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19 September 2026 Austrian Fashion Awards: From Paris Showroom to Vienna Showroom and Gala
Quick Read
• 5 November 2026: The Austrian Fashion Awards will be presented at Kunsthalle Wien in the MuseumsQuartier.
More than an awards eveningOn 5 November, the Austrian Fashion Association will bring the Austrian Fashion Awards to Kunsthalle Wien in the MuseumsQuartier. The programme combines the presentation of two annual fashion awards with a show of work by designers who have received support through AFA programmes. The event therefore also provides a snapshot of how public fashion funding is being translated into current design practice.Founded in 2014, the Austrian Fashion Association describes itself as a platform, network and advocacy organisation for contemporary fashion. Its work covers professional development, internationalisation, sustainability, education and networking. The association works with the City of Vienna and the Federal Ministry responsible for culture and media, while individual programmes are financed through public funds. One of its central funding instruments is AFA Support, which provides a total of €120,000 in direct funding each year to fashion designers in womenswear, menswear, mixed collections and accessories. The money comes from the federal ministry and the City of Vienna. The programme focuses on the quality of a project and its international competitiveness. Other measures include the AFA Mentorship Programme, which gives five designers 25 hours of individual mentoring each year, as well as the six-month Start Scholarships in Fashion, worth €9,000 each. Taking Austrian fashion to ParisInternational presentation is another part of this structure. The AFA Showroom has become a recurring platform for Austrian fashion in Paris, where selected labels meet international press and retail contacts. The next edition, presenting Spring/Summer 2027 collections, takes place from 1 to 6 October 2026 at CØR Studio, 28 rue du Petit Musc, Paris.The participating designers and labels are Sassa Ann van Wyk, Florentina Leitner, Hisu Park, Luca Fabry and Lore. Their approaches range from millinery and semi-couture ready-to-wear to experimental construction and regional wool fibres. Two of them, Hisu Park and Lore, will also be part of the Austrian Fashion Awards show in Vienna. Both received AFA Support in 2025, alongside Laura Andraschko and Used To Be. Hisu Park is the womenswear label of Korean-Austrian designer Hisu Park, founded in 2023. Her work sits between couture and ready-to-wear, using sculptural silhouettes, precise construction and fabric manipulation to translate emotions and inner states into three-dimensional forms. Park studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and is based in Vienna. Lore, founded by Inga Nemirovskaia, takes a different route through material and place. The label works with locally sourced European natural fibres, particularly wool, and collaborates with regional shepherds, spinners and craftspeople. Traditional textile knowledge is combined with contemporary design, while the origin and production of materials remain central. Nemirovskaia was born in Ukraine, grew up in Austria and studied at the University of Art and Design Linz and Central Saint Martins in London. She lives and works in Vienna. Five Start Scholarship positionsThe second group in the gala show comes from the Start Scholarships in Fashion programme of the Federal Ministry. Five scholarships are awarded in the fashion category each year through the Austrian Fashion Association. Each runs for six months and is worth €9,000, supporting young designers at the beginning of their artistic and professional development. Since 2020, two of the five scholarships have focused on "Societal Challenges" and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The designers announced for the 2026 gala presentation are Hao Wu / Sale Sale Studio, Miranda Matondo, Oliver Kuzma, Paul Alexander Reisinger and Viola Kollár.The evening will also reveal the winners of the two Austrian Fashion Awards: the Fashion Prize of the City of Vienna and the Outstanding Artist Award for Experimental Fashion Design of the BMWKMS. Both are awarded annually; the 2026 winners have already been decided but have not yet been publicly announced. Traditionally, the selection is made by an independently composed jury of international experts from design, fashion and communication. The 2026 jury met in Vienna on 2 and 3 July. The AFA states that the prize winners will be presented in November at the Austrian Fashion Awards. Who will take the awards?That leaves the most obvious question deliberately open. The gala brings together different generations, working methods and ideas about what contemporary Austrian fashion can be. The interesting part of the evening will therefore not only be the names announced as winners, but also how the selected positions sit alongside the designers supported through the association's other programmes.The Paris showroom offers a parallel view of this ecosystem outside Austria: five labels presenting their work to an international professional audience in early October, followed a month later by a Vienna evening in which awards and publicly supported design positions meet on the same runway. The AFA Showroom SS27 takes place at CØR Studio in Paris from 1–6 October 2026; appointments are required. In Vienna, the Austrian Fashion Association will follow the 5 November Austrian Fashion Awards with its own showroom, presenting a curated selection of contemporary Austrian fashion and accessories on 6–7 November. The showroom is part of the wider programme around the gala: 6 November is reserved for invited guests and press, while it opens to the public on 7 November. The awards gala itself, at Kunsthalle Wien, is accessible only by personal invitation, but the show will be broadcast via livestream. Image: Lore designs worn in a minimalist interior setting. © Darryl Oswald |