5 July 2022

Austrian treasures of the 19th century in new roles: Lena Hoschek 'A Souvenir' FW22/23 presented on the runway in an historical train and the new interpretation of the very valuable stamps 'Mercury' by crypto artists

Recently, Fashion.at received news in which two historical treasures play important roles. For the new Fall/Winter 2022/23 'A Souvenir' collection by Lena Hoschek, one of the wagons of the restored historical train of Emperor Franz Joseph was used as runway for the presentation of dresses, jackets, tops and skirts inspired by cultures that might had been on the route of Franz Joseph and his wife (married 1854) and enthusiastic traveler Empress Elisabeth (Sisi). The word 'Souvenir' standing for something that brings a memory into mind is strongly associated with journeys and travel experiences which are materialized before they might vanish.

Image, left: Lena Hoschek packed into the 'A Souvenir' collection folk elements from all over the world and combined them by crossing culture and gender typical cuts and fabrics like a striped fabric associated with men's shirts for a feminine interpretation of the women's shirt-dress 'New Bohemian' in green with applied ribbons from traditional clothing. The picture was shot at the 'Majestic Imperator' luxury train which travels from Vienna to selected destinations in Europe. The FW2022/23 collection 'A Souvenir' will be available from September 2022 at Lena Hoschek stores in Vienna, Graz and Kitzbühel as well as at lenahoschek.com. Photo by LippZahnschirm.

The second information about an Austrian treasure and its new role arrived yesterday at Fashion.at. It concerns Austria's most valuable stamps. The 'Merkur' is named appropriately after its historical function in the middle of the 19th century. Mercury (Greek 'Hermes') is the Roman god of traveling (wings on sandals and headwear), communication, commerce. The stamps in various colors in the design of the Austrian copper engraver Josef Axmann were issued from 1851 to 1856 for the mailing of newspapers. Each color was used in the mid-19th century according to the number of newspapers of a mailing - blue for one newspaper, yellow for ten newspapers, etc.
At the beginning of July 2022, the stamps appeared in the new design 'Der Merkur', created at the Studio Encode Graphics by the studio's founder crypto artist PR1MAL CYPHER and designer, comic artist Ari Pratama for the new artwork series 'Crypto stamp art' of the Austrian postal service Österreichische Post. The new 'Der Merkur' from 2022 was released as a special edition of 150.000 blocks, each with 4 stamps (2 x 85 Cent, 2 x 100 Cent) in four colors referencing the original color variations of the Mercury stamps. The Mercury of the 19th century was used only a few years - that's one of the reasons why the stamps are so valuable. In 1858, the follower stamp was released with the portrait of the young Emperor Franz Joseph.

Image, right: 'Der Merkur' designed by PR1MAL CYPHER and Ari Pratama (Studio Encode Graphics) marks the beginning of the new 'Crypto stamp art' series of physical and digital artworks released by the Österreichische Post. From 22 July, the digital artwork in an edition of 2.500 CSA Mystery Boxes will drop online. It's announced that each digital box consists of four Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). Photo: © Österreichische Post AG.