Kelly Rowland, A$AP Rocky honored during Harlem’s Fashion Row’s 16th annual fashion show and awards

Harlem’s Fashion Row’s 16th annual fashion show and awards paid homage to hip-hop’s 50th anniversary and honored Black talent in fashion.

Kay Wicker

Sep 7, 2023

While New York Fashion Week officially began Thursday, Sept. 7, it’s been in full swing in Harlem since Tuesday evening. On Sept. 5, at the legendary Apollo Theater, Harlem’s Fashion Row hosted its 16th annual fashion show and awards with the theme “Remix,” celebrating hip-hop’s 50th anniversary.

According to a release to theGrio, the evening featured a cocktail hour, an awards ceremony, a performance by Doug E. Fresh, and a fashion show showcasing the work of three emerging Black designers: Nicole Benefield, Aaron Potts, and Megan Smith.

Kelly Rowland, Brandice Daniel, Harlem's Fashion Row, Harlem's Fashion Row's 16th annual fashion show and awards, Kelly Rowland fashion icon award, Black fashion, Black style, New York Fashion Week 2023, theGrio.com — Brandice Daniel and Kelly Rowland on stage during Harlem’s Fashion Row’s 16th Annual fashion show and awards on Sept. 5, 2023, at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. (Photo courtesy by Harlem’s Fashion Row)

During her remarks, per Women’s Wear Daily, Brandice Daniel, founder and chief executive officer of HFR, said, “We are here in the heart of Harlem at the world-famous Apollo Theater. We are commemorating a huge milestone — the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. Hip-hop has left an indelible mark on me personally and every facet of our culture, especially fashion.”

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Daniel also highlighted the strength of the Black consumer and how eager Black consumers are to shop Black-owned brands. “To overlook this, is to overlook the deniable force of our community,” she said.

She went on to note how the evening celebrated storytelling, a major aspect of hip-hop.

“We will also honor the distinguished innovators who have shaped the fashion landscape who don’t often get recognized enough,” she said.

Those honorees included Kelly Rowland, who was presented the Fashion Icon Award by her husband, Tim Weatherspoon. A$AP Rocky was presented the Virgil Abloh Award by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, and Black Italian designer Stella Jean, who regularly incorporates African Dutch wax prints into her tailored yet feminine silhouettes, was named Designer of the Year. The evening also honored Vogue’s Global Contributing Editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson as Editor of the Year, photographer Johnny Nuñez as a Hip-Hop Trailblazer, and the Los Angeles-based styling duo Wayman Bannerman and Micah McDonald as Stylists of the Year.

When accepting her award, Rowland, wearing a black-and-white, bustier and velvet-skirted look by Ashi Studio, first gushed about her husband, saying, “I love that Black man,” before uplifting Daniel and all she does through HFR. Despite her extensive experience on stages, sets and red carpets, Rowland surprisingly said she didn’t know what a fashion icon was when she first got the call.

“For me, I thought it was all the girls in the fashion magazines who started trends,” she said. She explained how her relationship with fashion began with Destiny’s Child when Tina Knowles “dressed us and I remember what it was like to start a trend.” She added, “We start the trends, we make things cool. Fashion should be grateful for us.”