What makes a garment valuable? What ideas about masculinity does a suit carry? And how much personality can a bag hold? At the Austrian Fashion Awards 2026, work by five designers and labels supported through the Startstipendien Mode grants will be on view. Their answers take distinctly different forms.
Who decides what has value?
For Hao Wu and Alexander Georg Lehner from Sale Sale Studiothe question begins with familiar pieces: a shirt, a pair of suit trousers and three fabrics. In their first collection, Copy Paste, these starting points are copied, altered and assembled again. The result plays with the line between an original and an imitation, as well as the assumption that originality alone determines a garment’s value.
Miranda Matondo, the label founded by Marie Matondo and Danaide Miranda, is similarly attentive to the stories held in materials and techniques. Its collection Mosaico followed a stay in Agadir. Bringing together influences from flamenco and Amazigh jewellery, it centres movement, craftsmanship and cultural exchange. The clothes are designed beyond binary gender categories, leaving room for the person wearing them.
Menswear with a memory
Oliver Kuzma looks to historical menswear and translates it into a robust contemporary wardrobe. Inspired by Guy Ritchie’s early films, his current collection considers the images associated with aristocracy and the working class. He is drawn to clothes that can be worn, lived in and allowed to develop a patina of their own.
For Paul Alexander Reisinger, the past is present in the fabric itself. Working predominantly with vintage stock and used textiles, he brings alpine and floral references into classic menswear silhouettes. His designs make space for personal memory and a more open idea of masculinity.
Viola Kollár turns her attention to an accessory that often accompanies us every day. Her bags are made to be useful and lasting while holding a presence of their own. Hand stitching, carefully finished leather edges and reused materials are part of an approach that brings craftsmanship together with personal meaning.
The five perspectives will be presented on 5 November 2026 at the Austrian Fashion Awards at Kunsthalle Wien in the MuseumsQuartier. Organised by the Austrian Fashion Associationthe event offers a glimpse of what focused support can make possible: individual practices that take familiar forms and ask new questions of them. The winners of this year’s fashion awards will only be announced that evening.
