![Virgil Abloh](https://rca-media2.rca.ac.uk/images/Virgil_Abloh_8a0Q7gk.fa9c3ee4.fill-1440x530.jpg)
Key details
Date
- 20 August 2024
Author
- RCA
Read time
- 1 minute
The Royal College of Art and The Virgil Abloh Foundation announce the launch of this year's edition of the RCA Virgil Abloh Scholarship. A full scholarship, including maintenance support, is awarded to extraordinarily talented but financially restricted Black British students from programmes in the School of Design.
Key details
Date
- 20 August 2024
Author
- RCA
Read time
- 1 minute
Virgil Abloh, who passed away in 2021, was an American fashion designer, artist, architect, engineer, creative director, DJ and entrepreneur. He was the artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear collection, the first African American to hold this position. He is also the Founder of Milan-based fashion house Off-White, and Alaska Alaska, his London studio staffed by young, multi-disciplinary creators, handpicked by Virgil himself.
Having joined as an Honorary Visiting Professor in 2020, Virgil held a close relationship with the RCA. He embodied the RCA’s spirit of collaboration and ingenuity, and hoped to enable students from across the College to benefit from his wealth of experience as a leading figure in international fashion and design. In the short time he was associated with the College, he made a significant impact on the RCA community. This scholarship aims to recognise Virgil’s support for education, his career-long ethos of using his practice to create social change and his position as a renowned champion for equality of opportunity across the creative industries.
The prestigious annual scholarship applies to all areas of the RCA School of Design postgraduate study including Fashion, Textiles, Design Products, Service Design and Intelligent Mobility among other innovative courses.
Last year’s Virgil Abloh Scholarship was awarded to Oghenerume Egbeniyoko, who continues to be supported by the initiative as he enters his second year of study on the RCA’s MA/MSc Innovation Design Engineering programme. The RCA and Virgil Abloh Foundation are proud to announce that MA Textiles student Tyreis Holder has been awarded the scholarship for 2024, beginning from the next academic year.
The Virgil Abloh Scholarship has been established with the support of Shannon Abloh, the late designer's wife, and is supported by The Virgil Abloh Foundation.