EMU fashion student wins scholarship established by iconic designer Virgil Abloh

On the Ground Ypsilanti is an “embedded journalism” program covering the city and township of Ypsilanti. It is supported by Ann Arbor SPARK, the Center for Health and Research Transformation, Destination Ann Arbor, Eastern Michigan University, Engage @ EMU, Washtenaw Community College, Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission, and Washtenaw ISD.

Lindsay Jenkins, an Eastern Michigan University (EMU) student majoring in fashion marketing innovation, was one of 60 recipients of a $10,000 college scholarship from the Virgil Abloh “Post⁠-⁠Modern” Scholarship Fund this year.

Abloh, the founder and CEO of the fashion brand Off-White, was a highly influential designer who collaborated with numerous major artists, most notably Kanye West. He created the scholarship to provide access and mentorship to African-American students making an impact on the fashion industry. He died in 2021, but the foundation continues to award scholarships along with professional development and networking opportunities each year. 

Jenkins, a Detroit native, is studying fashion marketing and innovation at EMU after spending nearly a decade as an entrepreneur running her own fashion brand, LYNZI. 

“I’ve pretty much always been interested in fashion. It’s in my ancestry,” she says. “My mother was a designer, and she taught me how to draw fashion figures when I was in second grade. Her mother was a seamstress, and her mother’s mother was a seamstress as well.”

Jenkins received early positive feedback for her creations. She remembers winning an art contest in second grade and hand-sewing a pillow in third grade. She went to the Henry Ford Academy: School for Creative Studies charter school, where she had to do projects and an internship to earn her diploma. Around the same time, she learned to use a sewing machine. While she interned at a shoe store, she sold her first few pieces of clothing based on her original designs.

She went to EMU for a little while in 2015 and then dropped out to grow her LYNZI brand. Over the years, Jenkins’ collections, which she describes as “feminine but edgy,” have been showcased at New York and Los Angeles Fashion Weeks. This year, Jenkins is also preparing for the annual portfolio show at EMU, where she will market her designs to industry professionals and employers.

She says the mentorship she’s received along with the scholarship money has been “putting me in places I wouldn’t have been in if I hadn’t been part of this scholarship.”

Jenkins notes that studying fashion doesn’t necessarily lead only to working in fashion design. She notes that EMU’s program is called the Fashion Marketing Innovation program because it teaches not only design but marketing, branding, and merchandising. She says that, after graduation, she’d love to work as a fashion buyer.

“That’s somebody that basically studies the demographics in the area they’re in and then buys merchandise for the store,” she says. 

More information about the Virgil Abloh “Post⁠-⁠Modern” Scholarship Fund is available here. More information about EMU’s Fashion Marketing and Innovation program is available here.