As most fashion designers find themselves all wrapped up in New York Fashion Week, Diane von Furstenberg is calling attention to life off the catwalk, debuting the DVF Awards. The veteran designer, philanthropist, and president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America will honor seven women who’ve worked for social justice across the globe, on issues ranging from sex trafficking to girls’ education to female entrepreneurship.
The inaugural awards ceremony March 13 will highlight the impact of two international winners—Sadiqa Basiri Saleem of Afghanistan and Danielle Saint-Lot of Haiti—as well as a domestic winner to be selected by online voters at Facebook. Each winner will receive $50,000 to continue her work. “It’s about people who have survived, learned from their survival, and are leading from their survival,” von Furstenberg told The Daily Beast. The designer was heavily involved in the selection process, along with a board of directors that included Diane Sawyer and Maria Shriver. “I’m very sorry that I can only give one award,” von Furstenburg said of the five American nominees. “But…at least I can give exposure to five.”
During her sophomore year at Yale University, Kirsten Lodal was doing far more with her time in New Haven than going to frat parties and rooting for the Bulldogs. The then-19-year-old co-founded LIFT (formerly the National Students Partnership) to benefit the parents of children she came into contact with while volunteering at various youth-services programs. She noticed just how much they struggled, working multiple minimum-wage jobs, yet still unable to afford sufficient food, clothing, and shelter for their families. LIFT connects college students with low-income families to provide counseling and information about community resources. The success of the initial site in New Haven led the organization to expand to Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., and it now counts over 5,000 volunteers and over 30,000 served.
Von Furstenberg was impressed by how much LIFT CEO Lodal achieved at a young age. “She’s only 30 and she’s been doing this for 11 years,” said the designer. “Obviously, LIFT’s goal is to fight poverty, but it’s also to change poverty in politics. It’s not just the work that they do, but they create influence.” Lodal told a local ABC News affiliate, “I realize how rare it is to have the chance to live every hour of my day with purpose, so I really couldn’t imagine doing anything else.”
