Tommy Hilfiger and Harlem’s Fashion Row got here together Wednesday night on the Metrograph in Lower Manhattan to have fun the second yr of the brand’s Latest Legacy Challenge, a design competition which is an element of Hilfiger’s People’s Place program created to supply support and access to underrepresented communities in fashion.

Hilfiger and actress Yara Shahidi, who served as a judge for the challenge, revealed designer Megan Smith as this yr’s winner, awarding her a $25,000 grant and the chance to create a capsule collection with Hilfiger’s design team. Smith was chosen out of three finalists, who also included Jameel Mohammed and Tavon Davis. 

“I used to be impressed by Megan’s exceptional vision and creativity,” Hilfiger said. “She stood out through her unique perspective applied to contemporary prep. Megan understands the way to create distinctive designs that appeal to the feminine consumer of today. It’s great to see how this challenge has helped her expand her creative genius towards menswear as well. Her designs have left their mark on the Latest Legacy Challenge, and I’m thrilled to see what Megan will bring to the long run of fashion.” 

For the competition, the three finalists were tasked with making a capsule collection that showed their interpretation of prep-wear, leveraging Tommy Hilfiger’s motifs, logo and color palette. The finalists’ pieces were shown in a brief documentary film before the winner was revealed by Shahidi. Shahidi also modeled each collection for the competition’s photo shoot.

“I’ve participated in lots of projects or attempts at what diversity in fashion looks like and I believe the photo shoot for me was a really exciting moment since it was very full circle and everybody behind the camera was diverse and representative,” Shahidi said. “It wasn’t nearly this competition and what we were presenting forward-facing, but truly the extent to which [the Hilfiger brand] considered diversity and who they were giving opportunities to, considering what talent has a lot to supply that wouldn’t naturally be on this fashion space.”

Smith participated in the primary Latest Legacy Challenge, and reapplied for this yr’s edition because she felt she had more to say as a designer.

“I put a variety of pressure on myself to start with because I definitely wanted to indicate how I’ve evolved as a designer,” she said. “From being within the competition, I just desired to make Tommy proud and make everyone else proud, so the second time around was a variety of weight, but I just had a lot fun creating those pieces.”