vienna

arrival in the show windows. We therefore imagine that these
three steps are part of one and the same dramatisation of fashion
mythology. Irrationality in the dramatisation of the fashion
system will be discussed as a fourth point with an excursion
into the perception of the magical in our consumer society.
As a fifth and last point, we will focus again on the seasonal
sale window in order to relate the aesthetic with the economic
practice in the fashion system.
Mythology
“[A]s a season, spring is both pure and mythical at once; mythical,
by virtue of the awakening of nature; Fashion takes this
awakening for its own, thus giving the readers, if not its buyers,
the opportunity to participate annually in a myth that has come
from the beginning of time; spring Fashion, for the modern
woman, is like what the Great Dyonysia or the Anthesteria were
for the ancient Greeks.” 549
Roland Barthes related the advent of the spring collection
to the myth of the awakening of nature. The motivational
researcher Ernest Dichter, too, pointed at the existence of a relationship
between the awakening of nature and the excitement
among fashion followers. 550 If we assume that there is some
truth in this observation, how can we link it to the ancient Greek
Dyonisian rituals? Can the celebration of the new collections be
interpreted as a worship of the ancient Greek god Dionysus?
Several festivals in and around ancient Greece had the cult of
Dionysus as the pivot of their activities. 551 The ritual performed in
spring was the Anthesteria. It was performed in the month
of Anthesterion, which was approximately February/March. 552 This
must have been about when Barthes analysed the fashion maga-
549 Barthes (1990:251).
550 Dichter (1964:76).
551 Wissowa (1894:1010-1046).
552 Wissowa (1894:2375).
Mythology
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