It was a moment to remember at Monday’s CFDA Fashion Awards: Christian Siriano and Ashley Graham stood on stage and announced the recipients of this year’s CFDA Scholarships, and this next generation of fashion designers stepped out and stood in front of American fashion’s best designers and executives.
The 2019 CFDA Scholarship Award went to Yimei Hu from the Rhode Island School of Design. Hu is a jeweler and designer interested in creating pieces that are visually quiet and conceptually loud. She often draws inspiration from works associated with Dadaism, Minimalism and Conceptual Art, as well as Kenya Hara’s philosophy of emptiness.
Jacques Agbobly from Parsons School of Design also received a CFDA Scholarship Award. Agbobly was born and raised in Togo, West Africa, and immigrated to the U.S. with his family in 2007 where he resided in Chicago. His inspirations come from his migration from Africa to Chicago and the strong women in his family. His collection, “An Ode To,” offers the wearer the “black experience.”
This year’s Liz Claiborne Design Scholarship Award went to Isabel Holden of Marist College. Holden collaborated with her school’s chemistry department, Goodwill, and FABSCRAP to create a new system that she hopes will change the world of denim. View Holden using denim scraps to close the loop here!
The Geoffrey Beene Scholarship Award went to Parsons School of Design’s Samantha Diorio. Inspired by German philosopher and critic Walter Benjamin, photographer Harry Gruyaert, and the space between the body and the garment, Diorio’s collection is a “celebration for being human.”
As recipients of these merit-based honors, the CFDA awarded $100,000 in scholarships to help defray the cost of tuition and all of the winners will attend the 2019 CFDA Awards.
There were also three Suntchi honorable mentions to whom the CFDA awarded $9,000 in scholarships:
Aaron Mak (Parsons School of Design), who focuses on womenswear, accessories, and footwear and interns for CFDA member Thom Browne; Sarah Lim (Parsons School of Design), whose practice is about materiality and rethinking shapes and forms, and Alice Michell (Academy of Art University), whose “Shapes Take Form”-titled collection was inspired by Issey Miyake. Michell also received a $1,000 Donald Drawbertson Illustration Award.
Congratulations to all of the 2019 scholarship winners, Suntchi honorable mentions, the Donald Drawbertson Illustration Award winner, and all of the finalists:
2019 Scholarship Award Finalists
2019 Liz Claiborne Design Scholarship Award Finalists
2019 Geoffrey Beene Design Scholarship Award Finalists
