vienna

Summary
“Fashion prescribes the ritual according to which the commodity
fetish demands to be worshipped.” 546
The last chapter will try to throw light on the nature of the
seasonal sale and its dramatisation of the ugly as observed by
us on our walks through main shopping streets in Paris, Vienna,
London, New York 547 and Hamburg. Roland Barthes decided to
use the fashion magazines of only one year (1958/59) for his discussion
of the “fashion system”. 548 As we pointed out at the beginning,
we have followed an idea that, though articulated, was
not developed by Barthes when comparing the feelings of female
customers during the advent of the spring collection with the
emotions of the female followers of the ancient Greek Dionysian
festivals. He assumed that an ancient myth was returning from
the darkness of the past as part of the fashion system today. The
end of a collection, the rite of passage, and the launch of the new
collection are the critical turning points of the fashion year. We
need to enlarge our field of vision in order to discuss this and
relate it to the idea of the return of an ancient myth. We must first
ask ourselves what the content of the myth could be. What story
does the fashion system want us to believe in? The second question
deals with the ritual launch of a new collection. The ritual of
the catwalk presentation will be at the centre of this discussion.
Thirdly, we will bring in our observations of the seasonal sale,
which we originally interpreted as a rite of passage between
the old and the new fashion. Involving the catwalk presentation
of the new collection raises the question of the function of the
aesthetic death of the fashion pieces as transition between the
representation of the new collection on the catwalk and its real
546 Benjamin (2004:18).
547 As discussed, New York represents here an excursion into the field of performance studies and art.
548 Barthes (1990:12).
The
Death
of
Fashion 241