FASHIONOFFICE INSIGHT
by publisher Karin Sawetz
Dec 2008


"Fate - monstrous
and empty,
you whirling wheel,
you are malevolent,
well-being is vain
and always fades to nothing, ..."
Source: "O Fortuna" Carmina Burana; poetic texts collected circa 1230 by the monastery Seckau in Styria, Austria.

Is fate a whirling wheel like roulette?
Is life a game?

In the last months we have got the impression: yes. Gamblers caused the financial crisis; and they are for sure not the ones who suffer.

We have learned that the big gamblers are causing the most troubles the world society, especially the Western society, has experienced in the last 50 - 60 years; and they are still sitting on their gambling tables.

Gambling is chic: poker evenings and getting money for nothing are fashionable - even in non-financial branches.

But who can stop the whirling wheel to make a good fortune? Isn't it an characteristic of the wheel of fortune that it can not be determined?

Can we influence the future?

At Fashionoffice.org we have worked hardly against the 'gambling suites' (content delivery systems) of the telecom industry which make the work of publishers and other producers of content (owners of intellectual property rights) not measurable any more.

In 2008 Fashionoffice.org fought against the new legal methods not only because of economic reasons but even for the security of the internet. Today, the new content delivery systems offer cyber criminals an open door under legalized and not controllable circumstances.

Yes, I think nobody should gamble in business. Because even in this game not the telecoms will suffer, but at last the users.

2008 was an important year for Fashionoffice.org. We celebrated 12 years top-relevance in 'fashion'.

In Google.com's oldest available index (January 2001) the magazine ranks with the "mother" of all Fashionoffice channels fashion.at on the 3rd place of about 6,840,000 results for ‘fashion’. Today, the magazine is still on the first site of 450,000,000 results on worldwide searches for ‘fashion’ in Google.

Founded in 1995 with the extensive “FashionAvigator”-study about fashion online, Fashionoffice was in 1996 one of the first fashion magazines exclusively published online. Soon the magazine has established special channels about fashion, art, luxury and beauty and received several prizes such as the ‘Angel of Fashion Award’ in 1996.

- 2009

We consider ourselves fortunate that you and all the other users enjoy our magazine for such a long time and we hope, you like our informative and entertaining hand-picked news from the world of fashion, art and beauty even in the next year!

Good fortune in 2009!


FASHIONOFFICE INSIGHT:

Nov 2008

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About Carmina Burana The poetic texts in Latin, Middle High German and a mixture of Latin-German-French-Italian-English (you know this language from Umberto Eco's Salvatore "In the name of the Rose" youtube.com/watch?v=FIMsxTsofMs) about fortune, love, drinking, gambling, moral, religion, ... was written between the 11th and 13th century and circa 1230 collected by the monastery Seckau in Styria, Austria.
(The original texts of the Carmina Burana with illustrations such as Carmina Burana's wheel are published by the Bibliotheca Augustana. You will find in this text even hymns for Catherine from Alexandria (CB 12* und 19* - 22*) who was adored by the monks of Seckau.)

About the following video: Carl Orff's composition for selected texts, especially for "O Fortuna" in the mid 30's became one of the most important musical works of the 20th century. On the following video you can see Carmina Burana's wheel, the wheel of Goddess Fortuna. In the middle a figure is sitting with bonded eyes as a symbol that the future can not be foreseen by using the wheel:

Video: "Carmina Burana" 'Opening' (O Fortuna). Music by Carl Orff (1895-1982); directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle Munchner Rundfunkorchester, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks Kurt Eichhorn, conductor (1975).

Dr. Karin Sawetz, founder and publisher of fashionoffice.org (since 1996), is journalist, media researcher and fashion scientist.

Karin Sawetz has a diploma from a higher-level secondary college for the fashion and clothing industry. She was awarded with the first prize for her design of the male work trousers for the OMV filling stations (OMV is Central Europe's leading oil and gas group) - the design has been realised. Before and while studying for the diploma she was designer for her own label, which she has presented international.
Beneath her studies at the University of Vienna she worked as costume designer for theatre and film, was civil servant at the Austrian Federal Ministry of Economics (Department Fashion & Textile Industry), ...
After she has finished her studies at the Institute for Journalism and Communication Sciences, the Institute for Film-, Theatre- and Media-Sciences, the Institute for Philosophy at the University of Vienna, and the Institute for Artistic Sciences, Art Education and Communication, Department for Cultural and Intellectual History, at the University of Applied Arts, she was lecturer at the University of Vienna (online market research) and the Vienna Chamber of Commerce, published scientific studies, ...
In the last years she focused her work on fashionoffice.org as an international magazine and organization for intercultural approaches in fashion and art.

More publications> sawetz.com/publications.htm