Panther, Selma, Do the Right Thing, and dozens of the defining films of the past four decades, was honored as the inaugural recipient of the Ann Lowe Maverick of the Year Award — a new category introduced this year and named for the trailblazing Black designer who created Jacqueline Kennedy’s wedding gown in 1953. Carter, away on a film set, accepted virtually, a reminder that her brilliance remains in constant motion.

A Runway Celebration of Haitian Creativity

Following the awards, HFR staged a runway presentation that made its own kind of history. All three featured designers — LaTuché, Atelier Ndigo by Waina Chancy, and Daveed Baptiste — are of Haitian descent, making the 2025 show a landmark celebration of Caribbean creativity on one of fashion’s most visible stages. Baptiste’s denim-forward, streetwear-inflected collection drew a standing ovation and closed the evening on an electrifying note.

“This Is the Table” turned out to be exactly that: an evening where culture was the currency, collaboration was the foundation, and the work of nearly two decades of advocacy was visible in every award presented, every collection shown, and every sculpture placed in deserving hands.

Learn more about Harlem’s Fashion Row and their ongoing mission to champion multicultural designers and industry trailblazers.