Virgil Abloh Announces $1 Million USD Scholarship Fund for Black Creatives
Funded by Abloh himself alongside Louis Vuitton, Evian, New Guards Group and Farfetch.
Off-White™ and Louis Vuitton designer Virgil Abloh has announced the launch of a $1 million USD scholarship fund for Black creatives in America. The Virgil Abloh “Post-Modern” Scholarship Fund has been funded by Abloh himself, as well as a number of his creative partners, and will provide financial help “for students of academic promise of Black, African-American, or of African descent.”
As well as Abloh, funding has come from Louis Vuitton, Evian, New Guards Group (the company behind Off-White™) and Farfetch (which owns New Guard Group). The fund will operate alongside the long-established Fashion Scholarship Fund.
Announcing the fund to Vogue, Aboh predicted that “we’ll put 100 kids, Black kids, through a wide spectrum of educational institutions. A benefit of this uprising is that we are paying attention to systemic problems…we can’t move on. It’s time for us not to make this industry about fashion, but about people, and I’ve been pouring that into my own work. I’m looking at this as a call to action for me to take on more challenges that don’t only end up on the runway, but that end up changing people’s lives.”
Virgil Abloh also recently announced that Louis Vuitton will move away from traditional seasonal shows.
