Simmons’s brand new $1 million scholarship fund, which aims to underwrite scholarships at the Fashion Institute of Technology across all disciplines, but will also fund students at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) and RushTeens (a segment of an art-focused philanthropic initiative founded by her ex-husband, Russell Simmons), empowering young talent through education and enabling them with opportunities that even she, scooped off the playground for decidedly more fabulous ends, didn’t have, including an internship program with KLS Collection, her soon-to-be-launched New York brand.
“This is like wish fulfillment on my end, to tap into that formal education,” Simmons says, “I never had someone put money into my career or my business—it’s very tough out there, and it will never get any easier!” The designer hopes that the fund will embolden industry leaders to ask how to give back to encourage the next generation.
“For me, there’s so many young people who I feel like don’t have a voice,” she says. “I hope these scholarships will give access to that untapped talent, to tell the next Jason Wu Alexander Wang or Narciso Rodriguez that we believe in them.” And what could be more fabulous than that?
Vogue.com
Well this is nice to see that she is plugging back monies into the next generation of fashion.
