00:00This is the ninth year for Harlem's Fashion Row. Hi, I'm Brandis Daniel. I'm the CEO and
00:12founder of Harlem's Fashion Row. When I started HFR, I can remember thinking when we're five
00:19years old, when we're ten years old, and now to be so close to ten, it's a dream. It's actually
00:25a dream. A dream comes true. Harlem's Fashion Row is so necessary because our voices need
00:32to be heard. Our perspective needs to be heard. We matter. Our lives matter. Our opinions matter.
00:39Our point of views matter. And right now, multicultural designers often feel kind of
00:43shut out of fashion, and sometimes they feel like certain parts of the industry are inaccessible.
00:48And so what we do at Harlem's Fashion Row is to provide a platform where we invite all of
00:54these people that they would love to get meetings with, that they need to be connected to, so
00:58that they're building basically a connection between the designers, multicultural designers,
01:02and the fashion community. Hi, everyone. This is Therese Brown, designer of Therese Sedana,
01:07contemporary women's ready-to-wear and accessories designed for the superhero in all of us.
01:12I think my collection is about saving the day for so many different people, whether it's from
01:18the go-to jacket to the go-to pants. I've done my own prints, my own colors. Everything is custom.
01:25The collection is so easy going, so easy flowing. It's like you can dress it up, dress it down,
01:30get on the plane, land in style. Hi, I'm Kehendo Matene, and I'm the designer behind Kehendo,
01:38the collection. The collection is for that confident woman, you know, who isn't afraid to rock color,
01:45trends, texture, and really embrace her confidence, so it's for that woman. Hi, my name is Radhika
01:54Pereira Hernandez, and my line is Lois London. So my line Lois London, it's a resort-wear driven line,
02:02always very flowy, very carefree, very feminine. I don't really follow trends, so I tend to do timeless,
02:07to me anyway, timeless garments that I feel can sit in a woman's wardrobe for years instead of it being
02:13fast fashion items. So my name is Ja'Kai Frank. My brand is called Drew, and it stands for Just
02:19Respect Us. Sure. So Just Respect Us duly because we want it to be all about individuality. No matter
02:26what you stand for, you should be respected. There should be no bullying in the world, so everyone should
02:30be able to get along and, you know, be respected for who they are. So no one should be on a cyclo,
02:35and they're that way, they're this way. Respect everyone in the world, be a better place.
02:39I am so excited about our honorees tonight. So we have four distinct honorees. One of them is a
02:47celebrity stylist, Eric Archibald. We have the editor of Theme Vogue, Elaine Wetteroth. We have the
02:54president of Next Model Management, Kyle Hagler, and our Icon 360 award recipient is going out to like
03:01one of the dopest dudes I hope to know, which is Swispy. I really want to get to the consumers,
03:10to these women. And I would love to be featured, you know, in Essence, in Cosmo, in Vogue. Just get a
03:19lot of brand recognition, press coverage, and hopefully get picked up by a stack for Barney.
03:25I just want brand awareness. I want people to be, you know, have me on their radar. I hope the
03:29response today is awesome. And just, yeah, just grow the network of people that know about
03:33Lois London. For me, obviously racism is good. I don't let that define me or who I am. I'm a designer
03:40who happens to be black.
03:45Having a fashion show is just a small piece of what we hope to accomplish. Our goal is to really
03:51introduce designers to buyers, introduce them to consumers, just kind of be a bridge between
03:57the designers and everything that they meet. Very nervous. And just to be showing it with Harlem
04:02Fashion Row, to me, it means something to be able to come out of the box on this type of a platform,
04:07because I am a minority designer. And I think, you know, just to be able to be on that type of a
04:12team, it's so much support and it feels amazing. It really means a lot to be part of a Harlem Fashion
04:19Row family. And I mean, it has grown leaps and bounds. And Brandis, you know, has just been like a
04:25mentor to me. So after the show is over, we actually have a pop-up shop on Saturday where
04:31the designers that are actually shown tonight can actually be bought so people can purchase
04:35their collections on Saturday. After this, we're working on LA and bringing designers to LA during
04:41Grammy week and working on our 10th year celebration for next year. So the designers and I will of course
04:48stay in touch. And we are always here as support for the designers that we show.
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