LOS ANGELES, Mar 20, 2006/ FW/ --- Beginning March 27, 2006, graduating high school seniors who are interested in pursuing a career in Fashion Design at FiDM can log on at www.fidm.com/ designawardsla/ to apply for ‘Drive Your Future Design Awards LA’ Scholarship was announced today in a press conference at Los Angeles Fashion Week.

Sponsored in part by the Southern California Mercedes-Benz dealers together with Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA), the new scholarship worth $20,000 allows a deserving student to attend FIDM/The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising this fall, as well as a mentoring opportunity with award-winning designer Kevan Hall who is the “Mercedes-Benz Presents” designer for the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios Fall 2006 Collections.

The ‘Drive Your Future Design Awards LA’ Scholarship will also be partially funded by the auction of one-of-a-kind Fender guitars personally decorated by Hollywood’s hottest stars including famed rocker Slash, supermodel Carolyn Murphy, pop star Mya and world champion skater Tony Hawk. (see photo below)

The 10 guitars, which are currently on display at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios at the main tent entrance, will be auctioned this spring.

“To become a successful designer, you need passion, commitment, vision – and a little bit of luck and support along the way,” said Pat Bolter, President of the Southern California Mercedes-Benz Dealer Association in a statement.

“That’s why Mercedes-Benz is proud to support the next generation of design students in their quest to realize their dreams. When personal vision is matched with opportunity, extraordinary things can happen. It is our hope to see the Design Awards LA scholarship recipient recognized with the same acclaim as Kevan Hall some day,” he added.

DRIVE YOUR FUTURE Design Awards LA is a new extension of the national Mercedes-Benz DRIVE YOUR FUTURE Scholarship Program which supports students who are the first in their families to pursue a college education, will be available to students across the nation and will help cover their first year of college.

Specific information about the scholarship will be available on FIDM’s website, www.fidm.com/designawardsla/, starting March 27, 2006. DRIVE YOUR FUTURE Design Awards LA is part of Mercedes-Benz’s ongoing effort to support education and create opportunities for young people by helping students clear some of the hurdles to higher education.

The host school, The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FiDM) is a private college for specialized professional education accredited by WASC and NASAD granting Associate of Arts and Bachelor of Science Business degrees. Over the last 30 years, FIDM has graduated more than 30,000 students and prepared them for careers in Fashion, Graphics, Interior Design and Entertainment.

The school is headquartered in its own 180,000 square foot state-of-the-art campus in downtown Los Angeles, and has other campus locations in Orange County, San Diego and San Francisco with a student body of 5,000 full-time students.