Among other things, Catholic imagery carries a known erotic charge long before Madonna and Lady Gaga, there was Saint Sebastian transfixed by arrows, or the Ecstasy of Saint Theresa. A devout Balenciaga designed clerical vestments alongside Catholic-inspired womenswear Alexander McQueen was more interested in the tension between the holy and the carnal, with silkscreened religious icons folded and stretched uneasily across the body.īut much also seems left unsaid. The chosen designs make for a beautiful, if slightly tidy, interpretation of Catholic tradition, which has influenced an impressive range of designers from Lanvin to Lacroix, and a few designers who appear often enough to feel like their own conversation between fashion and religion. The chosen designs make for a beautiful, if slightly tidy, interpretation of Catholic tradition. And the modern garments reflect Catholicism's influence on fashion from the sequined to the sleek. (Essayist Marzia Cataldi Gallo mentions Benedict XVI's belief that "beauty is not a decoration applied to the liturgy but its constituent element.") The book benefits from essays like David Morgan's "Vestments and Hierarchy in Catholic Visual Piety," in which the "costume culture of the Vatican outlived the robes and wigs and paraphernalia of heads of state, thrusting it into a symbolic space all its own." There are also smart notes on the physical spaces the clothes occupy in the museum, or historical artworks that are echoed in some of the clothes. As an object, Heavenly Bodies is handsome, and despite some distracting collage treatment on the photographs, elevates itself beyond an exhibition catalog, though the Vatican collection alone would be worth cataloging - so staggeringly ornate that many modern takes necessarily pale in comparison.
Goats and Soda Lupita Nyong'o Salutes Africa, Not Whoville, With Her Met Gala HairĪ book like this operates on two levels: As an art object, and as a thesis statement. That seems perfectly embodied in the painstaking companion volume. Given the Vatican's involvement (it lent out 40 rare vestments), there's some inevitable tension. (Chances are you've never asked a costume-party priest or nun who they are.) That means the exhibit itself is more than just designer pieces beside the religious vestments that inspired them - it's a cultural history of enormous complexity that begs examination beyond the allure of a beautiful garment. Catholicism has a long history of reinforcing its own iconography, creating a visual dictionary recognized the world over. This year's exhibit, "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination," is a gorgeous and frustrating middle ground. Recent years ranged from abstract exercises ("Manus X Machina," about fashion and technology) to fraught cultural ground ("China Through the Looking Glass," which hit many of the hurdles you might expect). Its yearly fundraiser - timed to a new costume exhibition - has gone from a fashion industry who's-who to a red carpet livestreamed on E!, and the exhibitions themselves are blockbuster events. Over the last decade or so, the Costume Institute has become the socialite daughter of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty.
How?Īnd thou shalt embroider the coat of fine linen, and thou shalt make the mitre of fine linen, and thou shalt make the girdle of needlework. Your purchase helps support NPR programming.
Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Heavenly Bodies Subtitle Fashion and the Catholic Imagination Author Andrew Bolton