HAPPY returns

  the fall 2012 collection by Franziska Fürpass for her

womenswear label Femme Maison is a feast for the eye

... I don't even want to make too many words but I am definitely and beyond any doubt very happy that one of Vienna's most outstanding fashion labels, FEMME MAISON, is back. I have been its ascension for several seasons and am really very happy to see that it's back after a one season break, and better than ever. Slight restructurations led to co-designer George Bezhanishvili's backing out (he runs his eponymous menswear label alone now and moved to New York), and Franziska Fürpass is now showing us all that she's got - and that's A LOT. And that's a lot, obviously. She told me when we briefly talked on the phone that she is looking into possibilities of modifying the initial concept of Femme Maison's offer being reduced to unique pieces. The overall response to her recently launched lookbook for fall 2012 seems to be very good, since several shops and journalists already contacted her when she had uploaded the images to her designer page on Not Just a Label ...

... je dois absolument vous faire savoir combien je suis ravi d'avoir appris qu'une des jeunes maisons viennoises les plus prometteuses est de retour. Femme Maison, après avoir fait une pause d'une saison, est de retour avec une collection d'hiver 2012 qui est des plus réussies. Il y a eu, au fil des derniers mois, quelques changements dans la structure de la marque (le co-fondateur et co-créateur George Bezhanishvili l'ayant quittée, la marque est désormais le seul projet créatif de Franziska Fürpass) - mais cela n'a rien changé à l'esthétique et à la qualité de la collection, tout au contraire. Quand je l'ai appelée, Franziska m'a racontée qu'elle va désormais élargir le concept de la collection, laquelle, jusqu'à présent, misait sur la création de pièces uniques. A part ça, elle a également mentionné les très bonnes réactions qui lui sont parvenues après qu'elle avait mis des images du lookbook sur son profil Not Just a Label - je continue à voir un grand avenir ...

 

... qualche parola in italiano per finire: sono lieto di poter annunciarvi che uno dei giovani marchi i più promettenti nell'ambito viennese, Femme Maison, è tornato. Dopo la partenza di George Bezhanishvili (che è andato a New York e continua a creare le sue collezioni per uomo), la giovane Franziska Fürpass si è rimessa in piedi ed ha creato una bellissima collezione d'inverno (che è arrivata un po' tardi, ma speriamo comunque che le porterà successo). Quando le ho parlato al telefono mi ha fatto sapere che considerava ormai la possibilità di non limitare la griffe alla produzione di pezzi unici. Mi ha anche raccontato che, dopo aver messo le immagini sul suo profilo Not Just a Label, le reazioni sono state molto positive. Sono proprio contento ...  

all photos by Sia Kermani,

courtesy of Femme Maison 

DECORATIVE and dirty (kind of)

one word for this collection: amazing!
George Bezhanishvili in collaboration with Franziska Fürpaß

... after being the last to comment on the HETZENDORF PERFORMANCE BATTLE, why not do the same thing for the FASHION SHOW OF VIENNA'S UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED ARTS - be the last one to comment...? Here we go, then ... après avoir été le dernier à laisser son petit commentaire sur le "combat" conçu et réalisé par les étudiants du département de mode associé a l'Université de Linz mais situé à Vienne/Hetzendorf, je me suis dit que je pourrais bel et bien faire la même chose pour le défilé du département de mode de l'Université des Arts Décoratifs - être le dernier à trouver des mots ... penso che sono stato l'ultimo a fare il suo commento sulla "gara di moda" concepita dagli studenti dell'istituto di Hetzendorf, mi sono detto, finalmente, perché no ripetere la stessa cosa riguardo alla sfilata dell'Università delle Arti Decorative - essere l'ultimo a scrivere qualcosa ...

George Bezhanishvili (graduate collection)

... well, the show was very decently and professionally organised, in a way that you rarely see in Vienna. The budget must have been quite remarkable, too. My overall impression is that, quite surprisingly, the show was much less imbibed with the Bernhard-Willhelm-spirit than last year's, when the then new professor maybe felt like he had to prove something (or students were so in awe of him that they decided they all wanted to be like him...). Well, and of course, there were some good, and a few excellent, even outstanding collections. Why not start with George Bezhanishvili? Right, why not? I already pointed him out as "Vienna's new fashion star" on ParisVienne and even as a guest contributor to Hint Magazine two years ago, and never changed my mind since then. As a matter of fact, I think that working together with Franziska Fürpaß on both the Femme Maison womenswear label and the George Bezhanishvili menswear label has led to amazing results, enabling both of them (I also particularly appreciate Franziska's talent, a point I equally made in the write-up of the 2009 show for Hint) to prove and strengthen his talent. The collection was strong, the presentation was powerful, the silhouettes were astounding, the colours blasting, the catwalk show quick and impressive. Ten points out of ten. No, wait, eleven. And Mr. Bezhanishvili, hopefully alongside Miss Fürpaß, should definitely find his place in the fashion world. Which means, of course, that he should do it outside of Vienna. And you know what, I'm even optimistic both of them will realise just this - with George recently being granted a scholarship for an internship abroad, that may become a wee bit easier ...

gorgeous and classy: Milena Heussler (4th year, to be watched out for)

... première remarque : le défilé de la fac a été l'un des mieux faits et plus professionnels que j'aie vu ces derniers temps à Vienne, tous les festivals et semaines de la mode inclus, donc décidément : chapeau pour ceci (le budget doit avoir été impressionnant, tout de même). Puis, concernant les collections des étudiants, il y en avait qui étaient tout à fait remarquables : chapeau, encore une fois ! Pour l'impression générale, je dirais que le défilé a été de loin moins BERNHARDWILLHELMISÉ que celui de l'an dernier, sera-ce parce que Monsieur Willhelm a compris qu'il ne faut pas que la signature du prof transparaisse à chaque prix, ou parce que ses étudiants se sont émancipés un peu plus ? Qui saura le dire ... ? Bon, la plus impressionnante, plus cohérente, et ouais, pourquoi pas le dire, la meilleure collection de la soirée a été présentée par George Bezhanishvili, qui a encore une fois réaffirmé son talent tout à fait extraordinaire. Et je dirais même, depuis qu'il travaille avec Franziska Fürpaß sur aussi bien la jeune griffe FEMME MAISON que la collection signée "George Bezhanishvili", l'esthétique a maturé, l'effet de l'ensemble étant tout à fait extraordinaire ... allora, primo commento, uno che riguarda l'insieme della sfilata - è stato un evento impressionante, molto professionale, compatto. Poi la presenza del professore Bernhard Willhelm è stata meno evidente che l'anno scorso, non so se perché lui si è ritenuto un po' nelle preparazioni, o se gli studenti hanno realizzato che non si tratta di rimodellare ad ogni costo il lavoro del professore. E tra le collezioni, ci sono stati degli esempi davvero bellissimi, prima di tutto direi la collezione di laurea di George Bezhanishvili, realizzata insieme a Franziska Fürpaß, un duo con un grandissimo talento che si è affirmato recentemente anche nel loro lavoro sulla griffe di moda femminile FEMME MAISON ...

Milena Heussler, Cobra Commander vs. Eminem?

... another collection that I really loved was 011 by Milena Heussler (4th year), who, in my opinion, is a hot tip for an excellent graduate collection to come our way next year ... puis j'ai adoré la collection de Milena Heussler, étudiante en 4ème année, un nom à retenir pour l'année prochaine à mon avis ... tra le altre collezioni sono stato impressionato dal lavoro della giovane Milena Heussler, studente del 4° anno, il suo nome, nella mia opinione, può esser ritenuto per l'anno che viene ...

truly lovely: light colours by Taro Ohmae (3rd year),
one of the astounding young Japanese designers in Vienna

... Taro Ohmae and Takahiro Ueno are two Japanese students in their third year at university who have amply proved their ability to beautifully work out how colours can function in a collection ... deux étudiants d'origine japonaise, et tous les deux en troisième année, ont également retenu mon attention, il s'agit de Taro Ohmae et Takahiro Ueno, les deux ayant prouvé qu'ils savent utiliser la bonnte quantité des bonnes couleurs ... due studenti giapponesi, Takahiro Ueno e Taro Ohmae, tutti e due nel terzo anno di studi, mi hanno convinto con il loro talento di utilizzare dei colori, finalmente, dei colori a Vienna, ptete immaginare ? ...

more Japanese power: Takahiro Ueno (3rd year), more than convincing

fun with Isis Flatz (2nd year)

... excellent, too: Ken Kumagai, another Japanese student (2nd year) and Isis Flatz (2nd year), colourful and witty, but just right, never exaggerated, and that's definitely good to see in Vienna after long years of mournful purism ... des étudiants en 2ème année, j'ai bien aimé les couleurs et l'humour de Ken Kumagai et Isis Flatz, juste ce qu'il fallait, pas d'exagération (comme on la connaît de leur prof, par exemple ...) ... tra gli studenti del secondo anno, ho trovato interessanti le proposizioni di Ken Kumagai (un altro giapponese...!) e Isis Flatz, ancora una volta, colori, umore, ma mai troppo, mai esagerato ...

final proof by Ken Kumagai (2nd year): the Japanese are good with colours

cut-up cosplay or so? ... Anna-Sophie Berger (left, 4th year)
received two awards for her collection,
her work I show next to Caroline Pretterebner's (2nd year)

... well, and of course there were so many other students' collections to be marvelled at, I can hardly mention all of them. All in all, the show definitely proved that there's enough fresh fashion talent around in Vienna for the next few years and that quite obviously, students from abroad also have the town on their fashion radar. Anyhow, if I may just give everyone a little advice: continuing that Viennese tradition of the past few years and launching your own label immediately after university without gathering further work experience or giving a career as an assistant designer at some bigger fashion brand a try is maybe not the cleverest thing to do. Just a thought ...

Luciano Raimondi's diploma was maybe a Kate Middleton aftermath (left),
Markus Binder (3rd year) received one of the numerous awards

... et voilà tout. Beaucoup de collections, énormément d'étudiants, et avec un talent tout à fait extraordinaire remarquable la plupart d'entre eux. Je pense que Vienne se maintient comme capitale prometteuse dans le contexte international, et puis, peut-être, un jour, le chemin logique que fera un jeune créateur issu d'une des facultés viennoises ne sera plus de lancer sa propre marque immédiatement après avoir diplômé, on verra ... eccovi tutto ciò che volevo dire, ovviamente non posso menzionare i nomi ed i lavori di tutti gli studenti, comunque sono ottimista che Vienna si manterrà come una delle città europee con un impressionante ambito per la moda, e non sono della stessa opinione di uno dei miei colleghi che mi ha detto, "ma perché mostrare e dare tanta visibilità al lavoro di studenti che non hanno mai presentato una collezione a Parigi" (appunto perché non l'hanno fatto!), una cosa solo: lanciare il suo proprio marchio immediatamente dopo essersi laureato, questo è un cammino che non consiglio a nessun giovane designer - sebbene sia stata la soluzione tipicamente viennese degli ultimi anni ...

that's Lisa Maria Kreiter's diploma, "Hyphen"

NEWCOMERS and nominees

a rather oriental look by Manuela Baumgartner, I had to think of opium caves, for some reason ...

... you can say what you may, in terms of PIZAZZ, the annual festival for fashion & photography is probably the most striking event on the Vienna fashion scene, as it comes complete with some glimpses at the REAL fashion world out there (even though the DRAMATIS PERSONAE are very similar to those at competing events such as the Vienna Awards for Fashion and Lifestyle or the annual MQ Vienna Fashion Week). Last week, Marios Schwab came to Vienna for the kick-off-event and I was lucky enough to meet him for a long interview, but that's another story. What I wanted to tell you, right here and right now, is that the nominees for this year's AUSTRIAN FASHION AWARDS were also made public, and there is, IMHO, at least one surprise and one new appearance. But first of all I'll give you the complete list and would like to congratulate all nominees: for the Award sponsored by the Austrian Ministry of Cultural Affairs, George Bezhanishvili (no stranger to readers of ParisVienne...) will compete with Manuela Baumgartner; for the Fashion Award of the City of Vienna, it's meshit (do read that "mesh-it", and not "me-shit", which is not what Ida Steixner and Lena Krampf had in mind) vs. Diptych (Ali Zedtwitz and Valerie Lange); and for the Award for international PR, it's Christina Berger vs. Michaela Buerger.

more by Manuela Baumgartner ...

Now, two things - I find it very interesting to see a new name appear on the list of nominees and potential award winners, and that is Manuela Baumgartner. She studied at Vienna's University of Applied Arts under Raf Simons and Véronqiue Branquinho and graduated in 2008, which was followed by her getting some work experience in London, at Marios Schwab's eponymous fashion label. Always good to see that the Vienna fashion scene isn't completely ebbing off, and that there are new labels appearing on the city's fashion scene (I mean, of course there are always new labels, but some of them seem to be more into producing nice lookbooks and organizing launch events than about making interesting fashion that is more than sloppy floppy drapings that look like heaps of cloth thrown onto a mannequin, if you know what I mean ...). On the other hand, and I know that it's not always been very easy for hard-working and very ambitious Michaela Buerger as part of the extended Austrian fashion scene, I find it a very good signal that the name of this designer, who has lived and worked in Paris for years where she built her own label, who is represented by the same showroom as Marios Schwab and Peter Pilotto, who is successfully collaborating with international brands like Maison Fabre for gloves, Anne Valérie Hash for select knitwear, and Vienna's Mühlbauer millinery, is about to break into a sphere where some official recognition may be hers. At least that's what being a first-time finalist for one of the country's most important fashion awards could stand for, no? ...

and even more by Manuela Baumgartner ...

... le festival de la mode et de la photographie de VIENNE (et ouais, pas Hyères...) va avoir lieu en juin, mais pour être sûr que tout le monde est averti, une soirée spéciale a été organisée la semaine dernière au cours de laquelle le public intéressé a pu assister à un défilé de Marios Schwab (un jeune homme particulièrement charmant d'ailleurs, que j'ai eu la chance d'interviewer le jour avant...) ET les nominés pour les AUSTRIAN FASHION AWARDS 2011 ont été faits publics. Ce sont donc GEORGE BEZHANIsHVILI (que vous connaîtrez sûrement) et MANUELA BAUMGARTNER pour le prix du ministère de culture ; MESHIT (Ida Steixner et Lena Krampf) et DIPTYCH (Ali Zedtwitz et Valérie Lange) pour le prix de la ville de Vienne ; et MICHAELA BUERGER et CHRISTINA BERGER pour le prix "presse internationale". Félicitations à tous ! Et deux remarques : d'un côté, je trouve rassurant et positif qu'il y ait encore de nouveaux noms qui apparaissent sur la scène de la mode viennoise, je me réfère tout concrètement à Manuela Baumgartner, qui fait son entrée dans l'engrenage viennois (une fois dedans, on est normalement recyclé à l'infini ...). Et je suis tout aussi content que MICHAELA BÜRGER, dont j'apprécie, vous le saurez, particulièrement le travail et que je considère comme la créatrice autrichienne de mode féminine avec de loin le plus de visibilité et de poids à l'échelle internationale actuellement (il suffit de penser à ses collaborations avec la maison Fabre et avec Anne Valérie Hash, ainsi qu'à la collection réalisée pour Mühlbauer, et au succès de sa propre marque...), puisse finalement se réjouir d'un peu de reconnaissance en Autriche où on n'a pas toujours réagi de façon très chaleureuse à son travail. Peut-être les AFA 2011 vont marquer le début d'un changement, finalement. Il serait grand temps, je trouve ...

some glimpses at Michaela Buerger's first accessory collection for men for fw11 - wow!

... sebbene l'annuale FESTIVAL DELLA MODA E DELLA FOTOGRAFIA a Vienna si celebri nei primi giorni di giugno, l'evento di lancio ha avuto luogo la settimana scorsa - ed venne completo con sfilata del marchio MARIOS SCHWAB, il celeberrimo austriaco a Londra. A questa occasione e ovviamente come prima tappa di WARM-UP sono stati presentati i nomi dei nominati a questa edizione dei AUSTRIAN FASHION AWARDS. Felicitazioni a tutti, eccovi la lista dei nominati, seguita da due piccole osservazioni: i finalisti per il premio di moda del ministero della cultura sono George Bezhanishvili (già così spesso menzionato su ParisVienne...) e Manuela Baumgartner; i nominati per il premio della città di Vienna sono i labels MESHIT e DIPTYCH, ambedue fondati da un duo di stiliste: Lena Krampf e Ida Steixner per meshit, Ali Zedtwitz e Valerie Lange per Diptych; e poi c'è il premio per INTERNATIONAL PR, le finaliste sono Christina Berger e Michaela Bürger. Auguro il meglio a tutti i finalisti, ma volevo ancora raggiungere che sono contento che vediamo ancora, qualche volta, dei nuovi nomi apparire nel contesto viennese, cioè il caso di MANUELA BAUMGARTNER che, dopo aver studiato all'Università delle Arti Decorative a Vienna, ha fondato la sua griffe nel 2009. E poi, il caso di MICHAELA BUERGER è tutt'altro: lei, per me, è senza dubbio in questo momento la stilista austriaca con la più grande presenza internazionalmente, e non sarei sorpreso se lei ce la facesse di diventare davvero grande un giorno. Da quando ha cominciato a lavorare in Francia nel 2006 (mi pare), si è imposta con la sua propria collezione ma anche grazie ai progetti (continui) realizzati per maison Fabre, Anne Valérie Hash e Mühlbauer a Vienna. Il fatto che lei è appena stata nominata per me rappresenta una prima tappa ad un più ampio riconoscimento anche in Austria ...

LACEY BOY

photo by Sia Kermani

... some time ago, Austria's fashion wonder-boy George Bezhanishvili was so kind to send me a teaser for his lacey, relaxed, floating spring 2011 collection.

Very much looking forward to George's output in his last year at university, by the way ...

FEMME MAISON

Femme Maison, photographed by Andreas Waldschütz

... George, again. This time round, George and Franziska. Bezhanishvili and Fürpass, of course. Two names to remember, definitely.

Louise Bourgeois, Temper Tantrum, 2000

George sent me images of their Louise Bourgeois-inspired collection Femme Maison, which made it into the final round of the Art & Fashion competition in Bilbao (meaning that the project will be exhibited at the Guggenheim Bilbao).

Sarah Lucas, Bunny Gets Snookered, 1997

From Femme Maison via Louise Bourgeois to Sarah Lucas - it's all so close...