On Sunday evening, Salzburg added a new jewel to its cultural crown: the inaugural amfAR Gala Salzburg, staged for the first time during the city’s world-famous Festival. Organised by LIFE+, the evening drew a distinguished crowd – Jeremy Irons, Sir Bob Geldof, Sunnyi Melles, Ute Lemper and Rufus Wainwright among them – in support of amfAR’s mission to fund lifesaving AIDS research.
The setting was suitably baroque: the Residenz Salzburg, a space steeped in history and theatricality. It was here that Vivienne Westwood’s house, under the creative direction of Andreas Kronthaler, unveiled an extraordinary series of costumes. Inspired by Jedermann (Everyman), Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s defining Salzburg play, Kronthaler delved into the festival’s costume archives, unearthing garments once worn by opera singers and performers. These were disassembled, re-stitched, fused with pieces from current Westwood collections, and reborn in a visual language of rebellion and romance.
“Theatre is vital,” Kronthaler reflected. “Salzburg is special to Vivienne and me, and the house of Vivienne Westwood is honoured to be part of the amfAR Gala, held in Austria for the first time. We created costumes in collaboration with the wonderful costume department of the Salzburg Festival for this performance. The costumes were then auctioned to raise funds for the lifesaving research and the ongoing fight to end the global AIDS epidemic.”
Life, Death, Power and Humility
The costumes were more than decorative. They told a story – echoing the central themes of Jedermann: life and death, possession and loss, power and humility.
The character of Buhlschaft (the lover) appeared three times, represented by three different actresses, each in a distinct red gown that marked stages of resistance, transformation and vision. One dress, in crimson silk taffeta, drew from the house’s archive and the fairy-tale world of Cinderella; another was fashioned from repurposed chiffon gowns in shades of scarlet and rose, enriched with Westwood’s signature butterfly motifs. The final incarnation, worn by Sunnyi Melles, was the legendary “Bird of Paradise” dress – a Westwood icon reimagined with baroque sleeves and archival detailing.
Elsewhere, Death appeared as a violinist in black taffeta, her gown reconstructed from fragments of theatrical costumes, dark yet luminous with bead-worked shoulders and a trailing train. The banquet guests – Tischgesellschaft – shimmered in hybrid silhouettes that married Elizabethan corsetry with feathered skirts and fifties ball gowns reborn in crystal-embroidered tulle. Even the Devil, Mammon, and the comic cousins (Dicker und Dünner Vetter) found new sartorial lives through Westwood’s cutting and recombining of the past.
Each garment bore twin labels: the original Salzburg Festival tag and a special Vivienne Westwood & amfAR insignia, fusing heritage and activism in a single stitch.
Fashion as Philanthropy
The gala climaxed with a charity auction led by Simon de Pury, in which the costumes were sold to raise funds. Together with sponsorships, the evening generated over half a million euros for amfAR. Alongside the garments, Westwood collaborated with Gmundner Keramik to design a hand-painted plate depicting Buhlschaft and Jedermann meeting in Salzburg’s Domplatz – a symbolic union of theatre, art and craft, dated 24 August 2025.
A Legacy of Defiance and Care
For more than fifty years, Vivienne Westwood’s house has stood as a beacon of independence, blending provocation with purpose. What began as fashion has long expanded into cultural critique and global advocacy on issues of climate and human rights. In Salzburg, that spirit translated into costumes that embodied both spectacle and urgency.
As the audience rose in applause, it was clear this was no ordinary gala. It was a reminder that theatre, costume and couture can still serve a higher calling: to inspire, to transform, and above all, to sustain the fight against an epidemic that knows no borders.
by Alexandra I. Mas, 2025
