The CFDA and Versace are pleased to announce a new program focusing on LGBTQ+ youth and education. The initiative launches with a Master Class event at the Los Angeles LGBT Center on March 6th featuring Donatella Versace in a fireside chat with the Center’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Phillip Picardi. The CFDA will organize a delegation of students to meet with select LA CFDA Members and designers and discuss careers in the fashion industry. With a shared commitment to education and long-standing support for the LGBTQ+ community, CFDA and Versace are also partnering on a new scholarship for LGBTQ+ fashion design students, to launch later this year.

The CFDA Scholarship program, founded in 1996, is committed to supporting American fashion designers of tomorrow who are building a more inclusive, just, and equitable future for people and planet, the CFDA Scholarship Fund has awarded approximately $3.3 million and 352 scholarships between 1996 and 2022.

“I have always believed in the power of young creatives.   At Versace we have had some of the most amazing young talent join us and we have learned so much from them.  I am thrilled that we can support a scholarship with the CFDA for an LGBTQ+ student and cannot wait to see their creative energy come to fruition with our encouragement,” said Donatella Versace.

“Fashion is an international industry and CFDA is extremely proud to partner with Versace and to work with Donatella Versace, whom we have a longstanding relationship with,” CFDA CEO Steven Kolb said. “CFDA and Versace have long supported the LGBTQ+ community, and we look forward to joining forces in this effort.”

The partnership comes as Versace unveils its Fall-Winter 2023 Women’s and Men’s collections in Los Angeles on March 10th.  Working with LA’s Otis College of Art and Design, CFDA has arranged for 10 students to attend the Versace runway show.

Stay tuned for more on the partnership.