This year was the 23rd Life Ball charity held in Vienna, a festive event that contributes to the fight against AIDS. Always opening with a runway show enlisting some of fashion’s most celebrated and larger-than-life players, this year was Ball veteran Jean Paul Gaultier‘s turn in the spotlight. One of the couturier’s main muses is Alexandra Agoston who has been a Gaultier staple since she began modeling. “I first met Alexandra when she was just starting her first season in Paris. I was struck not only by her statuesque beauty, but also by how well-spoken she was,” said Jean Paul Gaultier of Alexandra. So of course she was cast to walk in his spanning retrospective fashion show for the Life Ball event–whose aim is “Fighting AIDS & Celebrating Life.” And celebrate they do, throwing one of the most fabulous parties of the year. It was 20 years ago he last showed at the event and Gaultier told Alexandra, “Life Ball helps a noble cause and I have been supporting it for many years. I first did a show in 1995 and I returned to Vienna 20 years later. Lifeball has grown, it’s an enormous celebration, a huge event; it is 20 times bigger and I am 20 years older but it doesn’t matter. My model friends walked in my show, it was a pleasure to find them again in Vienna and they inspired me to present more than a hundred looks. I hope they had as much fun as me.”
Alexandra, amidst all the Klimt inspired gold and glitter, captured the spectacle–exclusively here for Models.com: