by Riley DeJardin '20
(exhibition catalogue)
The other articles focused on very specific parts of my research: fashion’s effect on the portrayal of
Catholic imagery and the fashion which is involved in the church. This is the official book from The
Metropolitan Museum of Art about the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination Met
Gala in 2018. This article specifically talks about why this theme was chosen and how it was executed.
It has a lot of pictures and information about the pieces that were given to the Heavenly Bodies exhibit
from the Vatican, which helps give me an idea which pieces were significant and why. According to the
article, this partnership was monumental, saying that “Heavenly Bodies, the first collaboration between
the Vatican and The Costume Institute, follows in the footsteps of a number of landmark exhibitions
featuring treasures from the Vatican,” (9). The cooperation of the Vatican was vital in making this theme
a possibility and it gave people the opportunity to express a religious part of themselves through fashion.
This article also talks a lot about the process of the designers of these historically important donated
pieces, sharing the importance of the forms and colors of these garments.
What I found most interesting for my research was the museum’s justification of the theme: “In
some periods the leading Catholic thinkers are not the official theologians but rather the great artists.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, for example, the most original Catholic theologians were
the artists Michelangelo Buonarroti, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Caravaggio, and Bernini,” (10).
To me, this sounds like they are giving the designers and stylists the artistic license to create whatever
they believe represents this theme well. I believe this because it seems like the museum is giving them
the freedom to just be an artist and make whatever comes to them versus studying to adopt the knowledge
of an “official theologian.” Like all the other famous artists before them, they want to express something
through art and they use their creativity to that. They do not use their faith and scholarship to create a
work of art. They have to be able to access both parts of the project-- the religion and the fashion-- and
merge them together into something stunning, but still accurate and appropriate. This idea of bringing
fashion and religion can be very challenging but Bolton, the author, touches on this topic, saying,
“Historically, fashion and religion have been inexorably intertwined, inspiring and informing one
another. This relationship, though complex and sometimes contested, has given rise to some of the
most innovative creations in the history of fashion,” (9). Bolton agrees that the merging of these two
things can be done but it is tough because it can backfire greatly. But the risk could be worth the reward
because art surrounding religion has the ability to become some of the greatest pieces in all of history,
such as the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, The Last Supper, The Creation of Adam, or The Birth of Venus.
Bolton, Andrew. Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination. The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, 2018.