Fashion Scholarship Awards Bring a Supermodel to Dallas: Welcome to the Future of Fashion

Calling all fashion professionals in training! The annual FGI Dallas Scholarship Competition Awards are on April 20, and this year, the non-profit organization is giving out more than $60,000 in fashion and merchandising scholarships to students from across North Texas. The event includes a “Project Runway style fashion show of the top entries, a panel presentation on “The Future of Fashion,” and a keynote speech from international supermodel Erin Wasson.

Students from regional fashion schools, colleges and universities have submitted entries in five design categories (Little Black Dress; Women’s Sportswear; Bridal, Evening wear and cocktail; Menswear, Accessories) and two merchandising categories (Store Planning and Fashion Portfolio).

Awards are given in each apparel and merchandising categories, as well as overall excellence awards, such as the $10,000 Fashion Excellence Award, tuition to the Paris American Academy, a professional sewing machine, and a $2,500 Director’s Choice Award.

A panel of judges including Abi Ferrin, Heidi Dillon, Jeanette Chivvis and others will also present a Celebrity Judge’s Choice Award on-site after the fashion show.

In addition to the scholarship awards, the event offers another valuable asset to students: Advice from industry experts. “The Future of Fashion” panel discussion, moderated by Oh So Cynthia blogger, Cynthia Smoot, with FGI Dallas member panelists Leah Frazier, Holly Quartaro and Alex Small, will give valuable insights into the business of fashion.

“We want to give them good advice about their futures, about their careers, educate them on how well-rounded they need to be,” says 2018 event chair Rhonda Sargent Chambers. “It’s about branding yourself, it’s about knowing textiles, it’s about everything you could possibly imagine.”

The group of panelists represent different facets of the fashion industry, from design to retail.

“As industry leaders we want to share our knowledge and our information — we also want to tell them what we could’ve done better, what we wish we could’ve done, what could we have changed,” Sargent Chambers says.

Headliner Erin Wasson will also share her journey from being the first Kim Dawson Model Search winner to becoming one of the world’s most sought-after models, gracing the cover of Vogue and Esquire.

The FGI Dallas Scholarship Competition Awards will take place on April 20 from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Grand Pavilion of the Trade Mart of Dallas Market Center. Find more information on the event’s website.