40 fashion students presented their
work at the University of Applied Arts Vienna—two awards and three scholarships were presented. Rector Ulrike Kuch: “Fashion
has the power to change perspectives.”
On June 2, 2026, the Fashion Department at the University
of Applied Arts presented work by 40 students from the current academic year—the show, held in the university’s atrium on
Vordere Zollamtsstraße, featured live performances by performance artist and singer Alex Franz Zehetbauer and drummer, performer,
and singer Stina Fors. Under the direction of British designer Craig Green, who has been a professor in the fashion class
since 2023, six graduation collections were also presented.
Watch the show on
YouTube.
In her speech, Rector Ulrike Kuch highlighted the far-reaching significance of fashion and its relevance
to society and the university: the cultural, aesthetic, political, ecological, economic, and social dimensions of fashion,
which have a direct impact on society. “Fashion has the power to change our perspective and our perception—this is equally
a central mission of the University of Applied Arts Vienna as an art university.”
Diplomas
A total of six
diploma students presented their final collections as part of the show: Alisa Tegin, Benedikt Götz, Felix Schmidt, Jara Dilara
Noori, Alara Koçman, and Linda Artemis Bergstötter, who submitted their work to the judgment of an international jury of experts.
In this way, the fashion program provides its graduates with additional feedback and an evaluation by the following experts,
in addition to the university’s internal jury: Francesca Gavin (curator, London), Lutz Huelle (fashion designer, Paris), Paul
Toner (journalist, 10 Magazine, London), Serge Carreira (head of the Emerging Brands Initiative at the Fédération de la Haute
Couture et de la Mode, Paris), Alexander Krantz (designer and image director, MM6 Maison Martin Margiela), and Youwie Roes
(creative talent manager, Eyes on Talents, Paris).
Awards
For the first time, the Palimpsest Award—worth
€5,000—was presented during the show to recognize an outstanding graduation collection; the award includes the purchase of
a piece for the Angewandte’s art collection. The first recipient is Felix Schmidt, who will complete his fashion studies at
the Angewandte in June 2026 with his graduation collection “a day.” The jury praised Schmidt’s collection as “a vision of
fashion that is both playful and sophisticated, combining technical precision, creative independence, and conceptual depth.
His collection is not only an outstanding thesis project but an artistic statement that exemplifies how fashion today can
be conceived in terms of materiality, physicality, staging, and cultural imagination.”
Jara Noori and Linda Artemis
Bergstötter were awarded the WIEN MITTE The Mall Award, worth €3,000, which was presented by Center Manager Florian Richter:
“Vienna is bursting with creative energy—you just have to give it the right space. Through our collaboration with the fashion
class at the University of Applied Arts and the fashion show on June 2, we at WIEN MITTE The Mall are sending a strong message:
We don’t just want to watch young talent; we want to actively support it. Supporting the next generation strengthens the cultural
diversity of this city. It is precisely this vibrant exchange that defines our center.”
Last but not least, two Fred
Adlmüller Scholarships and one Adlmüller International Grant, each worth €2,000, were awarded. These went to Felix Schmidt,
Marie Matondo Nsimba, and Alara Kocman. The Fred Adlmüller Scholarship honors the Austrian fashion designer Fred Adlmüller
(1909–1989), who was a formative figure in fashion at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. With his artistic vision and
international outlook, he influenced generations of students during the 1970s through his professorship at the University
of Applied Arts and made a significant contribution to the development of the fashion program. The scholarship recognizes
outstanding artistic achievements and supports students in their further development.
