Heavenly Bodies! Part I

I approached this “show” with trepidation given the tasteless title. Catholicism and the commercial fashion industry – what points of contact could there be today? If we are to judge by what is sold next to supermarket checkout counters, American women indeed are obsessed with their bodies. And a stroll up Fifth Avenue, such as I take every day, only confirms the vanity and vulgarity of the legions of the female shoppers and gawkers. Yet the Vatican, the Archdiocese of New York and the Metropolitan Museum of Art have helped put together a testimonial to the alleged “Catholic Imagination” active in the fashion industry.

For this is a really big thing. The Vatican has made supposedly important artwork available. Cardinals Ravasi and Dolan (along with the ubiquitous James Martin SJ) have graced the opening with their presence. That opening was accompanied by a Met Gala of unsurpassable vulgarity uniting representatives of fashion, the entertainment industry and high finance. The exhibition is referenced in store windows up and down Fifth Avenue. We spoke to someone at a very well known New York antique store who said they have made valuable pieces of antique jewelry  – of an “ecclesiastical” appearance” no doubt – available to certain of the elite for the Gala.

(Above) a “Byzantine” dress.

The bulk of the exhibition consists of designer dresses – some old, some crafted for this show. Those on the “outskirts” of the exhibition are more “normal.” Their Catholic influence is limited to the application of mosaic images or crosses – or to the use of gold or blue fabrics ( the color blue is linked to the Virgin Mary, according to the exhibition).

As one advances into the center gallery the dresses get more and more fantastic. It’s the type of haute couture of which I always wondered: does anyone actually wear these “creations?”

(Above) A gown with a “brassiere” of ex-voto images. (Below) An evening gown inspired – so they say – by the “cappa magna” which has resurfaced in recent years in Traditional pontifical masses.

In a corner a video apparatus displays the “ecclesiastical fashion show” from Fellini’s Roma. Apparently what was intended in the movie as satire is taken seriously here. Life does indeed imitate art, as Oscar Wilde said, bu I doubt Fellini in his wildest dreams could have imagined “Heavenly Bodies” taking place less than 50 years after his movie. (The fashions in Roma were much more impressive, by the way).

Frankly, I didn’t see much “imagination” at work. It seems all exceedingly simplistic: copies of habits, cassocks, vestments and ornate dresses from images of the Virgin. And of course a number of figures with wings. (For some reason, by far the the best known examples of the latter in recent years – the Victoria’s  Secret “Angels” – didn’t make the cut.)

(Above) An ornate dress for a statue of the Virgin. “She was worshipped as the Bride of Christ” the exhibition helpfully explains. (Below) A wedding gown based on such dresses.

(Above and below) Dresses based on “Dominican” habits.

(Above) angels!

Now a Traditionalist can’t help but but point out that those aspects of Catholicism that seem to inspire these designers – traditional habits, soutanes, papal tiaras, ex-votos, lavish embroidered vestments, the “cappa magna,” images of the Virgin adorned in rich garments – are precisely those that were abolished or sidelined in the aftermath of Vatican II. But for this exhibit they are resurrected – is it the equivalent of using baroque vestments and polyphonic music in the Novus Ordo mass? It does seem these designers are taking various elements of Catholic tradition out of their context and applying them as mere decoration. I have to add that an undue interest in ecclesiastical paraphernalia for its own sake – such as can be seen here – is not at all necessarily healthy. It recalls the unholy stories we have heard concerning certain other ritualistic traditions…

Indeed there is a perceptible transvestite flavor to much of the show – not surprising given the industry. Women attired as bishops, as cardinals, as priests in soutane or alb – it’s all very odd from the perspective of Catholic morality. And gets even stranger when on its fringes the show veers off into the realms of the goths, leather or S&M.

(Above) An alb. (Below) A cardinal’s hat.

(Above) An episcopal evening dress. (Below) Based on two reviews in the press, undisputed critics’ choice for this exhibition: a leather bondage mask festooned with crosses.

(Above) Characteristic of this exhibit is the juxtaposition of fashion and real works of art. The mixing occurs – as here – even in display cases. “Heavenly Bodies” sprawls over most of the medieval galleries. We may criticize the role of the Catholic Church in this exhibition, but the modus operandi of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is no less meretricious.

That summarizes the “fashion” part of one of the most bizarre exhibitions I have ever seen. We have to wonder how this fosters respect for Catholicism or some “Catholic inspiration” – the snickering accounts in the press incline us to pessimism on that account. Rather, “Heavenly Bodies” would seem to document the offensive, hedonistic and libertine culture of our age. But as far as the Vatican and the hierarchy are concerned, such reflections are beside the point. For them, the great success is that they have been personally invited to participate in a “big show” with the elites of media, high finance, entertainment and (here) fashion. The real significance of “Heavenly Bodies” is that it is yet another milestone in the complete absorption of the post-Conciliar church into the ruling establishment of the West.