EMERGE! Fashion Show Celebrates 15 Years with Chaka Khan, Eva Marcille and Karl Kani

The anniversary runway and awards show closed New York Fashion Week with honors for Chaka Khan, Eva Marcille and Danessa Myricks, plus a surprise performance from October London.

Photos by Phelan Marc and Joy Malone/Getty Images

EMERGE! Fashion Show closed out New York Fashion Week on Tuesday, September 15, marking fifteen years as one of the season’s most anticipated runway and awards shows. Held at Léman Ballroom in New York City, the anniversary celebration brought together fashion, music and culture for a night built around legacy, with music icon Chaka Khan, actress and television personality Eva Marcille and beauty entrepreneur Danessa Myricks all taking center stage as honorees. The evening was hosted by Nick Arrington and Raval Davis, with Claire Sulmers serving as red carpet host.

Eva Marcille received the Style Award, adding to a night that celebrated women who have shaped culture well beyond the runway. Marcille first stepped into the spotlight as the winner of America’s Next Top Model season three, and she has spent the years since building a career that reaches far past modeling. She has become a familiar face on The Real Housewives of Atlanta, taken on acting and hosting roles across television, and grown her own beauty line alongside a production company, turning her early visibility into a lasting business portfolio. Her Style Award recognized both that range and the influence her personal style has carried across fashion and entertainment alike.

Chaka Khan commanded the catwalk following her recognition as EMERGE!’s 2026 Fashion Innovator, an honor that reflected her decades-long influence on music, fashion and Black culture at large. Khan’s career spans more than five decades, from her early years fronting the funk band Rufus to a solo career that produced hits like “I’m Every Woman” and “Ain’t Nobody,” and her presence on the runway carried the weight of an artist whose personal style has long been as influential as her music. Danessa Myricks, founder of her own beauty line and a respected name across the makeup industry, accepted the Business of Beauty Award for her contributions to entrepreneurship in beauty, having built a brand known for its inclusive shade ranges and innovation in cosmetics formulation.

Hip hop streetwear pioneer Karl Kani returned to the EMERGE! runway for the first time in nearly a decade, debuting his newest collection to an energized crowd. Kani’s presence carried particular weight for a show built around the intersection of fashion and culture, given the role his label played in shaping streetwear’s relationship to hip hop starting in the 1990s, with artists and industry figures crediting his designs for helping define an entire era of style. His return marked one of the evening’s most talked-about fashion moments and drew some of the loudest reactions of the night.

Grammy-nominated R&B singer October London delivered the night’s biggest surprise, leaving his front-row seat to take the stage and perform his hit song “Back to Your Place.” The performance followed the debut presentation of the Saint London x FEDÚ Collection, a luxury tailoring line October London created in partnership with designer Ilbert J. Sanchez, founder of FEDÚ. The collection is built around rich fabrics and tailored silhouettes designed around confidence and personal expression, and its runway debut marked its formal introduction to New York Fashion Week audiences, expanding October London’s work beyond music and into fashion under his growing New London Projects umbrella.

The evening also spotlighted the next generation of design talent, staying true to EMERGE!’s fifteen year legacy of creating visibility and opportunity for emerging designers. Matthew J. Williams, LOU AYMÉ and Makarassi Couture each presented collections that reflected the show’s continued commitment to discovering new voices in fashion. EMERGE! has built its reputation over the past decade and a half as a launching pad for designers who might not otherwise have access to a New York Fashion Week stage, and this year’s lineup continued that mission, pairing established honorees with the designers who represent where the industry is headed next.

The celebration closed with a Disaronno toast honoring both the night’s award recipients and its emerging designers, presented by EMERGE! founder Dionne Williams. Williams built EMERGE! into a fixture of New York Fashion Week, growing the show from its earliest years into a platform recognized for blending high-profile honorees with new design talent on the same runway. Her toast closed a night that reflected fifteen years of that same balance, and set the tone for what EMERGE! plans to continue building in the seasons ahead.

Photos from the red carpet were captured by Joy Malone for Getty Images, while runway and honoree photography came courtesy of Phelan Marc, offering a full visual record of a night that closed New York Fashion Week in style.

About EMERGE!

EMERGE! is the runway show and awards platform that has closed out New York Fashion Week for fifteen years, built around a mission of discovering and showcasing emerging designers from across the country and around the world. Created and produced by Dionne Williams, president of D. Williams Public Relations Group, EMERGE! has grown from an invite-only showcase into one of the most anticipated events on the New York Fashion Week calendar, known for pairing high profile honorees with the next generation of design talent on a single stage.

Each season, EMERGE! brings together fashion, music and culture, giving new designers a platform they might not otherwise reach while recognizing established figures who have shaped the industry through style, business and cultural influence. Past seasons have honored a wide range of designers and cultural figures, and this year’s fifteenth anniversary continued that tradition with honors for Chaka Khan, Eva Marcille and Danessa Myricks alongside runway presentations from emerging names including Matthew J. Williams, LOU AYMÉ and Makarassi Couture.

As EMERGE! moves into its next fifteen years, the platform remains focused on the same mission that built it: creating visibility and opportunity for designers on the rise, while celebrating the honorees whose influence continues to shape fashion and culture at large.