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Usher Offers Empowering Message In Virgil Abloh’s Honor At Harlem Fashion Row’s Style Awards

September 10, 2025

The 18th annual Harlem Fashion Row Fashion Show & Style Awards was among the NYFW kickoff on Tuesday (Sept. 9).

This year’s theme was “This Is The Table,” described as a “celebration of unapologetic elegance and designers shaping the future of fashion.” Among the honorees were Nikki Ogunnaike (Editor-in-Chief of Marie Claire), Christiane Pendarvis (Co-CEO of PATTERN Beauty) and costume designer Ruth E. Carter who received the Ann Lowe Maverick Award— named after the unsung and previously uncredited Black designer of Jackie Kennedy’s wedding dress. Celebrity stylist Jason Bolden was named Stylist of the Year and Usher was honored with the Virgil Abloh Award.

The crooner thanked a slew of close family members who guided him through life and helped shape the man he is today. “All of these people were significant parts of my ambition,” he shared. “They taught me to dream and run wild and use my imagination in fashion.” He also praised God for affording him the opportunity to do what he does. “I recognize Him more than anything for saving me in my hardest moments,” said the 45-year-old.

He acknowledged that his resurgence of sorts can be credited to his Las Vegas residency and cherry-aided serenades, but also mentioned that these moments took time to create, especially during a period when he felt tapped out creatively.

Usher mentioned Abloh’s notorious three-percent rule. It’s his idea that “you really only need to change something by 3% in order to create something new.” Usher used it as a foundation to reinvent old ideas of his own and transforming them into something new and refreshed. He also added his mantra of always looking up to this newfound philosophy. “You’ve seen me do a lot of things and I wanna introduce something that was passion-based, so I’m happy that I was able to do that and be recognized [for that],” he said.

The father of four then gave his flowers to all those who contribute to fashion and their respective industries and thanked his mother, Jonnetta Patton, for her incomparable support. “I was really searching for identity. My dad gave [me his] name, but he didn’t show me what to do with it. So I had to define it in the way that I thought would make it matter,” Usher noted.

Before concluding, he urged everyone to do everything for their 17-year-old self. For Usher, he shared, “That 17-year-old version of myself is the same thing that encourages me to this day, to make me fearless.”

Check out his full speech below and more highlights from this year’s Harlem Fashion Row Fashion Show & Style Awards.

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