It was the choir that got us. The fashion show during the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund in November opened with a soulful choir dressed in Kerby Jean-Raymond’s Pyer Moss and led by Dario Calmese. The group of singers made their way down from the venue’s upper gallery, then belted out a powerful version of the 4 Non Blondes’ What’s Up – to thundering applause.

The performance was delivered with emotion – not unlike Jean-Raymond and his designs, especially the collection he showed in September. He held it in Brooklyn’s Weeksville, one of America’s first free black communities, and aimed to humanize the black American love story replete with a gospel choir’ performance of Stevie Wonder’s Heaven is 10 Zillion Light Years Away.

Jean-Raymond was crowned this year’s winner of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund—which he more than deserved.