At a press conference held at the College last Friday alongside Fabio Piras, Course Leader MA Fashion, Donatella Versace announced the launch of the Gianni Versace Scholarship – a one-off award for a student starting on the MA Fashion course this term.
Speaking at the conference, Donatella said the scholarship was a tribute to her brother Gianni, who founded the Italian fashion house in 1978.
Central Saint Martins educates and trains some of the best talent in the world of fashion. Many of their alumni have come to work with me over the years. I’ve always been a great advocate of supporting and listening to young talent and it is with great pleasure that we are funding a yearly scholarship at the college as a tribute to my brother Gianni. He was a visionary designer and in his memory we wanted to help nurture the creators of tomorrow. ”
Donatella Versace
The announcement continues the designer’s established relationship with the College – she is a founding member of the Central Saint Martins 20:20 Fashion Fund, and is a longstanding champion of Central Saint Martins’ graduate designers, most notably Christopher Kane, who she hired in the early stages of his career. On Sunday she debuted the SS18 collection for Versus Versace, in the Crossing at Central Saint Martins. The show was billed as “a celebration of the essence of Versus in 90s New York”, and included a giant black and white Post-it mural and a wall of speaker stacks.
“I am honoured and delighted by the donation Donatella Versace has made to the course by supporting a student with the Versace Scholarship. This generous gesture is made particularly meaningful as it commemorates her brother and house founder, Gianni Versace. It is very gratifying that the education of designers is recognised as important to the future of this industry.”
Fabio Piras
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