The 2010 FSF Geoffrey Beene National Scholarship Awards took place last night at Cipriani Forty Second Street. During the evening there was a special red carpet and cocktail hour, dinner and awards ceremony. The Geoffrey Beene company underwrote the event in the amount of over $500,000 as well as helping to provide funding for over 110 fashion scholarship fund students.
It really was a huge event and many in the fashion & beauty industries enthusiatically showed their support for the cause. Tickets were $850 each, and table sponsorships went up to $100,000. The awards were hosted this year by contributing Harper’s Bazaar’s editor and freelance stylist Mary Alice Stephenson.
The YMA Fashion Scholarship Fund and The Geoffrey Beene Foundation have formed a five-year strategic alliance to further the mutual goal of expanding support for students seeking careers in the Fashion Industry. The Geoffrey Beene Foundation has donated approximately $2.25 million, out of in excess of $3 million, in total commitments to the Fund over the next five years.
Since the beginning of 2008, the Fashion Scholarship Fund has been granting four $25,000 “Geoffrey Beene National Scholarship Awards” to enterprising students majoring in fashion and related disciplines (design, merchandising, finance, marketing, retailing and liberal arts). These four $25,000 awards (four runner-ups receive $5000 each) are presented annually at the FSF Geoffrey Beene Scholarship Awards Dinner to the most outstanding students identified among the FSF’s 28 partnering colleges and universities across the U.S.
The 2010 $25,000 Geoffrey Beene Scholars:
ALEXANDRA DUMAS
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS
ASHLY JUSKUS
FASHION INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
KASIA WISNIEWSKI
PRATT INSTITUTE
LISA COHEN
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, WHARTON SCHOOL
$5,000 Finalists
ALANA ABISDRIS
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
BECCA MURROW
INDIANA UNIVERSITY
KIARA WALKER
PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN
MICHAEL LIN
OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN
Geoffrey Beene was such a generous designer, and it is great that his foundation is still giving back to the fashion community. I just saw a private collection of his on exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum, now that is generosity at it's best because he designed the collection just for Patsy Tarr.
It was a spectacular record-breaking event…. appropriately focused on the students. The YMA Fashion Scholarship Fund is taking proactive measures to facilitate the entry of talented students into the apparel industry. By providing scholarships, internships, and mentors to scores of deserving students across the nation, the YMA-FSF is investing in the future. And in today's turbulent economic times, education is the one investment that is sure to increase in value!