Since its founding in 1996, the CFDA Scholarship Fund has supported emerging design talent through financial assistance, mentorship, and industry recognition. This year, out of 700 applicants from colleges throughout the U.S., 10 FIT students won from a total of 36 possible scholarships—more than any other college, and the most recipients FIT has seen since students began applying to the program.
We spoke with the 10 scholarship recipients to learn about their winning collections and the details of their career plans.
- Caroline Herrera Women in Design Scholarship: Anezka Rysava and Giang Luu
- Geoffrey Beene Design Scholar Award: Shuyi Yao
- Melvin and Monique Rodriguez Family Foundation: Jamie (Yoonseo) Han and Lee Lynshue
- Saint Laurent Scholarship: Kineri Shah
- Veronica Beard Creative Futures Scholarship: Chris Ortiz and Summer Kubota
- Bezos Earth Fund: The Next Thread Initiative Scholarship Award: Zion Burrell and Nell Sweeney
Carolina Herrera Women in Design Scholarship
The Carolina Herrera Women in Design Scholarship grants the next generation of female designers the financial support they need to thrive. Fashion Design BFA students Anezka Rysava and Giang Luu were both granted a $40,000 scholarship and also an internship this past summer at the brand’s headquarters in Manhattan.
Rooted in technical precision with a focus on sustainability, Rysava’s collection, The Birds, takes inspiration from the ancient Greek play to explore themes of transformation. Using hair and feathers as materials, Rysava captures movement and transcendence through exaggerated silhouettes and intricate details.
For Luu, clothing is situated at the intersection of personal expression and protective shield, translating feelings like tension, softness, and restraint into wearable garments. Luu aims to deliver enduring garments that build confidence and retain meaning through repeated wear.
Geoffrey Beene Design Scholar Award
Fashion Design MFA student Shuyi Yao received the $65,000 Geoffrey Beene Design Scholar Award, which identifies an innovative womenswear design student and encourages them to push the boundaries of form, material, and process. Yao’s collection is rooted in the concept of “technocraft,” a term she uses to describe the intersection of advanced technology and wearable craftsmanship.
After graduating, Yao plans to continue developing her brand, Ibid., in New York City.
Melvin and Monique Rodriguez Family Foundation
The Melvin and Monique Rodriguez Family Foundation prize—a three-year scholarship—awards students Jamie (Yoonseo) Han and Lee Lynshue for considering hair’s unique pattern and texture as a launching point for creative expression.
Han’s collection, Jeong,情 , explores the Korean concept of “jeong,” or deep emotional bonding over time, and draws from the historical significance of hair in relation to family and identity. Han, BFA ’27, plans to apply her scholarship to her tuition and senior collection, laying the foundation for a fashion career in New York City thereafter.
For Chinese-Jamaican designer Lynshue, BFA ’27, the idea of Roots is explored through the intersection of hair, culture, and nature and translated into textiles, surface treatments, and silhouettes. Lynshue will use the scholarship to fund his final thesis and to further refine his craft.
Saint Laurent Scholarship
The CFDA partnered with Saint Laurent to mark Creative Director Anthony Vaccarello’s 10-year anniversary with the house by creating a design challenge based on the 1967 film Belle du Jour. Kineri Shah was selected for the scholarship, which reinterprets a costume capsule for the film’s protagonist Séverine Serizy for 2026. The award also provides a Paris immersion, focusing on the house’s history and craft and assisting Shah with career development.
Shah’s winning capsule collection draws on the Saint Laurent archives to explore the ongoing tension between women’s self-expression and societal expectations. The Fashion Design MFA ’27 student aims to use her scholarship to lay the foundation for her own label dedicated to making thoughtful fashion design more accessible.
Veronica Beard Creative Futures Scholarship
The Veronica Beard Creative Futures Scholarship recognizes four undergraduate juniors enrolled in fashion design or textiles. Fashion Design BFA ’27 students Chris Ortiz, specializing in soft wovens, and Summer Kubota, specializing in tailoring, each received $50,000 and a paid summer internship at Veronica Beard headquarters in New York City.
Ortiz’s collection explores memory, adaptation, and endurance. Drawing on his Puerto Rican identity, Ortiz approached the body in his collection as “an archive of adaptation,” investigating the lingering effects of everyday stress and how people unconsciously adjust in order to keep moving forward.
Kubota’s winning collection was inspired by the design failures of the World War II–era B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft, which led to the field of ergonomics. Kubota translated ergonomic principles into garment design, with looks featuring custom hardware and details inspired by engineering advances.
Bezos Earth Fund: The Next Thread Initiative Scholarship Award
To help advance sustainable fashion, the CFDA partnered with the Bezos Earth Fund to launch The Next Thread initiative, a $6.25 million program helping emerging designers reimagine how clothes are produced and consumed. Fashion Design MFA ’27 students Zion Burrell and Nell Sweeney were selected from among 107 applicants and 20 shortlisted finalists, with Burrell receiving a $41,227 scholarship award and thesis stipend and Sweeney receiving $35,227 and a thesis stipend.
Sweeney explored the beauty of decay in her collection through natural weathering, soil composting, and rust dyeing to highlight sustainability and handcraft in design. Sweeney aims to use the scholarship to drive her thesis work and launch her into working for a fashion brand that prioritizes environmental care.
For Burrell, who takes inspiration from architecture, anime, and gaming, precision and sustainability are key when constructing garments. Utilizing raw Japanese selvedge denim, he developed a signature zero-waste technique called “planar flux,” which patterns an entire garment from a single square of fabric. Burrell also digitizes his workflows, from patternmaking to prototyping, before any physical sewing takes place.