Tamron Hall, Keke Palmer step out at NYFW for Sergio Hudson, designer talks Usha Vance dress

NEW YORK − Black excellence is in the building.

For his New York Fashion Week runway show on Friday, Sergio Hudson brought out the best for his front row, including Keke Palmer, who's become somewhat of a Hudson muse and has been making the rounds all fashion week.

Muni Long and Tamron Hall also sat front row at the show, with all three looking like tall glasses of milk in various shades of white.

Palmer stunned in a creamy floor-length coat with large lapels, pairing it with a caramel turtleneck, cream trousers and large tan belt; Hall was cinched at the waist with a white double-breasted coat with satin lapels; and Long leaned into suiting with a white hourglass tuxedo jacket with a dark blue pocket square and a white button-down shirt and pants, topped with a white bow tie and glasses.

Hall embraced former model and activist Bethann Hardison as she made her way into the show. Palmer and Hall also sat front row at Christopher John Rogers' show the previous evening, making it a priority to support Black designers during Fashion Week.

Former "Real Housewives of Atlanta" star Kandi Burruss also shone in a gold dress and a dark blazer. Her 22-year-old daughter Riley Burruss, who came of age on the Bravo reality show and is speculated to be starring in a new reality show with some of the kids of the Bravo-verse, joined her for the evening in a long-sleeved red gown that skimmed the floor, cinched at the waist with a belt.

Backstage before the show, Hudson told USA TODAY his collection is "the antithesis" of his previous spring/summer 2025 offering, which was a 180 for the designer with pastel tones and soft femininity woven through. For fall/winter 2025, Hudson put together pieces that are "very dark, very moody, very much, 'It's cold outside, and I want to give you the best that I got anyway.' So you know, I'm putting on the clothes, but they're going to be snatched."

The luxury of "putting on a bunch of clothes for really no reason" is at the heart of Hudson's vision for the upcoming season, and the styling of the runway show highlighted the art of really getting dressed. The designer says he embraced "a lot of texture, a lot of leather, a lot of hand-embroidered pieces. (And) nothing is going to be by itself. So if we're doing an embroidered top, we're doing a turtleneck under it."

And though Hudson says the collection was "dark in the beginning," leave it to the designer known for his bold color palette to have a "little color pop (start) sneaking in there."

"It's a little electric blue skirt or suede coat or a bright chartreuse coat, and a red section," he says, naming some of the collection's true highlights. A red dress made for a 2025 Jessica Rabbit came down the runway on frequent Hudson collaborator and supermodel Veronica Webb, while supermodel Chanel Iman showed off a black fur, black leather gloves and an all-black ensemble paired with a black oversized belt. Oversized feathery furs made way for suiting moments and monochromatic ensembles in burgundy, magenta and red.

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JD Vance's wife Usha Vance's inaugural weekend outfit was Sergio Hudson

Hudson has dressed many a powerful woman, from Michelle Obama to Beyoncé, but it was another woman in politics that made headlines around the designer in January.

Usha Vance, second lady and wife of Vice President JD Vance, wore a Sergio Hudson coat and dress alongside first lady Melania Trump to attend a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Ceremony the day before President Donald Trump's inauguration.

"I had nothing to do with that!" Hudson says, laughing.

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Though designers will lend out or make custom creations for high-profile clients, Vance bought the pieces she wore instead of working directly with the designer.

Hudson's reaction to the fashion nod? "Thank you for purchasing a piece, I had no clue. You know, it's a free country, and I appreciate the business."

He previously dressed Obama for the 2021 inauguration in a striking plum look, complete with a floor-length coat, a turtleneck sweater with matching trousers and a large plum belt with a gold buckle.

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Sergio Hudson at the Met Gala? It's happening

Speaking of his top-notch tailoring and stellar suits, the upcoming Met Gala, with its focus on Black menswear and the Black dandy, will be Hudson's playground ("I mean, it's me," he says). But he's mum on the details of what's to come.

"We'll be there!" he says with a laugh. The designer made waves on the 2023 Met Gala red carpet with Palmer, who donned a strapless cream and pastel tweed dress for the Karl Lagerfeld-inspired gala, and La La Anthony, who hosted the red carpet show for Vogue in a body-hugging, white one-shoulder custom gown.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sergio Hudson on NYFW, Met Gala, JD Vance's wife Usha's dress