Vienna Philharmonic ladies get new outfits

The female members of the Vienna Philharmonic have been equipped with new concert costumes.Thilo Fechner, a member of the famous orchestra whose idea it was to launch a competition for a new design, said today (Fri): “The main idea was to provide the whole ensemble with matching outfits.”Fechner said men of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra will get new suits next year.The new outfits for the orchestra’s ladies – pinstriped trousers and a long black blazer to be worn a white blouse and grey gilet – were designed by Vienna’s University for Applied Arts student Markus Binder.Decades of public discussion preceded the orchestra’s decision in 1997 to allow female musicians to join it.The Vienna Philharmonic has played to sold out crowds all over the world since it was founded in 1842, but it best known for performing at the Musikverein concert hall in Vienna on New Year’s Day.Around 45 million people followed the live screening of the most recent New Year’s Concert conducted by Frenchman Georges Pretre. The conductor of the next New Year’s Concert will be Vienna State Opera’s musical director Franz Welser-Möst.