Lynn S. Neal
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781479892709
- eISBN:
- 9781479810918
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479892709.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
This chapter chronicles how the fashion industry again expanded its use of Christian elements by placing Christian holy figures onto designer garments in the 1990s. Prior to this decade, designers ...
More
This chapter chronicles how the fashion industry again expanded its use of Christian elements by placing Christian holy figures onto designer garments in the 1990s. Prior to this decade, designers shied away from incorporating representational religious figures in their designs—a trend influenced by iconoclastic controversy in the history of Christianity. The chapter first examines early instances of this trend with the designs of Rei Kawakubo, Kansai Yamamoto, and Gianni Versace. It then analyzes the controversy, lack of comment, and celebration that accompanied subsequent designers’ forays into more figural designs. The chapter places a particular emphasis on Dolce & Gabbana’s “Stromboli” collection, which incorporated numerous images of the Virgin Mary and was the first collection thoroughly dedicated to a Christian theme. It met with widespread celebration from fashion critics and helped establish a Marian focus in fashion design.Less
This chapter chronicles how the fashion industry again expanded its use of Christian elements by placing Christian holy figures onto designer garments in the 1990s. Prior to this decade, designers shied away from incorporating representational religious figures in their designs—a trend influenced by iconoclastic controversy in the history of Christianity. The chapter first examines early instances of this trend with the designs of Rei Kawakubo, Kansai Yamamoto, and Gianni Versace. It then analyzes the controversy, lack of comment, and celebration that accompanied subsequent designers’ forays into more figural designs. The chapter places a particular emphasis on Dolce & Gabbana’s “Stromboli” collection, which incorporated numerous images of the Virgin Mary and was the first collection thoroughly dedicated to a Christian theme. It met with widespread celebration from fashion critics and helped establish a Marian focus in fashion design.
Lynn S. Neal
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781479892709
- eISBN:
- 9781479810918
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479892709.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
The conclusion focuses on designers putting figures of the divine, especially Jesus, on dresses and other high fashion garments. It pays particular attention to the 2013 collections of Karla Špetić ...
More
The conclusion focuses on designers putting figures of the divine, especially Jesus, on dresses and other high fashion garments. It pays particular attention to the 2013 collections of Karla Špetić and Dolce & Gabbana and how putting God on a dress reinforces aestheticized ways of seeing Christianity and its heritage. The fashionable religion constructed by the fashion industry fostered the shift toward an expansive religious individualism and eclecticism, exhibited by the seekers of the 1960s, the spiritually minded of the 1990s, and the nones of the 2010s.Less
The conclusion focuses on designers putting figures of the divine, especially Jesus, on dresses and other high fashion garments. It pays particular attention to the 2013 collections of Karla Špetić and Dolce & Gabbana and how putting God on a dress reinforces aestheticized ways of seeing Christianity and its heritage. The fashionable religion constructed by the fashion industry fostered the shift toward an expansive religious individualism and eclecticism, exhibited by the seekers of the 1960s, the spiritually minded of the 1990s, and the nones of the 2010s.
