24 November 2022

Vienna Opera Ball trend looks created by Austrian designers and presented by ballet dancers at the Couture Salon at Hotel Bristol

The Vienna Opera Ball side event 'Couture Salon' has been held since 2014 and developed over the years into a barometer for the trending evening wear including shoes, jewelry, hair style and makeup for the Viennese ball season. The detailed schedule of the upcoming Couture Salon at Hotel Bristol at the end of January around two weeks before the Vienna Opera Ball (16 February 2023) hasn't been made public yet. What's been already unveiled are the names of the designers who will create the fashion pieces presented by around 15 dancers of the Vienna State Opera. The designers Florentina Leitner, Jennifer Milleder, Moulham Obid represent the new generation of Austrian designers who live, work and were educated in Austria as well as abroad and have already worked for or collaborated with international couture houses, fashion and lifestyle brands such as Dries van Noten, Iris van Herpen, Hussein Chalayan, Grace Wales Bonner, and labels such as Rado, Swarovski, or Warner Music Austria.

Images, from left: Portrait Florentina Leitner. Photo: © Jens Burez.
Florentina Leitner studied at the fashion school Modeschule Hetzendorf in Vienna and at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. After she finished her studies with a master's degree in 2020 she worked as a designer for women's fashion at Dries van Noten and launched her own label in 2021. When searching online after Florentina Leitner, trendy fashion pictures and videos can be found like the one showing Kylie Jenner in a catsuit with allover print (Instagram) or Lady Gaga in a colorful fake fur coat (Instagram).

Middle: Portrait Jennifer Milleder. Photo: © Violetta König.
Jennifer Milleder studied fashion design under the supervision of Hussein Chalayan, Luke & Lucie Meier (Jil Sander) and Grace Wales Bonner at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and worked in the atelier of Iris van Herpen in Amsterdam, where she focused on haute couture dresses, creating laser cut files and print developments. In 2021, she won with her graduate collection the Arts Thread Global Design Graduate Show in collaboration with Gucci in the Textiles – Print/Embroidery category. At jennifermilleder.com, clients of the designer who also works as stylist are mentioned such as Swarovski or Warner Music Austria. For this year's MQ Vienna Fashion Week 2022 campaign (article), first soloist Ketevan Papava of the Vienna State Opera Ballet and model and dancer Laurids Seidel were both dressed in outfits designed by Jennifer Milleder.

Right: Portrait Moulham Obid. Photo: © Dennis Stein.
Moulham Obid (born 1990 in Massiaf, Syria) is known to the Viennese fashion scene at least after his creations were used for the campaign for the MQ Vienna Fashion Week in 2020 (article). The designer finished his visual communication studies in Aleppo. After he has moved in 2014 to Vienna, he continued his education at the fashion school Herbststrasse. Over the years, he was awarded with the main prize of the 2017 Diva Austrian Fashion Talent Award, received support through public fundings by the AFA - Austrian Fashion Association and was invited to show his work such as at the Rado Boutique in Vienna. In summer 2022, he was selected in the evening wear category as one of the finalists of the 'Fashion Trust Arabia' prizes; details at moulhamobid.com/2022/07/18/fta-prize-2022-meet-our-finalists/.