01.10.2026 – 28.03.2027
Colour appeals to our senses, conveys a sense of belonging and reflects social structures. The exhibition tells a fascinating cultural history of colour through some 350 garments from the Wien Museum’s unique fashion collection. It demonstrates how closely clothing and power are intertwined and explores colour as a central symbol of status, emotion and identity. On display is fashion as it was actually worn, in both natural and artificially produced shades – not a staged display, but lived aesthetics. Alongside anonymous everyday pieces, well-known Viennese names such as Gertrud Höchsmann, Adele List, Fred Adlmüller, Helmut Lang, Schella Kann and Susanne Bisovsky also feature. Curated by Regina Karner and Michaela Lindinger, the exhibition spans the strictly regimented 18th century to the colour-anarchic present day. It paints a panorama that tells of nostalgia and innovation, luxury and poverty, sanctity and worldliness: colour as a social force that shapes society and brings fashion to life.
A Play of Colours – Fashion from Four Centuries
01.10.2026 – 28.03.2027
Wien Museum
Karlsplatz 8
1040 Vienna
www.wienmuseum.at
