The Fashion Scholarship Fund’s 88th Annual Awards Celebration drew a big fashion crowd Monday night honoring Jerry Lorenzo, founder and creative director of Fear of God; Sara and Erin Foster, cofounders Favorite Daughter, and Tony Spring, chairman and chief executive officer of Macy’s Inc.
Held at the Glasshouse in New York City, the gala celebrated the Class of 2025 FSF Scholars and Virgil Abloh “Post-Modern” Scholars, a group of 160 college students who have demonstrated their ability to disrupt and transform the fashion industry as creatives or as marketing and business professionals.
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The event was hosted by Christian Siriano and his longtime friend and muse, the model, entrepreneur and advocate, Coco Rocha.
Among those who attended were Shannon Abloh, Anna Wintour, Jordyn Woods, Wes Gordon, KidSuper’s Colm Dillane, Daniella Kallmeyer, Kenneth Cole, Jonathan Cohen, Jackson Wiederhoeft, Bibhu Mohapatra, Maxwell Osbourne, Dao-Yi Chow, Kim Shui, Beckett Fogg, Michelle Ochs, Lew Roach, Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, Michaela Erlanger, Jordan Foster, Bruce Pask, Emily Essner, Abbey Doneger, Paul Rosengard, Paolo Riva, Steven Kolb, Fern Mallis and Kristin Maa.
The FSF awarded more than $1.9 million in scholarships to 160 FSF Scholars, including the newest class of 60 Virgil Abloh “Post-Modern” Scholarship Fund Scholars (up from 30 last year), who attend a network of 75 colleges and universities across the country, all of whom were in attendance and had their work showcased at the event.
Last month, the four highest-scoring Scholar Finalists competed for the FSF’s $25,000 Chairman’s Award by presenting their in-depth case studies centered on the intersection between fashion and technology to a panel of judges representing all sectors of the industry. Each scholar finalist presented their case study topic, personal statement about their background, inspiration and intention for their future career in the industry. The four finalists were Chloe Allen (Virginia Commonwealth University), Fatmata Camara, (LIM College), Ryan Cheung (University of California, Berkeley), and Flora Medina (SCAD, Savannah Campus), who each gave a presentation at the event about their background, inspiration and intention for their future career in the industry.
The winner of the $25,000 Chairman’s Award is Camara, who was presented the award by John Tighe, FSF board president and five-time NBA all-Star and New York Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns.
In Camara’s case study, she proposed a “Smart React” initiative that “leverages AI-driven bio-sensitive technology and a Progressive Web Application to revolutionize skin care personalization. By integrating real-time feedback through color-changing indicators, users can monitor hydration, oil production and pH balance, receiving personalized skin care recommendations tailored to their unique skin conditions.”
In accepting her award, Camara said, “Thank you to my college LIM for always pushing me. Thank you to Macy’s for taking a chance on me and lastly, thank you to my mom for always pushing me and telling me I can do anything.”
Camara, who is completing her online degree at LIM College, and works as an assistant buyer of outdoor active at Macy’s, told WWD that she plans to use the money to pay off her college loans. “It’s not very interesting,” she joked. As for her career goals, she said she hopes to develop her skills as a merchant and continue to branch into strategy for a global company. “That is ultimately what would make me really happy and excited. But I’m open to the intersection of technology, so I think my dream job might not exist yet, and I’m fine with that,” said Camara, whose background includes jobs at Target, H&M, Garage and an internship at Tiffany.
Towns, a partner to the FSF, established an annual named scholarship program this year that begins with two recipients from the 2025 FSF Class of Scholars who have demonstrated an interest in the intersection of fashion and sports.
The two winners were Aaron Williams, a student at Lehigh University, and Paris Cooke-Brown, a student at Brown University, who will each receive $10,000.
Discussing the award, Towns told WWD that that he loves the art of fashion. “I don’t just look at it as a piece of clothing. I’m here to serve others and to be able to give back to the next generation of art innovators and fashion innovators.” He said creating these scholarships was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.
Asked whether his pre-and post-game style reflects his personality, Towns said, “For sure, I think it does. I’m just always expressing myself and being who I am. So I think with my pregame fits, I’ve been fortunate enough that people have taken notice and really respect my fashion sense.” He said some days he wants to dress casually and comfortable, “and some days I may want to feel it’s my runway. So after the game, I get a chance to show myself in colorful graphic shirts and pajamas and stuff like that.”
Towns said he’s always loved fashion but didn’t have the resources. “So I wanted to be able, when I had the chance now, to show my fashion sense, to be able to have those pieces that really can show who I am. I want to be able to give the next generation that, and give them the opportunity to dress the next superstar,” said the Knicks center.
In accepting his award, Fear of God’s Lorenzo said, “To all the dreamers here tonight, know that you are respected and valued. Your stories are necessary. Know that it is simply your job to have a mission, and most importantly, your responsibility to have character. Hold onto your faith, and hold onto your vision, as that is truly all you have, all you need, and it is more than enough.”
During the event, Lorenzo said he was heading to Paris and was looking potentially to make a move there. He has headquarters in Milan and Los Angeles. He said he’s finishing designing a collection that he’s showing in Paris in June and finalizing some looks for the Met Gala. “We got a lot of work ahead,” he said. Lorenzo said he has two physical stores in South Korea, but hasn’t opened a flagship yet in the U.S. He’s looking for that right now, and it will probably be in L.A.
Erin and Sara Foster both gave the students advice upon accepting their award, with the message that it’s important to pursue your own story and not someone else’s.
“Success is a combination of so many things you do have control over,” said Erin Foster. “It is deciding that regardless of anyone who doesn’t quote ‘get your sense of humor,’ or your ‘sense of fashion,’ it is yours and it is special and it’s OK that they don’t get it. It’s not theirs, it’s yours. Stay true to it.” She said that she and her sister made a decision years ago to start saying “yes” to things.
“We started Favorite Daughter to create the clothes that we wanted. Not the clothes people told us we should make…authentically and unapologetically us.…We immerse ourselves in every part of it because if we are going to do something we commit to it fully,” said Erin Foster.
Sara Foster said, “It is so easy to think you want someone else’s journey, or they have an instinct that you’re lacking, but I’m telling you they don’t. You have it. You, the one who is sitting there thinking we mean everyone here except you. You have everything you need, if you are willing to trust yourself, learn from other people, be enjoyable to work with, and take responsibility when you make a mistake.”
Macy’s Spring was presented his award by Iman El Khatib, vice president, divisional merchandise manager of kids’ apparel at Macy Inc. and a 2008 FSF Scholar.
“For more than 20 years, our partnership with the Fashion Scholarship Fund has given us a front-row seat. We’ve seen firsthand how it cultivates rising talent, provides students with the opportunities to tackle real-world retail challenges and contributes new ideas. Today, as the company’s CEO, I serve as the steward of our iconic brands pushing us into the future — and yet I’m humbled when I look back about how, for more than a century, many retail careers were launched at Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s. Many of our alumni today are thriving entrepreneurs of their own businesses — or in fact, work for many for the brands represented in the room tonight. And yes, even with our competitors,” said Spring.
