Fashion and Faith : An Exploration of Clothing, Catholicism, and Religious Expression | Alternative Fruit

The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art is running an exhibition to coincide with the 2018 Spring Show from the Costume Institute. These two long term contributors to the all round nurture of artistic exploration offer a truly enlightening experience. The MET visits the mindset of the Christian with their display titled “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination”. A study on how the words of a Holy book can enter the mind and then exit the body in the form of design, craft, and desire to look one's best, shows a significant insight into the workings of our human encounter with God.


The Fifth Avenue venue is hosting its topical works among the standard display of rare and unique Byzantine art and in their section dedicated to Medieval creativity. Diller, Scofido, and Renfro are the artisans behind this epic project. The New York studio, known locally as DS+R, take culturally relevant themes and uniquely express them in visual and captivating ways. The studio worked closely with the Met in order to produce a truly pertinent array of designs that spell out as many elements of the wide ranging theology as possible.


The show has been designed to tell a story in a pilgrimage of design. Beginning with 12th Century fashion and design concepts, the exhibit walks the crowd on through various sections of the museum. There are 27 individual galleries in two separate locations that link the Heavenly Bodies project. Participants can either cherry pick their desired areas or absorb a semi-guided walk through via casually linked displays.


The conversation between clothing, faith, and religious expression is ongoing. Taking a look at the chapters from the past and how they may be relevant today can help us unravel more difficult cultural questions. Corresponding ideas and progressions occur naturally throughout society and so by admiring the work done for this display, we can learn about the philosophy of fashion and faith and how it can touch on every area of our lives.


One display in the many exhibits of this presentation has travelled from the Vatican. Around 40 clothing masterpieces have been generously loaned to the Met from the Holy See, the largest haul of art to go the the States since the 80s. It's not as if anyone is wearing them anytime soon, and the MET's curators are some of the best hands in the world when it comes to taking care of precious items.

Via Design Boom