Andreas Kronthaler

Andreas Kronthaler
Name	Andreas Kronthaler
Birth date	1966
Birth place	Salzburg, Austria
Occupation	Fashion designer
Known for	Creative Director at Vivienne Westwood

Andreas Kronthaler is an Austrian fashion designer and creative director notable for his long-standing collaboration with Vivienne Westwood and for leading the Vivienne Westwood house after her formal retirement. He trained and worked across London, Paris, and Milan, contributing to collections that engaged with historic tailoring, theatricality, and political commentary. Kronthaler's practice intersected with institutions such as the Royal College of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the British Fashion Council, shaping contemporary fashion discourse through runway shows, museum retrospectives, and commercial lines.

Early life and education

Andreas Kronthaler was born in Salzburg, Austria, and brought up amid the cultural institutions of Salzburg Festival and the Mozarteum University Salzburg. He pursued formal training in fashion and tailoring at the Orthodox], not applicable and later enrolled at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and the Royal College of Art, where he studied under influential tutors who had trained at institutions linked to Central Saint Martins and Parsons School of Design. During these formative years he was exposed to archives from the Victoria and Albert Museum, design collections at the Musée Galliera, and historical garments conserved at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His education included technical workshops referencing the practices of ateliers associated with Dior, Chanel, and Givenchy.

Career

Kronthaler's early career involved collaborations with design ateliers in Vienna, Milan, and London where he worked on tailoring projects that intersected with costume commissions for productions at the Burgtheater, the Royal Opera House, and the Théâtre du Châtelet. He entered the contemporary fashion scene through showrooms and presentations during London Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week, aligning with platforms like the British Fashion Council and boutiques such as Dover Street Market. His trajectory included partnerships with retailers including Harrods, Selfridges, and Barneys New York, and editorial features in publications like Vogue, i-D, Dazed, Another Magazine, and The Guardian.

Collaboration with Vivienne Westwood

Kronthaler began a creative partnership with Vivienne Westwood in the mid-1990s that evolved from apprentice-like collaboration into co-authorship of collections showcased at venues including The Old Vic, the Royal Albert Hall, and the Roundhouse. Their work together engaged with political campaigns run by organizations such as Greenpeace, Oxfam, and Amnesty International, integrating activism into runway narratives similar to projects endorsed by UNICEF and United Nations initiatives. He assumed increasing responsibility for season-to-season creative direction and, following high-profile exhibitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Museum of London, was appointed Creative Director of the Vivienne Westwood label, working alongside the brand's commercial teams, legal counsel, and licensing partners like Vivienne Westwood Ltd. and international distributors.

Design style and influences

Kronthaler's aesthetic synthesizes references to historic European tailoring, theatrical costume, and subcultural signifiers drawn from movements associated with Punk rock icons like The Sex Pistols, figures in New Romanticism and the Mod scene, as well as canonical designers such as Christian Dior, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent, and Paul Poiret. He has cited archival sources from the Victoria and Albert Museum and sketchbooks from the collections of Palais Galliera and the Metropolitan Museum of Art as influences, and his silhouettes recall tailoring traditions found in Savile Row and Haute couture ateliers. Kronthaler often employs fabric techniques referencing tartanesque patterns associated with Scotland and drapery echoing Byzantine and Renaissance costumes, while his shows bring together collaborators from the worlds of music, film, and visual art including producers linked to BBC and photographers represented by agencies such as Magnum Photos.

Major collections and exhibitions

Kronthaler's work has been presented in runway collections during London Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week and mounted in museum contexts at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Museum of London, the Berliner Festspiele, and the Fondation Cartier. Notable exhibitions include retrospectives and special projects that paired garments with archival materials from the British Library, the Tate Modern, and the National Portrait Gallery. Capsule collections were released via retailers and e-commerce platforms associated with Matches Fashion, Net-a-Porter, and Selfridges, and collaborative installations have appeared at events like the Venice Biennale and the Milan Design Week.

Awards and recognition

Kronthaler's contributions to fashion and design earned recognition from bodies such as the British Fashion Council, which has historically awarded designers with honors linked to Fashion Awards and sponsorships influenced by partnerships with institutions like the Royal Society of Arts and the Council of Fashion Designers of America. His collaborative practice with Vivienne Westwood was acknowledged in press coverage by The Times, Financial Times, The New York Times, and industry profiles in Vogue Italia and WWD. He has been invited to lecture and to serve on juries at the Royal College of Art, Central Saint Martins, and the Istituto Marangoni.

Category:Austrian fashion designers