( ENSPIRE Fashion ) Harlem’s Fashion Row had a spectacular 5th annual Black History Month Fashion Summit
ENSPIRE Contributor: Cailin Tennis
Just last week on February 15th, Harlem’s Fashion Row (HFR) successfully held its 5th annual Black History Month Fashion Summit. HFR is the premier agency creating a bridge between brands and designers of color in fashion through brand strategy, collaborations, new media, experiential marketing, recruiting, and pipeline programs. Their summit was completely free, virtual, and therefore, very accessible. They featured a packed agenda full of informational exchange with speakers including April Walker, Randy Cousin, Dr. Devona Dixon, and Dr. Joyce F. Brown to name just a few.
ENSPIRE’s mission is all about encouraging positive stories of changemakers and visionaries, so what better event to highlight than HFR’s Fashion Summit that celebrates Black History Month, New York Fashion Week, and the 50th Anniversary of hip-hop all at the same time? Long before inclusivity became a widely accepted goal across the fashion industry, Harlem’s Fashion Row has been championing and uplifting designers of color. Their objective is to provide real business opportunities to multicultural designers in fashion to showcase their skills and abilities in an industry that is often non-accessible to this group.
Some highlights of the event include hearing from Brandice Daniel, the CEO and founder of HFR. She began by saying, “There’s no way to talk about fashion without talking about music,” and touched on the immense connection that exists between hip-hop and fashion. To close out the day of amazing content, was keynote speaker, icon, designer, and author Dapper Dan.
Not only was the summit extremely inspiring and informational, but all the speakers were sporting fashionable glasses, sparkling jewelry, and vibrant colors, showing just how much they celebrate beautiful fashion. To this day, less than 1% of designers sold in major department stores are of color. HFR is doing amazing work in the fashion industry and encouraging black excellence throughout its realm of influence. ENSPIRE is excited to promote cultural, musical, and entertainment-focused events like HFR’s 5th annual Black History Month Fashion Summit, and continue to bring the most cutting-edge news to the community.
To listen to the virtual recording of the summit, reference the HFR website, Instagram, and their virtual event site click here. This event was sponsored by Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Nike, BET, and more high-profile fashion brands.
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