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Harlem’s Fashion Row will open New York Fashion Week for the nineteenth consecutive year on 8 September 2026 at The Glasshouse in Manhattan.
This year’s edition carries the theme “Peace by Piece.” HFR describes the theme as a tribute to the designers, partners, and team members who have shaped the organisation across nineteen years.
The night’s centrepiece is the runway premiere of three designers’ Spring/Summer Collection 2027, produced under the Runway Ahead Designer Fellowship, a programme presented through ICON360, Harlem’s Fashion Row’s nonprofit arm. The fellowship was launched earlier this year through the PVH Foundation. It pairs emerging talent with PVH executives across sourcing, merchandising, finance, production, and design.
Waina Chancy leads the list with her label Atelier Ndigo, a womenswear house built on sculptural silhouettes. Chancy, a stylist and costume designer by trade, continues her relationship with the organisation that began at last year’s show, where Atelier Ndigo debuted alongside two other designers.
Lamin “Rey” Jaiteh brings his Harlem-rooted label Rey Jaiteh to the runway. His menswear and womenswear line is known for handcrafted tailoring.
Nigerian designer Chuks Collins, with his namesake house, threads African heritage through contemporary silhouettes and sustainable product methods.
Each designer received fellowship funding to build a Spring/Summer 2027 collection, and they will showcase their work for the first time on 8 September 2026.
Beyond the runway slot at New York Fashion Week, one of the three designers will walk away with the Runway Ahead Prize, a $100,000 grant to accelerate the winner’s business. The judging panel, drawn from across fashion and media, includes Calvin Klein global design vice president Alexandra Gardner, stylist and creative director June Ambrose, GQ fashion director at large Mobolaji Dawodu, Vanity Fair fashion director Nicole Chapoteau, Tommy Hilfiger North America executive vice president Reena Person, and PVH’s global head of inclusion and diversity Rohit Burman, and Daniel herself.
After weighing the collection against creative vision, craftsmanship, and business potential, the panel will name a winner on the debut night.
Alongside the fellowship runway, Harlem’s Fashion Row will hand out its annual Style Awards. The categories include Editor of the Year, Stylist of the Year, Designer of the Year, and the Fashion Icon Award. The Anne Lowe Maverick Award is one of the recent fixtures on the roster, having debuted only last year, when the inaugural honour went to costume designer Ruth E. Carter.
The Virgil Abloh Award is presented by LVMH, an honour first introduced after Abloh died in 2021 and awarded in past years to figures including Usher and A$AP Rocky.
New for 2026 is the Breakthrough Award, created to recognise an emerging figure in fashion. Pattern Beauty signed on as the evening’s official hair and body sponsor, and Dior will be taking the make-up brief.
Brandice Daniel founded Harlem’s Fashion Row in 2007 to give multicultural designers the same access to buyers, editors, and capital that their peers already had. According to the organisation, it was built to support under-represented African American and Latino designers. HRF aimed to discover and showcase talent of colour through national events and multi-platform programmes.
It has since built partnerships with LVMH, Target, Marriott International and Google. Its Fashion Show and Style Awards have become a de facto opening bell for New York Fashion Week, drawing figures such as Naomi Campbell and Anna Wintour in years past.
Harlem’s Fashion Row’s partnership record runs deeper than the runway itself. Daniel has pointed to the absence of racial diversity in children’s fashion as a specific motivator for some of the HFR’s brand collaborations. It includes a 2020 partnership with Janie and Jack that paired three multicultural designers on a childrenswear collection.
In 2021, HFR partnered with Gap Inc. on an initiative called “Closing the Gap,” designed to strengthen educational opportunities for Black fashion students at historically Black colleges and universities. Earlier still, HFR launched a mentorship programme with IMG, the producer of New York Fashion Week, and partnered with Google in 2019 for an industry summit.
Last year’s show, the 18th Annual Fashion Show and Style Award on 9 September 2025, had the theme of “This Is The Table.” It was a celebration of Black creatives working in an industry that has historically been slow to include BIPOC talent at its centre. Ugo Mozie served as creative director for both the fashion show and the style awards, with Atelier Ndigo, LaTouché, and Daveed Baptiste leading the runway.
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