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30 May 2026

Vienna Awards Preview Puts Focus on Campaign Before October Gala

Thirteen women pose in white shirts and blue jeans inside a chandelier-lit hall of Vienna’s Hofburg for the Vienna Awards 2026 campaign preview.
Quick Read

• A new preview image for the 2026 Vienna Awards campaign has been released, showing 13 women from fashion, media, beauty and business inside Vienna's Hofburg.
• The campaign carries the title "WOMEN ARE" and opens this year's Vienna Awards season before the gala on 21 October 2026.
• Unlike many red-carpet productions, the first image presents the participants in simple denim and white shirts rather than eveningwear.
• The final campaign looks, including couture designs by Berlin designer Jasmin Erbas, will be revealed in Munich in June.
• The Vienna Awards continue to position themselves as one of the few Austrian fashion prizes with strong international media visibility and recurring participation from German television personalities, designers and celebrities.

From White Shirts to Red Carpet Couture

Thirteen women stand beneath the chandeliers of Vienna's Hofburg. Instead of sequins, gowns or dramatic styling, they appear in what looks almost like a shared daywear uniform: blue jeans combined with white shirts and tops. The newly released preview image for the Vienna Awards 2026 campaign offers a deliberately restrained first look before the event's traditionally high-glamour season begins.

The photograph, shot by Diana Catch inside the Hofburg, introduces the campaign theme "WOMEN ARE". According to the organisers, the project brings together women from different professional backgrounds, including fashion, media, beauty, art and entrepreneurship. A making-of video has already been published on Instagram, while the finished campaign visuals will follow in the coming weeks.

Among the women featured are Austrian model Nadine Mirada and production expert Martina Cerny, a long-time partner of the Vienna Awards. Mirada became internationally known through campaigns for brands including Guess and has been recognised as one of Austria's most visible fashion exports in the international modelling industry. Cerny, meanwhile, built her reputation through her agency Making Of, which coordinates large-scale fashion and advertising productions and has become a familiar name behind many Austrian editorial and commercial shoots.

A Fashion Prize With an International Profile

Founded in 2009 by Marjan Firouz, the Vienna Awards for Fashion & Lifestyle have developed into a fixture of Austria's fashion calendar while maintaining a distinctly international orientation. Unlike many local industry prizes, the event regularly combines Austrian creative talent with guests, designers and television personalities from across the German-speaking market. The gala returns to the Hofburg on 21 October 2026.

Over the years, categories have included Designer of the Year, Photographer of the Year, Model of the Year, Stylist of the Year, Hair & Make-up Artist of the Year and Style Icon awards.

Among previous winners and honourees are designer Wolfgang Joop, who received a Style Icon distinction, designer Michael Michalsky, photographer Irina Gavrich, entrepreneur Nadja Swarovski and the late Viennese cultural figure Lotte Tobisch. International names connected to past editions include Iris Apfel, Coco Rocha, Karolina Kurkova and Michelle Hunziker.

For the 2026 edition, neither the jury nor the nominees have been announced yet.

The Campaign as the First Chapter of the Season

The preview image functions as the opening chapter of a larger campaign. While the first visual keeps the styling intentionally minimal, the final fashion presentation will introduce couture pieces created by Berlin-based designer Jasmin Erbas during an official campaign launch on 17 June 2026 at the Mandarin Oriental Munich.

Erbas studied fashion design in Berlin before founding her own label, Jasmin Erbas Couture. Her work is known for eveningwear, embroidery, lace details and red-carpet silhouettes influenced by both Berlin and Istanbul. Over the years, celebrities including Madonna, Paris Hilton, Heidi Klum, Chrissy Teigen, Coco Rocha and Saweetie have appeared among the designer's high-profile clients and supporters.

Media Reach Beyond Austria

The Munich launch event will be hosted by German television presenter and journalist Viviane Geppert, known from ProSieben programmes including taff and red!. The October gala in Vienna will be presented by Dutch-German television personality Sylvie Meis, one of the most recognisable entertainment figures in the German-speaking media landscape.

This combination of Austrian fashion figures, German television personalities and internationally connected designers has become a defining element of the Vienna Awards. The strategy repeatedly extends the event's visibility beyond Austria through television coverage, print media, online platforms and social media networks.

The newly released preview image therefore does more than introduce a campaign. It illustrates how the Vienna Awards continue to position themselves: as an Austrian prize staged on an international platform, combining local creative industries with the broader media and celebrity ecosystem of the German-speaking fashion world.


Image: Preview image for the Vienna Awards 2026 campaign 'WOMEN ARE', photographed in Vienna’s Hofburg. Featured from left to right are Kim Averweg (Director, Voyage PR), Erika Vartanovna (artist and model), Michaela Strachwitz (Editor-in-Chief and Head of Fashion & Beauty, WOMAN), Jasmin Erbas (fashion designer), Domenica Graci (CEO and Founder, One Luxury), Ana Jaksic (artist and make-up artist), Marjan Firouz (Founder and CEO, Vienna Awards), Martina Cerny (CEO and Founder, Making Of), Charlott Josefin (model), Nina and Julia Meise (TV presenters), Vanessa Küstner (artist) and Nadine Mirada (model). The image serves as the first preview of the Vienna Awards 2026 campaign ahead of the October gala in Vienna. © Diana Catch