The MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, takes visitors on a journey through time of Austrian fashion design from the 1980s to the present day. "SHOW OFF. Austrian Fashion Design" is the first comprehensive major exhibition on contemporary fashion designed/made in Austria.

Vienna is not a typical fashion venue like Paris of Milan. Nevertheless, the city has produced a few exceptional talents who enjoy great international recognition. These talents, who come from Austria, work here or completed their training here, are the focus of an exhibition at the MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna.

The exhibition SHOW OFF. Austrian Fashion Design starts at the end of the 1970s with the late work of Rudi Gernreich, who fled the Nazis for the USA in 1938, where he became one of the 20th century's most influential creators of fashion. The visionary fashion designer was far ahead of his time; his designs were daring and unusual. He is above all known for being the inventor of unisex fashion and the monokini.
A mood of euphoria gripped the Viennese fashion scene in the 1980s. With U-Mode, Vienna got its own fair for avant-garde fashion, which was held in the former trendy disco U4. The fashion pioneer Helmut Lang, Austria's best-known fashion export, was already on the jury at the time, the designer duo Schella Kann is still part of the Viennese fashion scene.

The label Wendy Jim has been a figurehead of the Viennese fashion scene since the 1990s. Susanne Bisovsky represents Viennese chic with her timeless designs. The Tyrolean Andreas Kronthaler has launched his own fashion line "Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood" in London. Marina Hoermanseder causes a sensation with corset and leather fashion from Berlin. The Viennese Arthur Arbesser now lives in Milan and is a new darling of the international fashion industry. And the latest shooting star from Vienna is Kenneth Ize.

A total of 50 fashion designers are represented in the exhibition with their significant designs; in addition, 30 photographers from Elfie Semotan to Andreas H. Bitesnich give an insight into Austrian fashion photography with their works. Formative events and magazines are also part of the exhibition.

SHOW OFF. Austrian Fashion Design, February 14 - July 12, 2020
www.mak.at