As Catholic philosopher Charles Taylor pointed out, self-expression has become the highest good for many people, pursued with a religious zeal. I’m talking here not about the value of expressing yourself, but about making self-expression into an entire way of life. One of the parasites that feeds and fuels fashion is late-modern expressionism. If we all get to choose what to wear, we are already practicing a form of voting for the public decorum.īut not all values put forth by fashion are reconcilable with Christianity. The two cities known best for fashion-New York and Paris-are major cities in countries that have had powerful democratic revolutions. It is no accident that modern fashion has arisen alongside suffrage and other aspects of democracy. To truly engage fashion as Christians, we need to move beyond explicit verses about dress and examine the underlying values that are reinforced by fashion. From these and other texts, we learn that the Christian story embraces the festive, fine, and elaborate dress associated with fashion. And consider the elaborate nature of the priestly clothing detailed in Exodus 28 the celebrated gold-laced bridal gown in Psalm 45:13–14 and the Proverbs 31 woman, who dresses her household in scarlet. If that is how God clothes the fields, how much more does he care about clothing us?įurther, as we are obligated to care for others, we might spend more money on high-quality clothes, as cheap clothing notoriously relies on sweatshops and child labor. Luke 12:27–28 tells us God dresses the flowers of the field, more splendorous than Solomon in his fine dress. Theologians call this a protoevangelium-literally a “first gospel.” The gift of clothing reveals a God who meets us in our shameful, sinful condition and covers us through a sacrificial death.Ĭlothing takes on special significance in the story of Joseph in the way the prophets Samuel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah delivered their message and at the Transfiguration, where Jesus appeared in clothing that “became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them” (Mark 9:3). Right from the beginning, after the Fall, Adam and Eve became aware of being “undressed.” Then God provides for them in their nakedness. But the Bible has a surprising amount to say about clothing. The Bible doesn’t directly address fashion, which today refers to the rapid interplay of clothing in consumer societies. This set me on a quest to understand the fashion industry and emerging fashion studies. There are books on Christianity and film, Christianity and literature, Christianity and psychology, but I couldn’t find anything on Christianity and fashion.ĭutch theologian Abraham Kuyper famously said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’ ” Like Kuyper, I want to understand every aspect of human life in relationship to Christ. When I looked for a Christian response to the fashion industry, I didn’t find anything. From them I learned that programs on fashion-fashion design, merchandising, and a body of literature called fashion theory-were popping up all over. A number of my congregants worked in the fashion industry. Before becoming a PhD candidate at Fuller Theological Seminary, I served for 12 years at a church in Long Beach, California.
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