SHOW OFF. Austrian Fashion Design

In SHOW OFF: Austrian Fashion Design, the MAK presents the first major, comprehensive exhibition on Austrian fashion design from the 1980s through to the present. Large-scale installations set the stage for an inspiring survey of fashion as designed and made within Austria in an international context.

This unique collection of some 60 fashion statements spanning the previous four decades not only features revolutionary designs by fashion icons Rudi Gernreich and Helmut Lang, but also presents Viennese cult labels along with items by the
renowned younger generation.
Comprising some 250 exhibits, the centerpiece of this fashion journey through time is a large-scale walk-in sculpture featuring reduced designs contrasted by sweeping silhouettes, vibrant colors and experimental materials. The curators juxtapose conceptual approaches and critical manifestos with sources of traditional and historical inspiration. Reminiscences of the Wiener Werkstätte, Austrian traditional costume (Tracht) or the aesthetic legacy of Adolf Loos, thus engage in dialogue with current international scenarios.
Large-format prints by 34 distinguished fashion photographers set the fashion artefacts in a total visual picture and hence
complete the aesthetic world of fashion designers.
Contemporary documents, such as the early issues of the magazine WIENER, or film footage of the legendary “U-Mode Messe” in the Viennese scene nightclub U4, evoke the rebellious mood of 1980s Vienna. Interviews with 25 personalities in the world of fashion afford rare insights into their personal portfolios and the Austrian fashion scene.
Multimedia highlights spanning 40 years of fashion studies at the University of Applied Arts Vienna—with numerous international
guest professors such as Karl Lagerfeld, Jil Sander, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Vivienne Westwood, Raf Simons,
Bernhard Willhelm, Hussein Chalayan, and currently Lucie & Luke Meier—are staged and hence complement the show.

Gastkuratorin Guest Curator: Ulrike Tschabitzer-Handler
Gast-Co-Kurator Guest Co-Curator: Andreas Bergbaur
Wissenschaftliche Beraterin Scientific Advisor: Brigitte Winkler
Ausstellungsarchitektur Exhibition Architecture: Gregor Eichinger


SHOW OFF. Austrian Fashion Design

Events

duration
14. February 2020 - 30. August 2020
MAK – Museum für angewandte Kunst, Stubenring 5, 1010 Wien
Opening
13. February 2020 - 21:00