The Breakfast Club - The Latest On The Scene: Usher Receives The Virgil Abloh Award From Harlem’s Fashion Row, During Newyork Fashion Week!

Episode Date: September 11, 2025

Come along for Loren LoRosa’s night 1 of Newyork Fashion Week. Bringing you the latest from Harlem’s Fashion Row 18th annual Fashion Show & Style Awards honoring Usher, Ruth E Carter and more! YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Short on time, but big on true crime. On a recent episode of the podcast, Hunting for Answers, I highlighted the story of 19-year-old Lechay Dungey. But she never knocked on that door. She never made it inside. And that text message would be the last time anyone would ever hear from her. Listen to Hunting for Answers from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio,

app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When your car is making a strange noise, no matter what it is, you can't just pretend it's not happening. That's an interesting sound. It's like your mental health. If you're struggling and feeling overwhelmed, it's important to do something about it. It can be as simple as talking to someone, or just taking a deep, calming breath to ground yourself, because once you start to address the problem, you can go so much further.

Health Institute and the Ad Council have resources available for you at Love Your Mind Today.org. Culture eats strategy for breakfast, right? On a recent episode of Culture Raises Us, I was joined by Belisha Butterfield, media founder, political strategist, and tech powerhouse for a powerful conversation on storytelling, impact, and the intersections of culture and leadership. I am a free black woman. From the Obama White House to Google to the Grammys,

Valicia's journey is a masterclass in shifting culture and using your voice to spark change. Listen to Culture Raises us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Kurt Brown-Oller. And I am Scotty Landis, and we host Bananas, the podcast where we share the weirdest, funniest, real news stories from all around the world. And sometimes from our guest's personal lives, too. Like when Whitney Cummings recently revealed her origin story on the show. There's no way I don't already have rabies.

This is probably just why my personality is like this. I've been surviving rabies for the past 20 years. New episodes of bananas drop every Tuesday. in the exactly right network. Listen to bananas on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a homeguard that knows a little bit about everything and everybody. You know if you don't lie about that, right?

Lauren came in hot. Hey, y'all, what's up? It's Lauren LaRosa, and this is the latest with Lauren LaRosa. This is your daily dig on all things pop culture, entertainment news, and all of the conversations that shake the room. Now, we, this episode is a bit different. It is Fashion Week. So in the last episode, I was able to take you guys outside.

And you know the latest is always what's happening. We're in now. We're on the go sometimes when we're not in the latest with Lauren the Rose of the podcast studio. Because I like to keep you guys a beating on the street with me as I maneuvered throughout so many different aspects of pop culture. So we were at Delaware State University where I was honored to speak as the keynote speaker. during the convocation ceremony at my HBCU, my alma mater. And directly after we left there, we headed back to New York City to get into some fashion week things.

Now, I was honored to be an invited guest and an attendee of Harlem Fashion Roe's 18th annual fashion show and style awards. Now, Harlem Fashion Row is an organization that has been around for some time. They were founded in 2007, and they, you know, when they were created in need to be, even now, like the platform has grown so much. They were created to become, and have become, the premier platform dedicated to discovering, showcasing, and supporting designers of color. Now, they have a proven track record of driving culture shift in collaboration with brands

like Nike, Gap, Nordstrom, Tommy Hilfiger. But most importantly, what I know them for and what I love about them and what I've always known them for for some time is that Harlem's fashion role creates community and space. So yes, they're able to bridge the gap with these brands and these sponsors and they help so many black designers who are emerging out of HBCUs, which is a conversation of its own because there are a lot of fashion professionals who are overlooked because they come from non-traditional fashion schools, which are HBCUs. But Harlem's Fashion Row is doing things like going into HBCUs and providing designers and students with funding, making sure they get platform, making sure they get internships that put them in the fashion spaces and rooms and conversations. they need to be in to have everything they need to be able to go out and dominate the world. But also, they just create space. One of my, you know, biggest things about New York and the fashion world here and the

couture world here of fashion was the fact that you either got a hard yes or you got a hard no. I wanted to, you know, model work in Couture fashion. And what I began to learn is that it really was a club of who's chosen, who selected. And once you're not, you're not. And for the most part, that was not models of color. that was not designers of color, that was not creatives of color. When I found out about Harlem's fashion row, I was actually in L.A., and there was an event that they were having, and there were so many black faces in Hollywood that were being advertised

that were supposed to be at this event. And I was still trying to find culture and community there. When I moved there, I used to be like, where are all the people? Where are we at? So I came across this event. I didn't really know much about the brand, and I went. And I remember, and she will not remember this, but I remember me in Brandis, who is the owner and creator of Harlem's Fashion Row at this event.

Now, full circle moment for me, right? Because now I'm here, I'm in New York. We're doing the Fashion Week things. And like I said, I like to take you guys into the latest, into what's happening. So as we go into the night at Harlem's Fashion Row, what I'm beginning to learn is that not only has the brand grown in all this time, right? But I'm also seeing that the people who were supporting the brand from the beginning are still there supporting it.

A lot of the celebrities, a lot of, you know, the editorial outlets, the designers, which is amazing to see. I think one of the hardest things in building is to retain. It's to retain support both financially, but also just community-wise. And I keep using that word community because it is very important when you're figuring something out to have those people to be able to fellowship with to poor resources from or be that for somebody else. So in this event, you know, the ceremony was set up. We sat down. We had dinner. I ran into Carrie Hosen, who I met when we did BET Talks, which was I do sometimes I do these sit downs of BET. I made Carrie Hosen during BET talks and also she came on the breakfast club.

So Carrie Hosen was there. You also had Slick Rick in attendance. You had Dappreddin who is a New York fashion legend, period. I also ran into Melissa Butler from the lip bar. Sherry Shepard was there as well. Tons of celebrities in the room. Now opening up the night, Brandis got on the mic and kind of explained a bit about, you know, why the evening was important, why the event in the community that she has built through the

organization was important. And when they started in 2007, with their mission being to, you know, bridge those gaps. And like I talked about, become the community for people here in New York and elsewhere who need it. One of the things that I have always admired about Harlem's fashion role is the fact that they're able to, once this, you know, community was built, they, they are able to bring people together to then showcase others. So designers, we heard from editorial professionals last night who were being spotlighted. We heard more about the college work that Harlem's Fashion Row was doing. And we also heard from college students, our graduates, who are now interning and working

and being able to get out there and do the work as well. But the biggest thing of the night, for sure, Usher. Usher was presented with the Virgil Ablo Award, which is also amazing because Harlem's Fashion Row actually honored Virgil when he was alive. For those of you guys who may not know any of our listeners who may not know, Virgil Ablo, huge streetwear designer, you know, and he is known as one of the people who defied the odds when it came to being a black designer in Couture fashion, but extremely and especially in streetwear. He went from, you know, designing streetwear to becoming creative director of Louis Vuitton and, you know, just breaking a lot of first, but also just being a face in fashion and a force in fashion that people could look to. So with Usher receiving this award, it definitely gives a nod to what Usher has become, you know, in his industry, and has been in this industry, and just giving him his flowers and making it feel good. Let's take a listen to Usher.

So y'all started it, right, USH, R-A-Y-M-O-N-D, yeah. So baby, tell me what you wanted to. I talked about that tenacious 17, right, who just needed to believe that I found another common connection between me and verse. Very profound words this man left. He said, the world produces waves. You surf, you drown. You decide, and everything that you do is for that 17-year-old version of yourself.

That 17-year-old version of myself is the same thing that encourages me to this day to make me fearless, and I would not be here. be here without him. So I thank you, young usher at 17 year old, for being bold as you were. You know, we're taught to be humble. But I say we need to give ourselves more praise. We need to make certain that we know that it's okay to be proud of what you do. It's not cocking, it's not conceded. It's confidence. And that's the way that it should be. You should encourage encourage yourself. Don't wait for the applause. If you, she said, live for the applause,

you die by the boots. Literally. But I thank you guys so much. And I hope that next year the recipient doesn't take as long as I. Thank you. And I'm going to tell you all something too. I think, you know, the more that I'm, you know, in and out of these events and I'm seeing people, you know, receive these awards and, you know, just seeing people take time for others who deserve it because they're working so hard to make sure we can be able to do so. What I'm beginning to understand a bit more is, you ever heard celebrities be like, I don't need my flowers. Like, I know what I've done here. I look at a person like Usher who has been synonymous across, because I don't think people understand it. He's been synonymous across fashion,

across the skate world, across music, across hip-hop, even though he's an R&B artist. But just across culture in general and also as giving us some of the best music and artists that we know Justin Bieber comes from under the wing of Usher. So as I'm watching Usher maneuver the event last night and receive the award and, you know, do so so humbly and speak of his beginnings and where he comes from. I'm sitting there like, you know, I really, really truly believe that the people that come from the era that like Usher comes from, they're not really pressed for all the accolades and, you know, for things to be loud. I mean, and they're going to come up here. They're going to, you I mean, receive their awards and all those things as they come.

There's just something different about the era of celebrity when it comes to generations that are not mine. And I was watching that last night, even seeing Slick Rick, you know, in the audience. And as, you know, the audience is breaking for people to maneuver from the downstairs award reception to the upstairs, like an after cocktail reception, he couldn't even walk through the crowd without people stopping him, like at all. But these are people that are, that you're not, you're not. hearing them scream what they need, what they should be getting, what they should be awarded every day. They're just really doing the work, doing what they love and doing it at like a high level at that. When you think of a slick Rick and his his ability and his impact, when you think and again, across music and fashion, when you think of an usher, when you think of a Ruthie Carter,

all of these people just set out to do something really, really well and did it well enough where others are able to come behind them and be able to do it. But also do it in a way that influences. has influenced style slick rig has influenced generations of style we then got to hear from ruth e carter and ruthie carter um if you guys do not know she's a costume designer a costume designer a costume designer for those who don't understand what that term is because i know i'm speaking a lot of fashion today um a costume designer is somebody who dresses uh people in roles so whether it's movies uh television anything on camera per se so it's basically a stylist for television and film but they tell stories through it so a lot of times things are set in certain time periods they're set in certain

locations or you know geographically uh you know clothing is telling a story so to be a costume designer is a very very um it's a very very detail oriented job and you really have to understand how to tell story without even opening up your mouth because you don't see or hear from the stylets and ruthie carter also comes from that era and i was watching and listening to her receive her award and my thought was the way that the stylist and a lot of the behind the scenes creatives are set up to date in our time because of social media and don't get me wrong it's nothing wrong with it because I understand that social media is a vehicle it drives people's business and business is how people pay their bills but she comes from an error of stylists and I and I looked around I see

dappardin and you know all these OG stylists and the family of Ann Lowe who was you know one of the uh designers who like dressed Jackie Kenney for her wedding to John F. Kennedy. So Ruthie Carter is receiving the Anne Lowe Maverick Award. Hello, everyone. I want to thank Brandis Daniel and Harlem's Fashion Row for this tremendous honor. To be the very first recipient of the Anne Lowe Maverick Award, wow, it truly gets me chills just to say.

So tonight, I accept this award. in the name of Anne Love, and in honor of every designer, Taylor, and creatives who stitched beauty into the world even when the doors were closed. And I'm looking at all of the generations of fashion and design and culture and influence in the room. And I'm like, you know, the craziest thing is that we went from an era of people just being not happy to be anywhere because that's not the right term. These people were so vigilant. They weren't happy to be anywhere.

They were busing down doors that were being shut in their face and coming in with their own tables, making things from scratch with their bare hands, creating ideas without phones, without TikTok, without anything. The level and the depth of talent in the generations prior to us, I don't think that we really understand, you know, what that takes to be able to conceptualize an idea. without being able to pick up your phone and put it together, put together a movie board on Google AI. It's just very different. And I'm not knocking, you know, the artist and the creatives of this generation because I consider myself one of them. But last night was a good reminder that before anything, before you're posting to Instagram, before you're cracking a mic, before you are putting something on a runway, before you are getting on skates, before you're getting on the stage and just anything that you do before you do it to really understand your purpose behind it,

your intention behind it, and to really hone your talent. I went to go see Usher in Vegas. It was one of the best shows I've ever seen in my life. If you've watched Wakanda, you understand Ruth E. Carter being magnificent and being one of the greats. If you know anything about Anlo Maverick and, you know, everything she went through just to be able to work and do what she loved and her timeless pieces that she crafted by hand, you understand workmanship, work ethic. forward all of the highlight rules and you know all the celebrations and all of the cheers and all of the you know like us people scream you know i want to i want to get my flowers while i can smell them whether you're getting your flowers while you can smell them or not i want to make sure i'm getting

my flowers for something that i've done that has substance in life and legacy because that that's like that's real impact like usher is real he's not just a music artist he is real impact ruth e carter is real impact slick rick wasn't even honored last night but you just felt really really being in the room with him. Dapperden, you felt regal being in his presence. And that's what I made me for. So this was a great way to kick off my first night of New York Fashion Week. You know, I'm here for all things black and all things us. Anyway, but yes, that was an amazing kickoff to it. And we also got to watch, you know, they had several designers that they showcased last night as well. Oh, and I partnered with Foot Locker. Yes, I partnered with Foot Locker. How would I

forget that? That was pretty cool. I partnered with Foot Locker. We had to go to Foot Locker to choose sneakers. He had to wear one of the sneakers to the event. I wore a two-piece set by a black designer. Her name is Megan Renee. Shout out to her as well. But they were kind of like my even though I wasn't with anyone from Foot Locker. But my sneakers were kind of like my date of the evening. So that was pretty cool as well. So you guys can go and check out, you know, all the social media footage. We did a lot of behind the scene footage leading up to the fashion show. And I did a full recap of the fashion show visually over on my YouTube as a well um which doesn't include any of the stuff that you guys just heard here for the most part so

this is the audio exclusive but if you want to go and check out you know my outfit and just some of the fun you can head on over to my socials lauren the rosa l-o-r-e-n-l-o-r-o-o-sa to do so as well at the end of the day there is always a lot to talk about a lot to do and you guys can be anywhere with anybody but you choose to be right here with me every episode and i appreciate you guys for I will see you guys in my next episode. Now, it is still Fashion Week, so I'm going to take y'all outside a little bit more. A few more times this week, but we'll get our traditional episodes in this week as well, too. But let me know how you're feeling.

Are you guys in New York for Fashion Week? Where are you attending? Where are you going to go in? All right, y'all, so I'm going to take y'all outside in the streets. We leave in the tweets. We're heading outside in the streets. It's the latest with Lauren the Rosa. It's New York Fashion Week.

Short on time, but big on true crime. On a recent episode of the podcast, Hunting for Answers, I highlighted the story of 19-year-old Lechay Dungey. But she never knocked on that door. She never made it inside. And that text message would be the last time anyone would ever hear from her. Listen to Hunting for Answers from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

When your car is making a strange novel, No matter what it is, you can't just pretend it's not happening. That's an interesting sound. It's like your mental health. If you're struggling and feeling overwhelmed, it's important to do something about it. It can be as simple as talking to someone or just taking a deep, calming breath to ground yourself. Because once you start to address the problem, you can go so much further. The Huntsman Mental Health Institute and the Ad Council have resources available for you at loveyourmind today.org.

Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Right? On a recent episode of Culture Raises Us, I was joined by Valicia Butterfield, media founder, political strategist, and tech powerhouse for a powerful conversation on storytelling, impact, and the intersections

of culture and leadership. I am a free black woman. From the Obama White House to Google to the Grammys, Valicia's journey is a masterclass in shifting culture and using your voice to spark change. Listen to Culture Raises us

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Kurt Brown-Oller. And I am Scotty Landis, and we host Bananas, the podcast where we share the weirdest, funniest, real news stories from all around the world. And sometimes from our guest personal lives, too. Like when Whitney Cummings recently revealed

her origin story on the show. There's no way I don't already have rabies. This is probably just why my personality is like this. I've been surviving rabies for the past 20 years. New episodes of bananas drop every Tuesday in the exactly right network. Listen to bananas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your. podcasts this is an iHeart podcast