top of page
Search
  • Writer's pictureThe Gladius Shop

Find - VR Sometime I Look Back On My Life And I'm Seriously Impressed I'm Still Alive poster, canvas

Find - VR Sometime I Look Back On My Life And I'm Seriously Impressed I'm Still Alive poster, canvas

How Harlem's Fashion Row Founder Brandice Daniel (Finally) Got the Industry's Attention

Although it was just days before Harlem Fashion Row’s 13th annual fashion show and style awards (held virtually amid the COVID-19 pandemic), unfinished hemlines and the latest RSVP count were the furthest thing from founder Brandice Daniel’s mind when she picked up the phone. “Today is my daughter’s first day of kindergarten, and I’m actually sitting outside of her school right now,” she says, adding that she had to fight the urge to abandon work and spy through the classroom window all day. With another 30 minutes until dismissal though, Daniel spoke about the business and community she’s built with the passion and matter-of-factness that’s made her one of the fashion industry’s most respected figures.

Daniel founded Harlem’s Fashion Row (HFR) in 2007 with the simple-in-theory, but arduous-in-practice goal of supporting designers of color. In May, she doubled down on that support with the launch of Icon360—a nonprofit arm of HFR aimed at providing financial relief to designers impacted by the pandemic. To date, ICON360 has received $1 million from the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund’s A Common Thread initiative, a $25,000 pledge from childrenswear brand Janie & Jack, and funds raised by HFR through ticket sales to virtual launch.

HFR’s second annual designer retreat, held virtually in July, connected 75 designers with industry titans, including Terri Agins, Donna Karen, Ralph Lauren, and Tracy Reese. And the annual HFR fashion show and style awards kicked off New York Fashion Week to much fanfare, presenting fall collections by Kimberly Goldson, Kristian Loren, and Rich Fresh, and honoring Edward Enninful, Nate Hinton, Kerby Jean-Raymond, and Lindsay Peoples Wagner. These feats are the latest in a long string of accomplishments for Daniel and HFR over the years. This year’s convergence of a pandemic and racial reckoning forced the fashion industry to pay attention. That wasn’t always the case.


21 views0 comments
bottom of page