Istituto Marangoni teamed up with Dazed to launch the Istituto Marangoni x Dazed Fashion and Design Fund, to award special Fashion and Design scholarships at the university’s London School. With enrollment in Autumn 2021, the call was for young fashion talents from around the world with a creative vision and a desire to take their fashion education to the next level.

Applications were shortlisted and pared down by a panel of Istituto Marangoni tutors, Dazed’s fashion features editor, Emma Davidson, and Dazed art writer, Emily Dinsdale. Standing out among five finalists was Manuela Plazas Uribe, who received a scholarship covering 50% of her university fees in London.

Seeking beauty within the disruptive, the Colombia-born designer evoked the graffiti used by young Colombian artists to voice their discomfort and desire for change without being censored. Titled ‘Revolt’, her bold project encapsulated her personal take on the modern zeitgeist and its influence on the present and future of the fashion and design industry. Her creative pitch was inspired by social and political issues, injustice and protests, as well as 1970s punk nostalgia, to construct a well-though-out aesthetic with dedicated colour palettes, references to movies, music, and sketches made by Plazas Uribe herself to depict specific body language and facial expressions.

As she submitted her project, Manuela Plazas Uribe wrote “This initiative is an opportunity I never would've thought accessible to me as a young Colombian creative, especially considering that Dazed Magazine is one of my most significant artistic influences. My greatest future goal is to create a voice for myself through creative mediums, being critical and taking risks within the traditional confines of the industry I become a part of. In my country these types of creative risks and new perspectives are rarely supported. Through this initiative and the Instituto Marangoni community I’d have the opportunity to communicate millions of new stories, ideas, and critiques, working as a creative director for meaningful projects that voice a Colombian artistic perspective within the industry”.

“For 30 years Dazed has championed and nurtured the next generation of creative talent,” says Lynette Nylander, Executive Editorial Director of Dazed. “Partnering with Istituto Marangoni and offering these scholarships is a valuable and exciting continuation of Dazed’s mission to empower youth through creativity,” she adds. Abdullah Abo Milhim, the Director of Education at Istituto Marangoni London, shares the same feeling, stating that this partnership will “strive to support and enable creative individuals to play a fundamental part in shaping the highly competitive and fast-paced fashion Industry.”