Let us start with June, and present to you a music festival (or happening?) that we thought we should mention: ‘Springfestival’ in Graz, which just took place from June 2^nd to 4^th. With 10 years and a nomination for ‘Best European Indoor Festival’ under its belt, Springfestival has emerged from the ‘Noughties’ as one of the leading and most cutting-edge European festivals. During the day the brightest ‘digital minds’ deliver talks on electronic art, design and technology at the integrated conference, during the nights Springfestival brings several line-ups of star DJ’s, acclaimed lives acts and upcoming talents, at 6 stunning venues and urban spaces across Graz.

The first big and well known music festival is ‘Novarock’, it takes place from June 11 ^th to 13^th in Nickelsdorf (Pannonia Fields II) and for 2011 the current headliners are Iron Maiden, System of a Down, Linkin Park and Volbeat. With more than 30 acts and more than 200.000 visitors this is definitely the largest open air music festival in Austria.

The second big one in June calls itself ‘Urban Art Forms Festival’, the venue was ‘Wiesen’ until 2010, now in 2011 the venue is ‘Arena Nova Playgrounds’ at Wiener Neustadt. In 2011 it takes place from June 16^th to 19^th and currently this festival shows more than 30 line-ups. This festival is, according to the website, Europe’s leading audio visual festival and is visited by more than 36.000 visitors every year. The line-up for this year shows acts from Paul Kalkenbrenner, Deichkind, Deadmau5, Fat Boy Slim and Vitalic.

A well-known festival in Vienna is the ‘Donauinselfest’, which takes place since 1984, always by the end of June, open air with no entry fee. With about 3 million visitors during 3 days it is the largest open air festival in Europe. This festival does not only show music acts but also different shows, product presentations, sport acts and so on. The line-up for 2011 shows bands like Europe, Söhne Mannheims, Die Happy but also acts from Sido and Roots Manuva. In 2011 it takes place from June 24^th to 26^th and believe us, it is a great festival!

Two big festivals in July are ‘Lovely Days’ on July 8^th with acts like Santana, Mother’s Finest and Ten Years After as well as ‘Forestglade’ on July 16^th with acts like The Pogues and Airbourne. In August 2011 we see the following festivals: ‘Stuck 2011’ in Salzburg with several international acts and DJ’s, ‘Sunsplash Reloaded’ on August 27^th, with a focus on reggae, ska and latin and line-ups like Alpha Blondy, Jimmie Cliff and Capleton as well as ‘Soundslike Open Air Festival’ which takes place on August 26^th and 27^th in Graz. This seems to be a new festival, the website shows some interesting acts and line-ups, we are indeed curious.

Another and also big festival is the ‘FM4 Frequency Festival’ at the Green Park St. Pölten. This festival does exist since 2001 and is constantly growing, not only the number of visitors but also the level of acts. For 2011 you can enjoy The Chemical Brothers, Kasabian, Dropkick Murphys, Deichkind, Kaiserchiefs and Stereo MC’s. And we close our personal overview for 2011 with the ‘Two Days a Week Festival’, with a focus on alternative and rock music one can see acts like The Offspring, Alkbottle, Beatsteaks and Paradise Lost.

Does music set the tone in Austria in summer 2011?
If you are interested in music we think it does, we counted the total number of acts in June, July, August and September … sorry, too much, so for us music does set the tone, we hope in combination with sun, party and lots of fun … we just booked the 1st tickets!

From May 11^th until May 15^th 2011 the Lake´s Fashion Days will take place in Pörtschach, Carinthia, Austria. Lake´s – my lake hotel & spa, opened in 2010, will organize a unique fashion show at the breathtaking lake Wörthersee.

4 DAYS PACKED WITH FASHION FROM AUSTRIA, GERMANY, ITALY AND SLOVENIA

More than 30 designers from the area around the Alps and the Danube – Austria, Germany, Italy and Slovenia – will present their fashion during 4 days.

The collections shown at the Lake´s Fashion Days follow the motto of “the new interpretation of a summer hideaway” – an expression from the 19^th century, meaning a relaxing stay in the country of the nobility and the wealthy bourgeoisie during the summertime. Glamorous dresses and summer casual wear are also part of the show as beachwear and accessoires.

A HOTEL IS TURNED INTO A CATWALK

The setting of the fashion event is the nature, the Karavankes and the Carnic Alps, the lake Wörthersee, but also the modern architecture of Lake´s – my lake hotel & spa. The building as well as its infrastructure is directly implemented into this great happening; they are the platform, stage and setting for the presentation of fashion.

The way of presenting the collections differentiates the Lake´s Fashion Days from already known fashion shows. Parts of the hotel such as the lakes bridge or the hotel terrace with lake view are turned into the catwalk.

Just take a look at the recently launched website of the Lake´s Fashion Days: fashiondays.mylakehotel.com and become a part of it.

FASHION-HIGHLIGHTS & SHOPPING – 4 consecutive days long at 1 place

- Who are you?
My name is Claudia Rosa Lukas, I am the co-founder and the main force behind the online presence of AUSTRIANFASHION.net.

- What do you like about what you do?
Thinking of simple ideas and making them big.

- What don’t you like about what you do?
Seeing simple ideas get complicated.

- Please tell us about AUSTRIANFASHION.NET and your goals.
Initiated by a group of independent fashion designers, AUSTRIANFASHION.NET was launched in September 07 as a unique networking platform for the Austrian fashion industry. From its first hour, the website was conceived as a synergetic initiative to support young and upcoming designers by putting their work into the limelight.
AUSTRIANFASHION.NET offers relevant information for all designers, art institutions, journalists and fashionistas eager to know more about the country’s very much alive fashion scene.

In addition, editorial contributions provide in-depth coverage of all important fashion events in Austria as well as of venues abroad that mark the appearance of Austrian fashion designers.

One of the founders’ main aims was to generate increased interest for the multi-faceted landscape of Austrian fashion and to trigger passionate discussions about its potential for the future.

AUSTRIANFASHION.NET combines all the advantages of independent and fast-moving online publishing. Once again, it allows a broad readership to delve into Austria’s fashion scene and learn about it from a dedicated and entertaining insiders’ perspective.
Besides information, communication and constant research, we biannually publish the Austrian Fashion Guide, which offers an overview of Austrian designers showing their collections at the Paris Fashion Week.

Six thousand copies of the guide are printed and distributed to an international audience of buyers, stylists and fashion journalists.

The guide can be downloaded here.

At the beginning of May 2009, a fair for fashion designers and manufacturers took place in Vienna for the very first time. The fair was initiated by AUSTRIANFASHION.NET and was quite successful.

- Are you working with blogs and if yes, what is your favourite blog?
Of course we are working with several blogs and sites similar to ours, both at a national and international level. We strongly believe in networking. This is the only way to make sure your message gets heard. It was therefore possible – in less than one year – to create an effective network comprising local and international editors. This reflects the basic idea of the internet as an ever-changing community engaged in continuous conversation. A steadily growing number of visitors appreciate this multifaceted inside look into a wide range of topics covered.

- Your experiences with the fashion industry in Austria?
Compared to the increasing number of independent Austrian fashion labels, the industry is very small.
Lots of new labels have been founded since 2000 because of the lack of employment opportunities in this field.
Still lots of information, subsidies and networking is required to understand and work with this multi-faceted landscape of Austrian fashion on an industrially manufactured basis, including tradition and innovation at the same time. There is still a lot of work to do and that is very challenging!

- Any other comments you want to share with us?
Let’s do things exactly right.

A great initiative which we think needs more attentiveness.

That is why well known fashion labels currently change their strategy and are trying to increase their direct contact with the final consumer, no better way as to use specific fashion blogs and social media networks like Facebook or twitter or even distribute a new fashion line on the best online shops.

A few examples of online shops

www.theoutnet.com
Tthe ultimate site for chic discount shopping.

www.catwalkgenius.com
A great shop where you can buy ‘hard-to-find’ pieces from designer labels, one can even buy a share in a specific collection. Their blog is also interesting.

www.asos.com
Over 876 brands & labels.

A few labels also started to integrate their consumers via the web 2.0 by putting their fashion shootings or images on different sites. A good example is www.style.com, here you can see different videos on fashion shows, fashion moments, shootings and many more. Or take www.firstview.com where you can enjoy the world’s largest fashion database with more than 3 million fashion images, videos and more. A very good site is www.notjustalabel.com, if you are searching for a specific or upcoming label you will definitely find it here and it even contains a great shop!

Interesting is an approach done on Youtube: youtubefashion1.blogspot.com Here you can see all sorts of movies on fashion (shootings and shows). And if you are an upcoming label, take a look at www.showstudio.com, not only a useful site for the making of a fashion film but also excellent for distributing.

Interested how specific shops look like? www.newfashionlabels.com has a great ‘Shop Tour Video Session’, you can look at more than 20 different shops around the globe.

What about Facebook? How many labels do use Facebook to stay in touch with their consumers, distribute their new fashion lines and gain more ‘friends’? We took a quick look at which Austrian fashion designer has its own label on Facebook. Lena Hoschek has, on her page she shows different images of fashion shows where she did attend with her label, also Anna Aichinger, she mentions all possible events where you can see or buy her fashion. Gina Drewes has posted 23 image albums, and the label ‘Elfenkleid’ has some interesting links to partners, fashion weeks & events as well as some promotional activities. It seems that many fashion labels do use this social network to provide news, special promotions and images and also distribute their new collection after the official launching, although we did not check activities from fashion labels on Twitter.

Is it ‘hot’ to read fashion blogs? Yes definitely but it is not easy to find the best one as there are so many, it is also difficult to differentiate. The experts in the fashion industry most probably ‘connected’ themselves to the most popular ones to keep updated on what specific labels do and which new labels do enter the market. We looked at a few and what to share this with you:

IamFashion

Two ‘fashion darlings’ started this blog because they wanted to have a place where trends and fashion from the runway and on celebrities can easily be understood and translated into down to earth, youthful street fashion. They started late 2004 and this blog is full of nice articles and images.
iamfashion.blogspot.com

The Sartorialist

Done by star blogger Scott Schuhman, this blog was selected as one of Time Magazine’s TOP 100 design influencers. It offers postings since mid 2005, great images and is used by different labels for commercial issues.
thesartorialist.blogspot.com

Stylebubble

Done by ‘Susie Bubble’ from the UK, this is one of the trendsetting blogs within the fashion industry. She is not a fashion expert/insider – merely a fashion lover/consumer, and that is exactly what you can feel & see when reading her blog, full of unique daily fashion experiences.
stylebubble.typepad.com

A nice Austrian fashion blog is tschilp.com It tells you all about fashion trends and fashion experiences in Vienna.

A lot of fashion bloggers can be found on independentfashionbloggers.org It also cultivates a community for fashion bloggers to share their experiences and creates a resource so everyone can build a better blog. It also provides news about fashion shows, new fashion blogs and fashion blog conferences.

A pretty new initiative on ‘fashion 2.0’ I would like to share with you is www.garmz.com. You design and Garmz does the rest, pretty easy, they operate as a stage for designers to promote and present themselves and their work and get immediate feedback from a worldwide network of consumers and experts. They provide the handling of the complete production process at no costs and no risk. Also visit their blog to get a view behind the scene of Garmz. Since they started this platform beginning of 2010 they featured 7 ‘designer dates’. They also do organize the ‘Fashion Camp’ during the ‘MQ Vienna Fashion Week’ this year, I will be a wonderful gathering of interesting people, or a clash of cultures. The future of fashion, the change of communication, market and trend spreading. The Internet as the companion of new generations. Together with bloggers, fashionistas, photographers, designers, internet people, (online) shop operators, fashion designers and style hunters this will be nice social networking event all about fashion.

It seems that ‘fashion 2.0’ does not stop, or better to say that the web 2.0 does not stop the change process of fashion versus experts and consumers. After spending more than 24 hours on the internet, looking at more than 200 sites (blogs, shops, Facebook) one can say that creativity within this industry combined with web 2.0 is nowadays at a very high level and speed and will become larger in the very near future. Welcome Fashion 2.0!

1. Who are you?

2. What do you like about what you do?
I’m free to write about the most amazing things of life.

3. What don’t you like about what you do?
Beauty as such – can hurt sometimes …

4. Please tell us about your brand “Adi Weiss” and your aims.
Adi Weiss has his own Shirt-Collection and his own blog: www.adiweiss.at
Furthermore he is known as Austrian’s most famous “Mode-Fuzzi”. Adi Weiss has no more high aims

5. Are you working with other blogs, especially in the fashion & lifestyle industry, and if yes, what is your favourite blog?
No, I’m not. My team and I are snowed under with work on the www.adiweiss.at – homepage. That’s what we concentrate on the most, at the moment.

6. Your TOP3 with regards to Austrian fashion brands and why?
There are a lot of talented people in Austria, hard to mention only three of them …

7. Your TOP 3 with regards to international fashion brands and why?
D’Squared, Dolce & Gabbana and of course, the Adi Weiss-Shirt-Collection )) Three brands with the perfect cut.

8. What are your general comments about the fashion industry and the future trends?
Fashion is not just worn by models, that’s why there need to be some rethinking in this case!

9. Any comments you want to share with us?
My only advice: No Ballerinas and High Heels forever!

What makes the 3^rd ‘Pink Lake Festival’ on Lake Wörthersee so special? Is it an event ‘off the beaten track’, is it because it is held in a small town in the heart of Europe, is it the festival program or is it just the name?

It is definitely not the common ‘big city backdrop’, there are no parades for the titillation of curious ‘onlookers’, but in fact an international get-together for gays, lesbians and anyone in between, including friends of the community……converging from different countries and coming together in a beautiful small town…..embedded between a unique countryside and directly on the gorgeous Lake Wörthersee.

This year the 3^rd annual ‘Pink Lake Festival’, which takes place from September 2^nd to 5^th, 2010 is full of surprises. Hosted by ‘Wörthersee Tourismus GmbH’, the program for Pink Lake 2010 promises a colourful mixture of various events including entertainment, partying, relaxation and sports. The first night of the festival is the annual ‘Almdudler Trachtenparty‘ (Austrian Folk Party) at the beautiful Villa Miralago directly on the lake, where both entertainers and guests alike dress in traditional Austrian clothing, from ‘Lederhosen”……to “Dirndls.” The next night features the much loved Boat Night Party, cruising around the lake on several boats accompanied by great music. The final night includes the famous Black & White Party, with hot DJs and over 1000 guests from Austria, Germany and guests from across Europe. Many daily activities offer non-stop entertainment, and will take place during the festival on and around the beautiful lake, including swimming, hiking, biking, dating games….as well as simply basking in the late summer sun, chilling and cruising at the Beach Club. New this year is the inclusion of the new beach club ‘Sunshine Lake’s Beach Club’ at the newly opened ‘Lake’s – my lake hotel’. This beach club will operate as ‘get-together’ for all guests throughout the duration of the festival and the organisation will provide the guests of Pink Lake with the necessary information on all events.

The newly opened ‘Lake’s – my lake hotel’ will be the official partner hotel of ‘Pink Lake’ 2010, press, journalists as well as invited guests and VIP will stay here and enjoy ‘paradise’ whilst enjoying ‘Pink Lake’.

Important partners and sponsors are ‘Kärnten Werbung’, ‘Wörthersee Tourismus GmbH’, the magazines ‘Queer’, ‘Mate’ Magazine, ‘Blu’, ‘Winq’ and ‘Name It’, ‘Almdudler’, ‘Pago’, ‘Villacher Bier’, Communigayte as well as the sites gay.net and gay-parship.com.

How to get to Pink Lake?

Easy by plane: Klagenfurt Airport offers direct flights to and from London, Cologne/Bonn, Frankfurt, Hannover, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich and Vienna. The trip from the airport to Poertschach is only a few minutes via taxi or rental car.

Travel by train, the train station of the town Pörtschach can be easily reached via both long- and short-distance trains.

By car from Vienna, Munich, Venice or Zagreb you are at Lake Wörthersee in approximately 3 hours.

Come and end your summer with a huge splash, at the third annual PINK LAKE international Gay Festival on the gorgeous Lake Wörthersee in Austria from September 02 – 05, 2010.

Sun, lots of music and party. Although the weather is not yet like it should be, we should have a closer look at the festival season for 2010 in Austria. And get really excited and ready to book a ticket. Some events have already been communicated and show their lineups.

The ‘FM 4 Frequency Festival’ in St. Pölten is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, a reason to celebrate to the max. The organization was able to contract the german legend band ‘Die Toten Hosen’. This year from August 19th to 21th a large variety of musical entertainment will be offered on seven different stages (www.frequency.at).

For party people looking for a festival ‘out in the suburbs’ the area ‘Waldviertel’ offers on June 02 ‘Rock am Teich’, a great venue with open-air and Red Bull stage, beach zone and party tents (www.rock-am-teich.at).

A big event is happening from June 11-13 in Nickelsdorf, it is called ‘Nova Rock’ and exists since 2005. This festival draws up to 150.000 people over a 3-day period and is definitely Austria’s biggest rock music festival and also one of the largest in Europe. The confirmed bands for 2010 are Rammstein, Green Day, Slayer, Deichkind, the Austrian upcoming band The Sorrow, Bullet for my Valentine and Beatsteaks. There will also be an unplugged performance of Sportfreunde Stiller and for those who like real hard rock, get ready for Heaven and Hell (www.novarock.at).

A small focus on a new festival called ‘Paradise Festival’, cosmic and trance music to create summer hypnosis. This festival is held from July 01-04 in Falkenstein. Look at their lineup! Some great bands and DJ do perform on a ‘dream stage’, a ‘moon stage’ and a ‘sun stage’ (www.paradise-festival.at).

Again in St. Pölten the next festival is called ‘Beatpatrol’, which will take place from July 23-24, their program shows acts bands & DJ’s like Faithless, IAMX, Felix Da Housecat, The Freestylers, Paul van Dyk, Kosheen and Stereo MC’s. Funny, like the Paradise Festival they also have some nice stages: a ‘sunshine stage’, a ‘good morning stage’ and a ‘samsara outdoor stage’, have a look at www.beatpatrol.at.

Two larger and traditional festivals do boost music & party in Wiesen, the first one is called ‘Lovely Days’, it exists since 2006 and does bring some really big names on stage, confirmed for 2010 are Uriah Heep and the Manfred Mann’s Earth Band (www.lovelydays.at), the second one is called ‘Eristoff Track Urban Art Forms Festival presented by Electronic Beats’, also a promising festival. Moonbootica will perform with their special ‘four-to-the-floor’ sound, a combination out of techno, house and big beat. Friends of Drum’n’Bass are happy to see the following names: Shimon and Dirtyphonics (www.uaf-festival.at).

Surely we will see a few smaller events showing up for 2010 for the larger cities in Austria, but the ones already communicated do promise soft and hard beats, fun, party and a lot of excitement!

The 2 topics for the YHA 2010 are:

1. Back to basics : how to improve customer satisfaction and service levels?
2. Online hotel reviews : do reviews influence hotel revenue and how will the hotel manage this?

The Young Hotelier Award is an initiative of the GMC (General Managers Council) of the leading hotels in Vienna and powered by JohnsonDiversey.

The presentations for the YHA 2010 will be held at the hosting hotel Le Meridien on March 10^th, 2010. More information on the history of YHA, the event itself as well as the partners of YHA can be found on the newly established website www.younghotelier.at

What are the reasons for organising a fashion event like the MQ VIENNA FASHION WEEK?

What are your short and middle term goals?
To us it is very important that we can welcome a lot of fashionistas, motivated designers and satisfied sponsors. More detailed: With a fashion event like the MQ VIENNA FASHIONWEEK we hope to promote the Austrian fashion scene on a national as well as on an international level. Our future plan is to organize the MQ VIENNA FASHION WEEK twice a year like all the other fashion weeks in the world.

The idea to establish Vienna as a centre for fashion is not new at all. Why is the MQ VIENNA FASHION WEEK different and what is so special about it?
That’s right. Vienna hosted some very good fashion events in the past. But we do not want to just produce a catwalk event: We want to create a communication platform. Designers can get in contact with national and international buyers during opening hours- not just at the after show parties. The fashion conscious customers are an important part of our concept. They will see the latest trends and buy directly from the designers.

How do you see your target audience? Who is invited to come?
Everyone is more than welcome to visit the Mq Vienna Fashion Week. Everybody can visit, from the head of buyers of a big chain to every woman and every man who has an interest in fashion. We want the perfect mix of industry, trade and fashion conscious consumers. After all we create a platform for the exchange of ideas not just catwalk shows.

What kinds of fashion can we expect?
We focus on prêt a porter as well as urban design.

You always talk about Austrian designers. Do you exclude international ones?
Fashion always was and will always be international. Our main focus lies on Austrian designers but we have managed to get the right balance between national and international designers. For more details check our website: www.mqviennafashionweek.com.

Which designers are invited? Do you have a frame program?
We do not want and also cannot favour one particular designer. The MQ VIENNA FASHIONWEEK will feature 65 national but also international designers: Some with their own catwalk show, some with representative stands. From September 24th until the September 27th 30 fashion shows will take place- lounges, coffeehouses and chill out areas will be offered to the visitor as well. To make a long story short: The Austrian fashion scene will be assembled at one spot!

What are the highlights?
Each day is a highlight! Especially we are looking forward to the 24. of September: A night hosted by DIVA Magazine with the show of the international well-know designer Michel Mayer. Another highlight will be Friday where the focus lies on menswear. Tom Rebl will show his amazing collection. We are also very proud that Marcel Ostertag- winner of the Ringstraßen Galerien Design Award 2009 will show his collection on Saturday. Sunday stands in the light of Urban Design with the Austrian hat designer Julia Cranz (Anna Netrebko und Sarah Jessica Parker wear her creations).

Just come and see!

The Ring Hotel, Vienna´s Casual Luxury Hotel, is partner of the MQ Vienna Fashion Week 09.