The Austrian Fashion Association announced the winners of this year’s Austrian Fashion Awards on Thursday evening.
There are two prizes that are awarded with the fashion funding of the federal government and the city of Vienna: the Outstanding Artist Award for experimental fashion design from the Austrian Federal Ministry for Art, Culture, Public Service and Sport (BMKÖS) and the Fashion Prize of the City of Vienna. For both prizes, the winners receive a prize of 10,000 euros.
Outstanding artist for experimental fashion design
This year Klaus Mühlbauer was honored as an ‘outstanding artist’ in the field of ‘experimental fashion design’ – the prize is awarded in 17 art categories by the BMKÖS – for his hat label Mühlbauer Hutmanufaktur. Mühlbauer showed a selection of headgear presented in looks featuring “strange creatures, hybrids between animal and human,” according to the Austrian fashion association. The fourth generation of the traditional Viennese company has been producing its hats since 1903.
“The Viennese hat manufacturer Mühlbauer (founded in 1903) has been managed since 2001 in the fourth generation by Klaus Mühlbauer, who has not only managed to successfully return the family business to its origins – namely the hats – but also to transform this craft into a pioneering and artistic to steer an innovative direction,” says the jury.
Mühlbauer also has a “unique sense” for aesthetics and new forms of presentation. In addition, the brand’s provocative campaigns are a regular topic of conversation and give it a modern image, according to the jury.
Fashion Prize of the City of Vienna
Matthias Winkler received the Fashion Prize of the City of Vienna, which is awarded for innovative fashion design in terms of design and artistic work, with the post-avant-garde shoe label of the same name. The Berlin-based brand uses techniques and “dormant resources” such as machines, leather clothing and dead stocks to produce more sustainably.
“In his creative process, Matthias Winkler is not only a designer, but also a collector and recontextualizer. His (post-)avant-garde design practice combines craftsmanship, a critical examination of cultural heritage and a conscious use of resources,” according to the jury.
“What is particularly impressive here is his ability to recognize the high value of traditional everyday objects and to place them in a completely new context. He not only addresses problems of global fashion production, but also negotiates gender-political issues with his non-binary label, while each creation bears his unmistakable, perfectly formed and somewhat uncanny visual signature – natural and dystopian at the same time.
In addition to the award winners, some young talents who were funded in 2021 via the AFA support program of the Austrian Fashion Association or with a start-up scholarship in the field of fashion from the BMKÖS also exhibited their designs. Alessandro Santi, Christoph Rumpf, Florentina Leitner, Güç, Hisu Park, Inffolder, Ivan Iveljić, Larissa Falk, Mit Stress, MOB Industries, René Scheibenbauer and Stephanie Edelhofer were there.