Dear Reader,

It was a long journey protecting and hatching this mysterious egg. It took quite a while to figure out what kind of egg it was but it showed that it had to be ARACHNE! On this journey I met many people and talked to many craftswomen and craftsmen, asking their advice, inspiration, and motivation, and I collected all this information about all kinds of Arachnes so that now she is here and I can share it with You.

From the beginning stages, this project was very challenging and exciting, a very special team crystallized after a while and I am very thankful for every single position. Arachne is the result of the love and passion for garments, craftsmanship, and style. We looked at what’s going on in Vienna but also looked away from the temporary and involved artists and designers from many different stages of life and time. All these wonderful people come from different places in the world and have a unique story to tell.

Several of the contributors united in the fashion department of the University of Applied Arts in Vienna where this mysterious egg was first found. This collective energy produced the willpower to cherish this spider egg and develop its growth and warmth.

And now she’s here, crawling into all the corners of your homes!!!

I wish that ARACHNE ALMANAC brings you a different perspective of Fashion and Art in Vienna, my main focus is always to support the people behind the great artworks and with this first Issue of ARACHNE I wanted to create a Portrait – maybe it became a very personal Portrait included many positions I admire and believe in. But those people, their faces shape the city of Vienna but also the scenery of Art and Design worldwide and their work is strong and always created with love.

Therefore I hope that also ARACHNE ALMANAC is strong and I ensure and genuinely represent that she was created solely with LOVE so that you can enjoy this first ARACHNE ALMANAC.

With warmth,

Federico Protto (creative direction & editor), February 2019

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content (selection)

-student campaigns: created by the students, here their work is presented in the form of ‘fake’ fashion magazine advertisement

-editorial Arachne VS Athena: the myth illustrated within the spaces of the kunsthistorisches museum, Vienna, looks styled from student works

-contributor portrait series: throughout the whole magazine scatter portraits of several contributors with personal statements on fashion, Vienna or spiders

-interview and conversations with (fashion-)creatives in Vienna

-artist showcase

-spider photographs vs Athena/Minerva archive pieces from the museums sneaking throughout the whole publication

-process images: a showcase of excerpts of student’s sketchbooks

-Angewandte show archive showcase in the form of a horoscope

contributor: students, alumni & team of the fashion department of the university of applied arts vienna, hussein chalayan (former professor of the fashion department of the univeristy of applied arts vienna), monica titton, studie vie, stefan zisler, kunsthistorisches museum wien, christoph hörwerg, naturhistorisches museum wien, vicky roditis, anna lott donadel, irina gavrich, yuhei mukai, sophia gunev, naomi gugler, anita lerke, anna-sofie lugmeier, lisa deml, thomas van der jeught, edvin langfeld, daniel ratkai, diana barbosa gil, michel esselbrügge, julia taschler, luca fuchs, max märzinger, wally sallner, oliver, nathalie khan (la cambre), caroline stevenson (london college of fashion), reiner-andré törner, julian lee-harather, meltem calisir, dan gombos, viviane gulacsy