This year’s recognition marks 10 years of students in the UD Department of Fashion and Apparel Studies successfully competing for and winning FSF scholarships.
“We’ve had 57 students compete and win in total,” said Brenda Shaffer, the department’s associate chair and director of undergraduate studies. “Overall, UD students have won approximately $307,500 in scholarship money through the Fashion Scholarship Fund.”
Kripalu, a Wilmington native who graduated with honors in both marketing and fashion merchandising and management, focused her case study on reducing both food waste and climate change. To do this, she designed a cream stick makeup product for Glossier. While one end of the stick would produce colors and pigments from the dyes of ugly produce (food left to rot or unable to be sold due to minor blemishing), the other was filled with fair trade cocoa powder.
“Because the product had multiple uses and drew on wasted produce I could ensure it was sustainable,” said Kripalu.
As part of her pitch, Sabrina Lee, who grew up on Long Island, New York, drew on lived experiences of racism during the global coronavirus pandemic. Lee crafted a product launch and marketing campaign that partnered with cosmetics company Fresh to expand on the viral hashtag #WashTheHate, which rose to prominence on social media in response to the rising tide of coronavirus-related discrimination and violence against individuals of Asian descent.
”I faced some discrimination just as the pandemic began while I was studying abroad in Italy, so I thought this was the perfect fit, especially because of everything happening in the world,” said Lee.
Lee’s proposed line included new skincare products and was accompanied by marketing celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month.
“People think so little of the beauty and fashion industry and they just don’t understand that there’s so much more that comes out of it,” said Lee. “I think especially with this prompt that in a time like right now, the fashion industry can be really relevant and useful.”