vienna

The sacred and the profane are once again visualised with the help of the
abstract disorderly use of symbols placed on a solid colour ground, and a conventional
advertising visual. The background lends meaning to the scenario. This is
clearly visible here as the mannequins and their decoration alone will be unable
to express the difference between the past and the forthcoming fashion collection.
In his book about ritual in architectural form, Kari Jormakka describes the difference
between presentation and representation:
“We may characterise ritual meaning as presentation (or, in some cases,
possession) rather than representation through iconic or symbolic signs. […]
Like the masked man of the Zunis, the ancient Greek actor on stage is
also possessed by the god, and the saint is actually presented in the
mystical icon.” 319
The backdrops lend different meaning to the mannequins in front. It
seems that the two stages work differently. One works with an abstract backdrop,
staging the death of the winter collection, while the other one shows the
new spring collection with the same mannequin actors. The ritual dimension
becomes immediately social when we decide to attend one of these enactments.
We could either save money to buy the old collection, or we could buy the new
collection in order to be up to date. The next window provides only one option:
This rather large window is at the corner of the main shopping street. The niche
is painted white, just like the interior of the store. Three mannequins are placed
in front of a back wall occupying almost the entire length of the show window.
The backdrop, which is painted white, is almost entirely covered by the red
posters attached to it with the vertical inscription “SALE”. The mannequins
are wearing winter garments. A red horizontal banner attached to the show
window at the height of their pelvis separates the mannequins from the public
sphere. A sculptural object hangs on the back wall, between the mannequins.
Made of red coat hangers it looks like a skeleton, which has replaced one of the
mannequins so that there are actually four of them in all. On the floor in front of
the sculpture are several hangers that are not attached to the main skeleton.
Three mannequins and a skeleton is what we have here. While our association
to Eliade and the myths of creating life out of bones might appear strange,
there is no doubt that death is being staged in this setting. It is like a “memento
mori” of the fashion industry. All new fashions will die. And they will die very
quickly, to be precise, in half a year. But because this is a kind of religion as well,
we can believe in the return of fashion, which is presented to us here as death.
319 Jormakka (1995:21).
The
Death
of
Fashion 133