Austria’s right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ) has criticised the use of almost €400,000 in public funds for a university research project examining the evolution of “far-right” fashion.
The three-year project, entitled “Fashion and Right-Wing Extremism,” is being carried out by the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and is due to conclude in September. It has received almost €400,000 in funding from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), which is financed through public money and supervised by the Social Democrat-led Ministry for Women, Science, and Research.
Led by fashion researcher Elke Gaugele, the study explores how clothing associated with right-wing extremist movements has changed since 1989.
While earlier decades were characterised by recognisable symbols such as bomber jackets and combat boots, the research argues that contemporary far-right groups increasingly adopt more mainstream styles, including polo shirts and floral dresses.
According to Gaugele, extremist movements deliberately borrow existing fashion trends in order to appeal to broader audiences. The research team conducted fieldwork in Germany and the United States, visited clothing retailers, interviewed staff, and analysed online material and visual content.
The project also examines how themes promoted through clothing have evolved, including anti-environmentalist messaging, hostility towards gender diversity, and the growing influence of the U.S.-based “Tech Right” and MAGA movement on women’s fashion.
The study has drawn strong criticism from the right-wing nationalist FPÖ, the most popular party in Austria.
In a post on X, the party’s leader in the Vienna council, Maximilian Krauss, mocked the project by saying that someone wearing a polo shirt could soon be the subject of a scientific investigation. He argued that, at a time when Austrians are struggling with rising living costs, housing shortages, and security concerns, taxpayers’ money is being wasted on ideological research.
In a separate post the FPÖ described the expenditure as “outrageous,” and blamed the governing centre-right-leftist coalition for wasting public money.
Wahnsinn: Fast 400.000 Euro an Steuergeld werden für eine Studie über angeblich „rechtsextreme Kleidungsstile“ ausgegeben, während viele Menschen unter der Teuerung leiden. Diese Verliererampel ist UNTRAGBAR!
Editor-in-chief of conservative news website Exxpress, Laura Sachslehner, shared a link of the news story on her X social media account, adding
This really isn’t satire!
Zoltán Kottász is a journalist for europeanconservative.com, based in Budapest. He worked for many years as a journalist and as the editor of the foreign desk at the Hungarian daily, Magyar Nemzet. He focuses primarily on European politics.
