The Fashion Scholarship Fund will host its 89th annual gala honoring four industry leaders for their commitment to support the next generation of fashion talent on March 23 at The Glasshouse in New York.
The 2026 honorees are Law Roach, image architect; Ciara, multiplatinum Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and dancer; Russell Wilson, Super Bowl Champion quarterback, and Stefan Larsson, chief executive officer of PVH Corp.
FSF is the foremost fashion-oriented education and workforce development nonprofit organization in the U.S.
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Roach is committed to mentorship, expanding access and breaking down barriers within the industry. Ciara and Wilson are entrepreneurs, philanthropists and cofounders of the Why Not You Foundation. Larsson is a longstanding partner to the FSF, and has overseen PVH’s investment in emerging fashion talent through the annual PVH Foundation x FSF Community College Scholarship and PVH Forward Fashion x FSF Scholarship programs, which support the FSF’s mission to expand educational access and strengthen pathways into the industry.
Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, fashion editor, stylist and former FSF Scholar, will host the evening.
The gala will award more than $1.9 million in scholarships to the Class of 2026 FSF Scholars and Virgil Abloh Post-Modern Scholars. These are 160 college students who have demonstrated their ability to disrupt and transform the fashion industry as creative or marketing and business professionals. All 160 scholars, who attend colleges and universities throughout the U.S., will be in attendance and their work will be showcased at the event.
Peter Arnold, executive director of the Fashion Scholarship Fund, said, “As we celebrate our newest class of 160 FSF Scholars — including our Virgil Abloh ‘Post-Modern’ Scholars; with this year’s cohort, we’ve now awarded 220 students since we established the initiative with Virgil — we are proud to recognize this year’s gala honorees: Law Roach; Ciara and Russell Wilson, and Stefan Larsson, transformative leaders whose commitment to uplifting the next generation is so aligned with the core of our mission.
“We are also thrilled to welcome Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, a former FSF Scholar who continues to champion and inspire our community, as our esteemed host for the evening. The industry’s extraordinary support, enabling us to award more than $1.9 million in scholarships this year reflects the shared belief that investing in emerging creatives strengthens the future of fashion.”
The FSF works directly with 75 member schools across the country, including 14 historically Black colleges and universities and six Hispanic-serving institutions to identify the most talented students from diverse backgrounds through its annual case study competition. In addition, FSF’s Community Colleges Program, started in 2022, supports students from community colleges as an important pipeline of talent for the industry. Some 67 percent of the Class of 2026 FSF Scholars identify as Black, Indigenous or people of color, 19 percent of whom are first-generation college students and 42 percent are Pell Grant-eligible — underscoring the FSF’s commitment to advancing equity and expanding opportunities for students from historically underrepresented backgrounds.
On Monday night, the highest-scoring four scholar finalists will compete for the FSF’s $25,000 Chairman’s Award by presenting their case studies to a panel of judges who represent all sectors of the industry. This year’s theme centered on cross-industry collaborations.
This year’s judges are Roach; Shannon Abloh, chief executive officer and managing director, Virgil Abloh Securities; Ewa Abrams president, Kering Americas and Kering Foundation in the Americas; David Savman, global brand president, Calvin Klein, and Durand Guion, senior vice president, fashion office, Burlington Stores. The 2026 finalists represent each of the four disciplines in the annual case study competition: Business Strategy (Finalist: Rylee Funfsinn/SavannahCollege of Art and Design); Design and Product Development (Finalist: Justin Le/The University of Texas at Austin); Marketing (Finalist: Madison-Jade Bishop/Virgil Abloh Post-Modern Scholar, Drexel University), and Merchandising (Finalist: Kuan Jackson/Virgil Abloh Post-Modern Scholar, Clark Atlanta University).
At FSF Live, each scholar finalist will present a statement about their background, inspiration and intention for their future career in the industry, and the winner of the 2026 Chairman’s Award will be revealed as the final moment at the gala.
More information on how to support the FSF at the 2026 FSF Live Gala is available at fashionscholarshipfund.org.
