diff --git a/repos/gems/src/app/menu_view/label_widget.h b/repos/gems/src/app/menu_view/label_widget.h
index cbbd34230d..3731c5b638 100644
--- a/repos/gems/src/app/menu_view/label_widget.h
+++ b/repos/gems/src/app/menu_view/label_widget.h
@@ -94,12 +94,12 @@ struct Menu_view::Label_widget : Widget, Cursor::Glyph_position
 		if (node.has_attribute("text")) {
 			_text       = node.attribute_value("text", _text);
 			_text       = Xml_unquoted(_text);
-			_min_height = _font->height();
+			_min_height = _font ? _font->height() : 0;
 		}
 
 		unsigned const min_ex = node.attribute_value("min_ex", 0U);
 		if (min_ex) {
-			Glyph_painter::Fixpoint_number min_w_px = _font->string_width("x");
+			Glyph_painter::Fixpoint_number min_w_px = _font ? _font->string_width("x") : 0;
 			min_w_px.value *= min_ex;
 			_min_width = min_w_px.decimal();
 		}
@@ -154,12 +154,12 @@ struct Menu_view::Label_widget : Widget, Cursor::Glyph_position
 	 */
 	int xpos_of_glyph(unsigned at) const override
 	{
-		return _font->string_width(_text.string(), at).decimal();
+		return _font ? _font->string_width(_text.string(), at).decimal() : 0;
 	}
 
 	unsigned _char_index_at_xpos(unsigned xpos) const
 	{
-		return _font->index_at_xpos(_text.string(), xpos);
+		return _font ? _font->index_at_xpos(_text.string(), xpos) : 0;
 	}
 
 	Hovered hovered(Point at) const override
diff --git a/repos/gems/src/app/menu_view/main.cc b/repos/gems/src/app/menu_view/main.cc
index f2f96a1a8b..e220ad1cc8 100644
--- a/repos/gems/src/app/menu_view/main.cc
+++ b/repos/gems/src/app/menu_view/main.cc
@@ -214,8 +214,6 @@ void Menu_view::Main::_handle_config()
 {
 	_config.update();
 
-	_styles.flush_outdated_styles();
-
 	Xml_node const config = _config.xml();
 
 	config.with_optional_sub_node("report", [&] (Xml_node const &report) {
@@ -237,6 +235,20 @@ void Menu_view::Main::_handle_config()
 		/* update */
 		[&] (Dialog &d, Xml_node const &node) { d.update(node); }
 	);
+
+	/* re-assign font pointers in labels (needed due to font style change) */
+	if (!_styles.up_to_date()) {
+		_dialogs.for_each([&] (Dialog &dialog) {
+			dialog._handle_dialog();
+
+			/* fast-forward geometry animation on font changes */
+			while (dialog.animation_in_progress())
+				dialog.animate();
+		});
+
+		_styles.flush_outdated_styles();
+	}
+	trigger_redraw();
 }
 
 
diff --git a/repos/gems/src/app/menu_view/style_database.h b/repos/gems/src/app/menu_view/style_database.h
index d828721b85..b0114655a5 100644
--- a/repos/gems/src/app/menu_view/style_database.h
+++ b/repos/gems/src/app/menu_view/style_database.h
@@ -65,6 +65,8 @@ class Menu_view::Style_database
 			Path        const path;  /* needed for lookup */
 			Label_style const style;
 
+			bool const out_of_date = false;
+
 			static Label_style _init_style(Allocator &alloc,
 			                               Directory const &styles_dir,
 			                               Path const &path)
@@ -96,6 +98,8 @@ class Menu_view::Style_database
 			Png_image              png_image;
 			Texture<Pixel_rgb888> &texture;
 
+			bool const out_of_date = false;
+
 			void const *_png_data()
 			{
 				void const *result = nullptr;
@@ -183,10 +187,10 @@ class Menu_view::Style_database
 		T const *_lookup(List<T> &list, char const *path) const
 		{
 			for (T const *e = list.first(); e; e = e->next())
-				if (Genode::strcmp(e->path.string(), path) == 0)
+				if ((Genode::strcmp(e->path.string(), path) == 0) && !e->out_of_date)
 					return e;
 
-			return 0;
+			return nullptr;
 		}
 
 		/*
@@ -313,6 +317,8 @@ class Menu_view::Style_database
 			}
 			_out_of_date = false;
 		}
+
+		bool up_to_date() const { return !_out_of_date; }
 };
 
 #endif /* _STYLE_DATABASE_H_ */