Review of the 18th annual Life Ball, Vienna – July 17

Vienna's City Hall once again played host to the annual Life Ball, a glitzy charity fundraiser for people living with HIV; and the heavy thunderstorms that passed over the city failed to put a dampener on the mood. Umbrellas and plastic rain ponchos (suitably red in colour) were the top choice of clothing and accessory of the evening. The event itself was organised by the non-profit organisation AIDS LIFE - founded by Gery Keszler and Dr. Torgom Petrosian in 1992; an initiative that continues to raise money for people living with HIV and AIDS, maintaining public awareness of the pandemic. The event continues to raise large amounts of money for the cause with over 1.5 million euros raised at last year’s fundraiser…

"The event continues to raise large amounts of money for the cause with over 1.5 million euros raised at last year’s fundraiser…"

The red carpet shindig was also (as ever) an opportunity for celebrities of Hollywood, the music industry and the fashion world to show their support. This year saw the attendance of US actress Whoopi Goldberg, tennis star Boris Becker, actress Rebecca Romijn and burlesque performer Dita von Teese - as well as the most high profile delegate of the conference, the 42nd President of the United States of America, Bill Clinton. Due to the rain, organisers were forced to cut short part of the planned evening’s opening festivities, although the ball itself was safely within the exteriors of City Hall’s grand gothic architecture.

Fusing fashion and music in typical Viennese grandeur and flair, the thousands of attendees of the event, many from the gay and lesbian community, are known to party into the early hours of the next morning. This year saw big names in fashion coming together to design the outfit for the fashion show with Diane von Fürstenberg, Kenneth Cole, and Francisco Costa all showing their support for AIDS LIFE.

For the first time this year the annual fundraiser - which is permanently held in Vienna - coincided with the International AIDS Conference. Vienna is the host city of this year’s bi-annual conference and so AIDS is definitely the buzzword of the moment with posters of the event on the streets of Vienna and attendees of the Life Ball and International AIDS Conference coming together in one very beautiful European capital. The Life Ball was a fitting Viennese introduction to the 2010 conference and hopefully, there will be many more headlines relating to AIDS this week and in so keeping the spotlight firmly on the issues that matter…

Words: Elaine Wong
Photos: Flickr users bigblogg and Christie Digital