Click for larger resolution.This is my hypothetical window display of a department store in the league of Le Bon Marche, Galeries Lafayette, Lane Crawford, or Fortnum & Mason. The entire window of each bay is taken up by a larger-than-life image of (in)famous mugs of the people who make the haute couture world tick. Instead of the traditional mannequin or model on display, it is the behind-the-scenes masterminds who keep the fashion system in check. Because even at its most liberating, fashion is still sadistic, always in a dynamic state of power differential. Desire is created, and this moving target of beauty is fundamental or else there is no raison d'etre to objects of luxury. The floating decapitations are meant to evoke the mighty Wizard of Oz illusion pre-reveal to Dorothy. They stare down, with varying degrees of condescendance, indifference, or disdain. They impose, as a celebrity, and as the creative force that sanctioned the merchandise behind those walls.
The chosen are (from left to right):
Anna Wintour - editor of American Vogue
Karl Lagerfeld - own label, Chanel, and Fendi
Suzy Menkes - editor of International Herald Tribune
John Galliano - own label and Christian Dior
Vivienne Westwood - own label
Hamish Bowles - European editor-at-large Vogue
(thinking of making some more....)
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