14 February 2023

Preview Vienna Opera Ball: First soloist of the Vienna State Ballet will wear a gown by Eva Poleschinski and the Sisi Diadem by jeweler A.E. Köchert

The media coverage of the Vienna Opera Ball is already in full swing in the run-up to the event, which will take place on 16 February with around 5,000 guests and live TV broadcast and online stream of the Austrian public broadcaster ORF on the channels ORF2 and 3Sat. Highlights of the reports are articles and images showing Vienna Opera Ball guest Jane Fonda upon her arrival in Vienna and her visit to the Leopold Museum, known for the collection of artworks by Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, or social media postings by designers and their celebrity customers who provide clues about the fashion and jewelry they will be wearing at the ball.

The dancer Liudmila Konovalova, first soloist of the Vienna State Ballet and one of the performers of the ball's opening ballet to the waltz by Johann Strauss (son) 'Wiener Blut Walzer op. 354' in costumes designed by Susanne Bisovsky (program), gave an insight into the outfit and the jewelry she will wear before and after the dance performance. Photos of the dress designed by Eva Poleschinski are not yet unveiled, only some hints on the dress specially chosen for the Sisi Diadem.

Images, from left: Sisi Diadem by A.E. Köchert. Photo: © A.E.Köchert / Craig Dillon. Right: Liudmila Konovalova during the ballet training. Photo: © Liudmila Konovalova.
The tiara, valued at 66,900 euros, consists of five stars with 245 diamonds. The stars of the tiara were made after Empress Elisabeth's original jewelry, which is Austria's most prominent jewelry set. It was created by A.E. Köchert especially for Empress Elisabeth aka Sisi (1837 - 1898). The diamond stars set was designed to be worn flexible as brooches, hair adornments (painting from 1865) or tiara such as A.E. Köchert introduces the historic design on koechert.com. The debutantes of this year's ball will wear a tiara inspired by Sisi's diadem (article).

It is not the first time that dancer Liudmilla Konovalova presents luxurious jewelry by A.E. Köchert. In 2019, the dancer was dressed in evening gowns styled with jewelry by Köchert for a fashion shoot on occasion of the ballet 'Jewels' by choreographer George Balanchine performed at the Vienna State Opera.

As Fashion.at found out in a phone call today, the color of the dress is red. The couture robe by designer Eva Poleschinski, known for creating dresses that have been worn on the red carpets of the Golden Globes or Oscars and featured in magazines such as Vogue or Elle, consists of three parts - a draped corsage, a swinging skirt cut in flounces and a hand-embroidered belt. The first views of the interplay between Sisi's tiara and the dress designed by Eva Poleschinski will be on display at the Vienna Opera Ball.

The public broadcaster ORF announced that interviews by Teresa Vogl with artists of the Vienna State Opera will be streamed before the official opening of the ball (3Sat schedule). From a fashion point of view, Liudmilla Konovalova is likely to be the most interesting interview guest.