Olivia Baba and Connor Seger, both seniors pursuing bachelor’s degrees in fashion design from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, will receive awards as part of the 2023 Fashion Scholarship Fund competition.
Founded in 1937, the Fashion Scholarship Fund is the foremost fashion-oriented education and workforce development nonprofit in the United States. The fund awards more than $1 million in scholarships annually and provides emerging designers with intensive mentorship as well as industry networking, internship and career opportunities, professional development, and direct access to top companies and influential leaders in fashion and related business sectors.
Baba and Seger were among 127 award recipients for the 2023 competition, selected from a total of 513 case study submissions. Baba’s proposal, titled “Bare X Skims,” explores the potential of using naturally colored cotton and knit-and-wear technology to produce sustainable, nontoxic undergarments for the Skims label. Seger’s “Wearable Digital Archive” would reintroduce historic Yves Saint Laurent garments as wearable non-fungible tokens.
Seger will receive a scholarship of $7,500. Baba, who was named one of the fund’s Top Four Finalists for 2023, will receive $15,000 and will have the opportunity to present her work to a panel of industry leaders during the FSF Final Four pitch event, to be held virtually beginning at 6 p.m. March 15. One of the four finalists then will receive the $25,000 FSF Chairman’s Award during the FSF Live Gala April 3 in New York.
