Arky fashion alert: "offering" is the new "ritual"

Denisa Dvorakova in DVF

Photographed by Ed Kavishe

fashionwirepress.

It is always exciting to spot a new fashion trend just from the first couple of showings, and Arky Fashions comes up with a new line only every few decades. The last one (the "ritual" line), was certainly getting rather tired out, and people had been laughing about it for some time. It evoked memories of bell-bottoms and platform shoes. There was an official launch of the new style some time ago at the "Frome-hoard" show, together with an announcement that it would go on tour. but I thought it better to wait for more news from the trenches, after all, some things can be hyped as a new trend, but you are never quite sure until you see what the other designers start to do.

The first indication that the trend had caught hold was at the "Borough Hill" showing, but the report had only mentioned one example, and that was only accessories, so I was not sure that it really could be announced as a trend instead of just un hommage. A subsequent report, however, has not only confirmed my suspicion, but has revealed that, in addition to the accessories, there was an example of a "human sacrifice". This certainly raises the importance of the style from the prêt à porter of the chariot fittings to the haute couture of the smashed skull. "Ritual", after all, is so ordinaire ― brushing our teeth, or having our morning coffee are examples of rituals. I wonder, though, if some would see the skull simply as a funerary custom. Perhaps it had been gathered from an excarnation. The quern stone is unusual, but brooches are commonly used in graves. Some of the examples still held on to the "ritual" fashion, perhaps as a transition to the sexier "offering".

What has not been released yet is the identity of the god in question, but I think I know: it is the Arky "god of funding and hype". The Greeks knew him as Hermes. He was often shown grasping his little bag of funds. He was also psychopomp, and would lead the supplicant to the afterlife of tenure, In addition, he was the god of thieves. He unites, in the broader mythological sphere, with the north American Raven and Coyote as Trickster. One encounters him frequently.