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00:00I'm Kayla Walker and I'm Sergio Hudson. We're here with Ebony at New York Fashion Week for
00:04this man's New York Fashion Week show. I love it because it's the Carolina kids in the big city.
00:10South Carolina, North Carolina, Carolina kids taking on the big city dreams. Gotta ask you,
00:15what is the story behind this season's collection?
00:19Well it started with the movie The Valley of the Dogs from the 60s and I've just kind of been,
00:25you know, honestly in a darker place this year. Yeah, just, you know, the woes of business.
00:31The woes of life.
00:32You know, this business is hard for an independent designer of color
00:36and I think this year it really took a toll on me. So I wanted to express myself through my art,
00:43which is fashion and that movie always brought me joy and the colors from it and the beauty of it.
00:50There's a particular Nancy Wilson song called The Good Life, which you'll hear
00:54today is my favorite Nancy Wilson song and it kind of always brings me up when I'm down. So
01:01it's one of the big inspirations behind the collection because we all aspire to live a
01:05good life and what is a good life and I feel like when you see these clothes you see the expression
01:10of that. I love that. So out of some darkness came light. Yeah. And something great. So with
01:16that I gotta ask you, how do you think this collection is going to resonate in the landscape
01:21of fashion right now and with your fan base, your audience? I mean, of course, you know,
01:25I'm a business person so I definitely thought about, okay, what does the Surgeon Hudson customer
01:31need now and what have I given to them already? What can I give them more? So you'll see a lot
01:36of looser silhouettes. A lot of, I actually cut one of the women's jackets from a men's jacket
01:44and there's actually going to be men's in the show this time. We're branched down into men's wear
01:49at request of so many people. So we'll see when you see this men's wear, you need to buy it. I
01:54love it. I love it. Yeah, so it's very, it's very feminine and androgynous at the same time
02:02because the colors are very feminine but then you'll see like there's actually a cashmere
02:07t-shirt that I made for men and women. It's the same shirt, kind of unisex. The jackets are kind
02:13of unisex. So we're giving range. We're taking it up a notch. Yeah. It's hitting next level.
02:18Definitely, definitely. Now I don't know if y'all know but Surgeon Hudson is an independent designer.
02:23You just talked about the roles of the business. Tell me, how challenging is it to pull off a
02:28runway show of this magnitude because this is one of the most anticipated shows during New
02:32York Fashion Week. Oh thank you, that means a lot. I would love to hear like what are some of the
02:35challenges that you face as a designer of color showing up in this industry and again building
02:41the brand that you've built. I think obviously it's money, you know, but the bigger part is support.
02:50Support from your community first. Support from outside community. Support from everyone to
02:58know that just because I am a man that's black doesn't mean I have to be categorized in that
03:05category. It's no, it's no category for other designers. It's just a category for black and
03:11other. Yes. So I just feel like that's kind of weird for us to have a black designer category and
03:15then everybody else. Yeah, like why do I have to be the black designer? Yeah and I mean I don't mind
03:20being black but it's not just for black people. Absolutely. You know what I mean? And also fashion
03:25is fashion. Yeah, that's the big difficult part about it being marginalized, being placed in a
03:33monolithic place which is so frustrating for me. We cannot wait to see the show. Is there anything
03:38else you want to add about this season New York Fashion Week? I think it's so much excitement
03:43around it because I think everybody counts New York Fashion Week out. Do they now? I do definitely
03:49think. I mean you have to look at. I don't want to get too real with this. No, we like it when you get
03:54real. I mean you look at the press behind it. Like even look at the celebrities that come to New York
03:58Fashion Week and how they run to Paris and Milan so quickly. I mean even casting is hard for New
04:04York Fashion Week. The top models don't want to do New York Fashion Week. They want to do one show
04:09which is probably going to be Ralph Lauren and then they fly to Milan or Paris because they want
04:14to be perceived as more important if they go overseas. A more high end. Yeah. Because it's Europe. Yeah so
04:20that's that's a battle but we're you know we're fighting through people like me, like Laquan,
04:26like Bravo. You know all of us are fighting through and we're like no we're New York designers and
04:31we're going to show here. I'm excited for this collection as is everyone. We can't wait to see
04:36what's in store. Kudos to you and all that you are doing and thank you for being one of us in
04:41this space. It makes a huge difference. They asked to see the boss and they sent a woman
04:44dressed in Sergio Hudson. I love it. Thank you so much. Thank you.