ABSTRACT
Fashion magazines and the fashion world in general recognize and privilege designers' extraordinary powers. Belief is the mainstay of beauty as it is presented in fashion magazines which promise magical metamorphoses in the twinkle of an eye. The fashion magazine has to insist that beauty isn't wholly fixed or permanent. Grooming practices also play an important and essential part in dress, which is broadly conceived as encompassing "visual as well as other sensory modifications and supplements to the body". In simpler language, this means not just fashion and accessories, but beauty, cosmetics and skincare, haircare, and perfume. In "The Magical Power of Words", Tambiah examined the use of words in ritual and the fact that the uttering of words is itself a ritual. The parallel between a healing ritual in distant Sri Lanka and contemporary beauty-related advertisements placed in the fashion magazine by corporate giants in Paris and New York is rather remarkable.
