Research Of The Use Of Religion In Fashion On The Example Of The Met Gala And Victoria’S Secret’S Angels
When separate, fashion and religion both are major influences in society as they explicitly and implicitly impact the way we think, feel, and act. However, when these two important bodies crash and merge in popular culture, a whole new set of meanings and implications emerge. Throughout history, clothing has been used for far more than to cover our bodies, it has held political, social, sexual, and economic implications. Within religion, these implications still hold strong and clothing is given a whole new set of meanings in this context. However, these meanings were challenged through new interpretations of religious dress at the 2018 Met Gala, one of the biggest fashion events in Western society. Religion has also made its way into the fashion world via the unexpected area of lingerie. One of the most successful lingerie brands in the world, Victoria’s Secret, has been using ‘angels’ to model their lingerie for over a decade. Yet the meaning and use of these ‘angels’ seem to be drastically different from the ones mentioned in the Bible. This essay then aims to examine how religion has been used in fashion, using the example of the 2018 Met Gala, and Victoria’s Secret’s angels. Within all major religions, dress has been used to serve the purpose of establishing and enforcing ideologies and hierarchies. Historically, for members and followers of the church, modesty is viewed as an important value that should be displayed through clothing, particularly for women. Thus, the excessive display of flesh is not encouraged and clothing should act to cover the body.
The colour and type of clothing also mattered, during the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, vibrant and luxurious clothing was condemned. Instead, sombre dress was encouraged as it reflected the Christian focus on salvation and redemption. The Christian and Catholic clergy also reflect the significance of dress through the different colours and items worn by members of separate rankings. In the clergy, at the bottom of the hierarchy are priests, who wear black, above them are bishops who wear violet, then cardinals in scarlet, and finally the pope, who is dressed in white.
On top of colour, slight differences in their everyday dress from the hats they wear to the laces on their shoes are also used to display their differences in rank. Interestingly, these differences are not random or simply used to differentiate the members as they hold religious symbolism. The white that is associated with the pope represents purity and sanctity that only he is worthy of. From these examples, we can see that clothing has important meanings and functions within the church. These meanings and functions were completely flipped in the 2018 Met Gala with its theme of “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination”. The Met Gala is a charity event that has been running for 73 years and is arguably the most anticipated fashion event every year. This year, the outfits worn by the celebrities at the event unreservedly exceeded expectations as they were amazing examples of how religion can be interpreted in fashion. Being the most exclusive fashion event of the year, with tickets allegedly costing up to US$50, 000, it is unsurprising that many celebrities went over the top to make a statement. From first glance, the ideal of sombre dress is completely thrown out the door as the red carpet at this year’s gala was filled with all sorts of extravagant jewels, crosses, halos, and even wings. Many celebrities also chose to reference specific religious figures, like the Virgin Mary in her manifestation as the lady of sorrows. However, we do not see any modestly clothed and grieving Marys as depicted in religious art, instead, we see bejewelled Marys in thousand-dollar designer outfits. Explicitly, these outfit choices may be a way to indicate the superior or divine status of these celebrities or simply their unique interpretations of a religious image. Either way, these dazzling Marys amongst the other bejewelled religious figures at the event represent a beautiful crossing over of religion and high fashion.
Some of the outfits at the gala were particularly memorable as they managed to implicitly challenge the norms and ideologies of the church while being high fashion. One of these was singer and actress Solange Knowles’ outfit where she wore a gold halo that she paired with a flowing black durag. The halo was common amongst other celebrities and its meaning was straightforward, associating its wearer with holiness. Thus, it was her durag that stood out. The durag is dated back to the nineteenth century and was originally worn by slaves to keep their hair back. Yet its use completely changed with the black power movement during the late 1960’s which preached for equality and racial pride for those of African descent. During this movement, the durag became a popular accessory amongst African American youth and it is still used today. Importantly, on her durag, Solange bejewelled “My God Wears a Durag”. With her outfit, Solange reminds us that heaven is not white like it is commonly depicted and interpreted. Her outfit also disrupts and challenges the white dominance in religious art and imagery while celebrating the existence and importance of women of colour in religion. Another memorable outfit was the one worn by Rihanna who came dressed as a pope. What made it unforgettable was that it was not made of silk and cotton like an actual pope’s robe, instead, every inch of her white dress and robe was encrusted in jewels and pearls. Here, she juxtaposes the purity of the colour white with the opulence of diamonds and gems. She also opted to wear a papal tiara, which is traditionally worn by popes when they are coronated or during special ceremonies. The implicit meanings of her outfit are endless. Not only did it reimagine Catholicism as a religion that celebrates women, but it also calls out the church’s deep-rooted bias against women. Her pope attire directly addresses the ban on women ever becoming ordained priests and challenges the church’s white patriarchal status quo in the process. Thus, these powerful outfits worn by Solange and Rihanna show that for one night, fashion owned religion.
One specific aspect of religion that has surprisingly found its way into fashion is the concept of angels. In the Bible, angels are described to be powerful creations of God, who act as his messengers and are faithful to him. There is no unanimous description of their physical attributes in the Bible and examples of their appearance include the form of a male human and a form that causes fear in people. Contrary to popular belief and depiction, these angels are also very rarely described to have wings and when they do, they often have four or six of them. The lack of a consistent form in the Bible thus allowed a lot of room for creativity for early Christian artists. Yet, from the fourth century onwards, most artists gravitated towards depicting angels with 2 wings, and of a saintly androgynous nature.
However, all of these depictions of angels in art and the Bible wildly contrasts the ‘angels’ we have seen walk down lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret runway for the past decade. Here, the angels are in fact successful female models with a huge social following. The only thing these Victoria’s Secret ‘angels’ may physically have in common with the ones in the Bible and religious art is the wings they frequently wear when modelling the brand’s lingerie. Yet even when ‘winged’, their extravagant and often multi-coloured floor-length wings are far from the ones seen in religious imagery. Wings aside, these ‘angels’ are marketed as living ideals of western beauty standards who also happen to be in lingerie. Thus, when describing the ‘angels’ from Victoria’s Secret, ‘saintly’ does not nearly seem as appropriate as ‘sexy’.
Controlling almost 40% of sales in intimate apparel, Victoria’s Secret is the largest and most successful lingerie brand in America and The Victoria’s Secret Angels have been vital in their success. Interestingly, despite their use of ‘angels’, Victoria’s Secret does not affiliate itself with religion. This is known as capitalist spirituality, where religious themes are exploited for the benefit of the corporation. Thus, their use of these ‘angels’ is actually a clever consumerism tactic. By dressing their models up like angels while in lingerie, the brand gives them a divine quality while retaining their sex appeal. Their giant soft white wings, contrasted with their sultry appearance creates a seemingly otherworldly and ethereal attraction.
Sometimes, sharp black wings are used instead which creates a more ‘sinful’ attraction. By juxtaposing religious and sexual imagery, the appeal of the ‘angels’ is intensified. The brand also creates an allure and elite status around these ‘angels’ by creating a hierarchy of models with them at the top. Currently, there are only 15 models worldwide who have the ‘angel’ title which is only given after careful selection of the model’s physical attributes and social popularity. This exclusivity adds to their appeal as it causes them to appear desirable. By making these ‘angels’ objects of desire, the lingerie they model sells successfully because it allows buyers to be closer or similar to these otherwise untouchable beings.
In doing so, the brand has expertly created an illusion of a divine yet alluring ‘angel’ in order to sell their product. In the end, Victoria’s Secret’s use of angels is a prime example of religion being used and exploited in popular culture.
In conclusion, the fashion world has used religion creatively to send its messages. The 2018 Met Gala displayed the omnipotent powers of fashion using religion as its medium. That night, fabric and jewels challenged religion’s injustices and biases better than words could. The Gala showed that now, fashion is in charge, what is right and wrong is told by Vogue, not by the Vatican. On the other hand, Victoria’s Secret showed us that religion can be capitalized and consumed, all without consequence. Perhaps that is Victoria’s secret after all. As a result, it is undeniable that the fashion world has redefined religion because now, our popes wear Prada, and our angels are in lingerie.
