Voice of London

The scholarship aims to aid MA Fashion students financially, starting in November 2019.

Founder and creative director of Self Portrait Han Chong has decided to thrown his support behind young talents by launching a five-year Scholarship Programme at Central Saint Martins. The fashion brand will offer financial backing to five students, one each year, from November 2019 until 2023.

This support stems from Chong’s own experience as a Central Saint Martins alumni. He will offer his mentorship to the chosen students in addition to the financial backing. Chong told Business of Fashion: “I’ve been through a lot [and made] mistakes… it’s a tough industry and often you only have a few chances, I want to set up a hub where we get talent from across the industry, so that when people have questions we can be there for them.”

Central Saint Martins’ MA fashion course director Fabio Piras said the mentorship from the Self Portrait founder would greatly help students: “[Students] need to understand that [their] career needs to be much more agile than it used to be.”

Chong joins Donatella Versace, Stella McCartney and Mick Jagger, in memory of his late partner L’Wren Scott, who have previously launched CSM scholarships.

Words: Ngoc Minh Thu Le | Subbing: Lucija Duzel