110 fashion students to provide fuel & energy for future

21 Jan '10

3 min read

The YMA Fashion Scholarship Fund (FSF) raised over $1.4 million Wednesday, January 13th at the 2010 FSF Geoffrey Beene Fashion Scholarship Awards Dinner. One hundred and ten of the nation's top fashion students were awarded $670,000 in scholarships. The 110 students, comprised of the FSF Class of 2009 and 2010, were given $5,000 each. Eight of the premiere students from the FSF Class of 2009 walked away with $120,000 graciously provided by the Geoffrey Beene Gives Back Foundation.

Hosted by style expert and fashion personality, Mary Alice Stephenson, 110 fashion students from across the country were introduced before a sold out crowd at Cipriani Forty Second Street, New York City. These students made their grand entrance to Jay Z's "Empire State of Mind", much to the delight of 790+ leading executives in attendance from the fashion and beauty industries.

"It was the Superbowl of the fashion industry," proclaimed President of the FSF Ken Wyse. "So many of the key players were there from retail, wholesale, menswear, womenswear and children's wear, as well as the fragrance and cosmetics industries. Clearly, the energy and excitement was stimulated by an extraordinary group of 110 young scholars who will provide the fuel, energy and vision for the future. It was inspirational, elegant and most importantly made all of us feel good about the future of our industry."

Honored at this year's FSF Dinner Gala were three leaders of industry chosen for their commitment to education and positive impact and influence on the business of fashion, beauty retail, wholesale and design. The 2010 FSF Honorees included Margarita Arriagada, Senior Vice President of Merchandising at Sephora, Thomas A. Kingsbury, President & CEO of Burlington Coat Factory and Robert L. Mettler, former Chairman & CEO Macy's West. Mettler, a noted philanthropist, was the FSF's second ever Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient. Arriagada, Kingsbury and Mettler were each presented their honors by David Sultineau (President & CEO, Sephora USA), W. Paul Jones (CEO, Shopko), and Jeff Gennette (Chief Merchandising Officer, Macy's Inc.) respectively.

This year's FSF Geoffrey Beene National Scholarship Award winners included: Alexandra Dumas (Washington University in St. Louis), Ashly Juskus (Fashion Institute of Technology), Kasia Wisniewsky (Pratt Institute) and Lisa Cohen (University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School) each winning $25,000. The 4 remaining finalists including: Alana Abisdris (Syracuse University), Becca Murrow (Indiana University), Kiara Walker (Parsons the New School for Design) and Michael Lin (Otis College of Art and Design) each won an additional $5,000. All 8 finalists were featured in a Madwood Studios produced video presentation created with Flip Video UltraHD cameras.

Event highlights included: the highest recorded attendance rate for a charity event in Cipriani history, performances by Young Arts' Ernest Felton Baker II and Grace Weber and Cipriani Forty Second Street's first ever music video entertainment ensemble featuring artists like: Frank Sinatra, Diana Ross, George Michael, Barbara Streisand and The Jackson 5, created by Michael Flutie and Madwood Studios for dinner and dessert entertainment.

The 2010 FSF Geoffrey Beene Fashion Scholarship Awards Dinner was the second highest revenue-generating event in the FSF's seventy-three year history and was graciously underwritten by Geoffrey Beene Gives Back.

YMA Fashion Scholarship Fund (FSF)

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