vienna

and the same, melted into one system of symbolic forms. 84 If
the seasonal sale window is such a symbolic system, then the
imagined world of a regular change of fashion becomes, by
symbolic means, part of our everyday reality at that point of time.
Economic needs in our consumer culture become social reality
by means of symbolic communication through secular rituals.
An important aspect of such symbolic communication is the
performative dimension.
“[…] symbolic forms of expression simultaneously make assumptions
about the way things really are, create the sense
of reality, and act upon the real world as it is culturally
experienced. The performative dimension of ritual action has
become a central idea in most current theories of ritual.” 85
Performances are actions, and performance studies take
these actions as their object of study. 86 The term performance,
which was in the beginning a technical term in the theory of
speech acts, has transformed into an umbrella term for cultural
studies and the research of phenomenological conditions of
embodiment. 87 Heuristic and contingent use of the term ritual
has been criticised and rejected in the field of anthropology. 88 The
seasonal sale window may not be appropriate for an exemplary
discussion about these varying points of view. However, performative
aspects restricted to the decoration of the window and
the mannequins inside it are a special case and must be dealt
with separately. For the time being incapable of moving, mannequins
are forced to represent the symbolic messages without
movement. 89 The gestures of these mannequins can only be
altered by changing their position within the show window. Most
often, the figure’s technical construction prevents its posture from
being changed so that it usually remains fixed in one posture.
The possibilities of changing the angle of the head, the arms and
the orientation of the torso are thus limited. The performative
aspect of the scenario can only be imagined and the physical
representation can be interpreted as a frozen performance,
like a photo of a ritual. But the symbolic aspect of the window
84 Geertz (1973:112).
85 Bell (1997:51).
86 Schechner (2003:1).
87 Wirth (2002:10).
88 Hughes-Freeland (1998:1).
89 Maybe this will change in the future. All we can do is wait and see how these sales robots will be programmed in a symbolic
manner.
The
Death
of
Fashion 33