The festival for fashion and photography differs from other fashion events if nothing else because of its sense for new talent and the platform which is subsequently offered in the field of fashion and photography. This year from 29/5 - 5/6/2012, the festival took place for the seventh time in Vienna and emphasized this in a special way: a new generation was entering the limelight and brought a fresh breeze to the Austrian fashion and photography landscape.
The young rebels were not the only ones who were stirring it up, the whole city was set into motion when the 12 festival for
fashion and photography invited everyone to the photography focus in and around the 365 - Fox House in the 7th Viennese district. The temporary offspace, various shops and a project space
were used by young photographers to provide a refreshingly new view on fashion through exciting exhibitions and projects.
One was also excited for numerous new impulses coming from fashion design: The Fashion Award of the Federal Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture, which, aimed at young and trend-setting fashion design, was awarded in the context of the AFA-Austria Fashion Awards at the Museum of Ethnology, a house of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, has never before received more submissions.
Already for a second time, the EVOQUE NextGen Award focused on the youngest generation of local fashion designers and not only offered a chance to showcase one’s own talent
in front of a wider audience and to raise public awareness but also serves as a stepping stone for a professional future.
The Museum of Applied Arts as a new partner of the festival was the location of the Fashion Talks which were presented by Vöslauer and centered on the topic of sustainability.
Nevertheless, already established names and international personalities were an inherent part of the festival: after last
year’s spectacular image campaign created by Erwin Wurm and Elfie Semotan, the exciting fusion of art and fashion in public spheres continued with this year’s campaign by Elke Silvia Krystufek, an international artist, and renowned fashion photographer Maria Ziegelböck.
Guerilla Store
Like in the year before, the cooperation with venerable Viennese fashion house LISKA could be continued and the Guerilla Store was set up in the shop at Hoher Markt. This year, the items were selected by Stefan Siegel, founder of NOT JUST A LABEL, an online platform for contemporary fashion design.
Collection pieces of the following designers/labels were sold: Awareness&Consciousness, Katharina Schmid, Madeleine Nostitz,
Anna Aichinger, Anneliese Schrenk, AntoanetaSterevaDesign, BRADARIC:OHMAE, Lisa Edi & Johanna Diwold BRCLG, Claudia Steiner,
Edwina Hörl, Entrance Staff, INGRID VIEN, Lila, madames with a mission, KATRIN MAYER, meshit, mija t. rosa, modus vivendi,
Pia Mia, ruins of modernity, Ute Ploier, Mangelware, Romana Zöchling, Sophie Skach, STEINWIDDER und Wilfried Mayer.
Fashion Intervention, Part I: Mr. Pearl
World´s most famous corset maker and dress designer, Mr. Pearl, met for a conversation with fashion film pioneer Diane Pernet and was talking about his work and inspiration that can be found in Vienna, amongst others. Pearl works for stars of the
showbiz as well as renowned fashion houses such as Dita von Teese, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Thierry Mugler and presented a selection
of his spectacular creations to the enthused public.
Wien live Inside Fashion Tour
On Wednesday, actress Elke Winkens guided fashion followers around Viennese shops and ateliers where they could take a glimpse behind the scenes. The manufactory
of Scheer & Söhne, Wilfried Mayer´s atelier and Andreas Eberharter´s accessories label AND_i were visited. After the tour, the participants were invited to visist EVOQUE Fashion Night.
EVOQUE NextGen Award
For the second time, Land Rover Austria awarded a young talent award. An expert panel headed by Wendy&Jim nominated eight young talents who then faced the judgement
of the public in an online voting. The three designers with the most votes received a photo shoot that was published in “Die
Presse” and presented their collections on the catwalk. Christina Steiner with her label GON was the happy winner who was given to additional 5.000 euro for further projects.
AFA-Austria FASHION AWARDS
Also this year, the highlight of the festival for fashion & photography was the awarding of Austria´s official fashion awards. In the packed Museum of Ethnology the guests applauded, among them also jury members Josephus Thimister, Martin Sulzbacher (Jil Sander) and Stefan Siegel (NOT JUST A LABEL). As winners of the evening the following designers and photographers were happy to receive their awards:
Tina Elisabeth Reiter (Fashion Award of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture), Natures of Conflict (Fashion Award of the City of Vienna), mija t. rosa and superated (Fashion Production Award of the Vienna Economic Chamber), twenty (2) too (Erste Bank Fashion Award) and Pawel Fabjanski and Michael Bader (Unit F Editorial Award 2011 powered by GoSee).
The artistic videos of Mark Glassner and the fashion shows of Tina Elisabeth Reiter, Nedra Chachoua and twenty (2) too wowed the audience - also because Romanian model and Lagerfeld´s muse Irina Lazareanu presented some pieces on the catwalk.
departure fashion night
On Friday, Daoyin, DIPTYCH, house of the very island´s... and Wilfried Mayer - designers and labels supported by departure - presented their collections and wowed in front of a capacity audience.
Exhibition Openings
On Saturday evening, the photography focus kept visitors in motion around Vienna´s seventh district. Six exhibitions with a focus on fashion photography opened at Westbahnstraße
and close-by streets. Center of it was 365 - The Fox House, where the group exhibition Plastikhumor oder Was ist Naturschön? presented photographers Helga Traxler, Anna-Sophie Berger, Linnéa Jänen, Roger Valentin Mandt and Flora P. as well as installations and object art by Zorana Janjic and Milan Mladenovic, Jeannine Jesch and Milchring. Just vis-à-vis, at Comerc Store, Elsa Okazaki, Salvatore Viviano, Jimmy Zurek and Claire de Foucauld presented their works in the group exhibition TOO FAR WEST. At Common People, Pinie Wang showed her photographs MYYY BITCHES, just a few metres further, one could appreciate Mario Kiesenhofer´s display at at first sight. Edwina Hörl and Andreas Seifert showcased their work NAMIDA at Impossible Project Space Vienna and WOOD WOOD presented meshit´s Capsule Collection that was realized in collaboration with photographer Daliah Spiegel.
Also on Sunday and Monday one could visit exciting exhibitions: at Morisson Club, Felix Groefler and Stefan Köll presented their works under the title 2013, GON had an installation at meine Kollegen and Marcus Karkhof and Ronja Stahl gave a performance in the public space called Reality Dip. In addition, there was a fashion film screening of fashion in motion at Schikaneder cinema.
Trend Seminar Li Edelkoort, Fashion Talk Red Alert in the Green Range?
Monday was committed to theory at Museum of Applied Arts. First, world´s most influential trend forecaster Li Edelkoort held one of her sought-after seminars and allowed an exciting insight in the trends 2013/14 under the title “Romanticism or the way we feel”. Afterwards, Dr. Noki, Allanna McAspurn (Made by) and Li Edelkoort discussed the topic of sustainability with Die Presse editor Daniel Kalt.
FO/Show, book presentation Wien for Women only
On the last festival day, there was another fashion show to watch - University for Art and Industrial Design Linz in co-operation with the Fashion School of the City of Vienna presented the designs of their first and second year students and the diploma collections at Vienna´s Tramway museum.
Afterwards, Nicole Adler presented her book Wien for Women only at Eden Bar, where the final day of festival for fashion & photography was celebrated cheerfully.
