vienna

on the symmetry of exchange within a short time. Rituals of
asymmetry emphasise the difference and they appear regularly. 609
The seasonal sale (with its Dionysian cult background) can be
interpreted as such an asymmetrical ritual. It is the sacrifice
of the god (fashion) in the form of the seasonal collection. The
sacrificial act involves several people. Fashion magazines not
only play a passive role in tabooing the old collection but also an
active one in sacrificing the victim:
“DELETE SILVER/KEEP GOLD
Silver and gold are always in battle as the currency of choice
but the time has come to throw away the fairer shade.” 610
This command to kill the old collection is directed at the
customer who has already bought it at the beginning of the
season, but it is also an oracle which retailers should heed in
order to choose the right victim. As in any blood sacrifice, the
solemn moment of cutting the price is very brief. What follows is
a phase described by Baudrillard as the “obscene phase”:
“It is then, before drying out and taking on the beauty of death,
that the body passes through a truly obscene phase and
must at all costs be conjured and exorcized, for it no longer
represents anything, no longer has a name, and its unnamable
contaminaion invades everything.” 611
And the fashion collection is far from the beauty of death,
which will bring it back in several years. So, the fashion windows
are enveiled in something like a covering for a corpse. Another
significant practice is the removal of decorative elements. This
practice is also known from several passage rites. 612 A journal
from 1956 for window decorators does not tell us why, but
how. In those days the last three days of the sale were highlighted
in a special way:
“The three days for the sale of remainders at the end of a clearance
sale should not be forgotten. The few illustrations will do. The goods
predominate, there is no cause for extraordinary decoration.” 613
609 Sennett (2003:209-210) describes an annual ritual between an aristocratic lady and her servants as an example of a ritual
in which social asymmetry is made stable through reciprocal respect.
610 Quick (2004:97).
611 Baudrillard (1990:57).
612 Gennep (1960:130).
613 Anonymous (1956:312)*.
The
Death
of
Fashion 257