VIENNA (AFP) – Vienna is gearing up to welcome tens of thousands of revellers to its world famous Life Ball this weekend, one of the world's biggest AIDS charity events, with Janet Jackson and Bill Clinton in the star line-up.
While last year's mega-party in front of the Austrian capital's neo-Gothic City Hall was drenched by an unexpected cloudburst, the weather this weekend looks set to smile on the thousands lucky enough to have a ticket to the most colourful event in Vienna's social calendar.
The glittering Opera Ball may be the most exclusive and elegant of the hundreds of balls held every year in Vienna, but the Life Ball is by far the most extravagant, with guests dressing up in the campest and most outrageous of costumes.
This year's party will the 19th edition of the Life Ball and will also mark 30 years since the discovery of the AIDS virus, HIV.
Alongside former US president Clinton, long a regular guest, will be UNAIDS chief Michel Sidibe and US actress Brooke Shields, with musical interludes by singers Jackson and Natasha Bedingfield, and violinist Nigel Kennedy.
The evening will begin with a gala dinner at the Imperial Palace sponsored by Austrian President Heinz Fischer, with tickets priced at up to 2,500 euros ($3,575) apiece.
Those who choose to attend only the extravagant red carpet fashion show and party at the City Hall afterwards have to fork out a more affordable 150 euros per ticket.
Last year's Life Ball raised over 1.5 million euros ($1.9 million) for international and national HIV and AIDS projects.
The fashion show -- which has memorably been held on a red-ribbon catwalk in past years -- will be by the Canadian designer duo Dsquared2, Dean and Dan Caten.
The ball is broadcast live on public television, but not everyone in a conservative and Catholic country such as Austria feels comfortable about the event.
According to a recent poll by the Humaninstitut in Klagenfurt, 69 percent of the population view the Life Ball as decadent, only 16 percent see it as a sign of tolerance.
Thirty years after the discovery of the HI-virus, and despite enormous progress in treatment, "AIDS still represents a menace," said Life Ball co-founder and organiser Gery Keszler. Infection rates remain high in Austria and "are exploding" in neighbouring countries in eastern Europe, as well as in Asia.
Past guests of the Life Ball have included singer Katy Perry and actresses Sharon Stone and Whoopi Goldberg.
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