• Young Austrian fashion design for Austria's Expo pavilion staff
• A knitted dirndl dress with embroidered flowers for  girls
• Leather trousers or black ensembles with a traditional scarf for boys

 

Closely related to Austria’s fashion history, but a far cry from being conservative or full of clichés, the Austrian team members present their outfits in the country’s pavilion at the EXPO 2010. While the collection is in some aspects synonymous with typical Austrian costumes, it spans the full spectrum to first quality textiles made in Austria.

 

Knitted dirndl dress for Shanghai by Susanne Bisovsky

Why look towards Milan or Paris, when one can draw on abundant resources from Austria?
This was the guiding principle for the fashion line. The female staff members of the Pavilion are clothed in a sheer, finely-knitted dress with hand-embroidered flowers – an exciting, novel interpretation of the dirndl, Austria’s traditional dress. Complementary to the dress, the ladies are wearing black leggings, a red-white-red chequered scarf, a black bolero as well as matching shoes and a small black bag.
Their male colleagues can choose between knee-length leather trousers with a gilet or black trousers with a black shirt and a traditional neckerchief. A black belt bag, original Austrian leather shoes and woollen knee-length socks complete the ensemble. As traditional forms and patterns are thus interpreted as new trends, costume fashion becomes wearable in the modern urban environment.

 

Clothing made of the natural fibre Lenzing-Modal

The collection was designed by Susanne Bisovsky, who resides in Vienna. The former pupil of Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Vivienne Westwood and Helmut Lang is a longstanding designer of traditional fashion-couture and has developed a new, individual “Austrian look” from her rich fund of ideas. While she handles past fashion with due sobriety, she follows a relaxed, contemporary approach right through to the materials used: the dresses of the pavilion staff are knitted from Lenzing-Modal, a natural beech wood fibre, manufactured in Linz, Austria.

 

The wearers of the collection are thus convincing representatives of a country that knows how to put the spotlight on its tradition. A country, whose dynamic relationship to its own culture has given birth to a unique design language. In this way, the EXPO-collection harmonises well with the futuristic design of the Austrian Pavilion.

 

Glimpse view of Susanne Bisovsky

Born in Linz, Austria, Susanne Bisovsky was called to Paris by Jean-Charles de Castelbajac already during her first year at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. After receiving the Adelmueller-scholarship, she worked for Helmut Lang for whom she developed “The Dress of the Year 1995”. She then designed for Goessl, Kathleen Madden, and now for Sportalm. Her creations are worn by Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Aoki Devon, Laetitia Casta and many others, and were photographed by Helmut Newton, Peter Lindbergh, Jürgen Teller, Karl Lagerfeld and Wolfgang Zajc.

 

http://www.bisovsky.com/