- This video is brought
to you by Squarespace, an all-in-one platform
for building a brand and growing your business online. Hello sweet angels. My name is Mina Le and I
talk about fashion, culture, and media commentary here on this channel. (birds chirp) (pulleys whir) (car meows) So today, I decided I was
gonna tackle a video topic that I actually get a lot of requests for, which is the appropriation
of Catholic symbols in fashion.
(Catholic organ music) (record player crackles) The most prominent example I can think of is the Met Costume
Institute's 2018 exhibit, Heavenly Bodies, which
was like heavily covered by the mainstream media. Also, the Versace outfit that Zendaya wore to that event lives rent-free in my mind and I tried to kinda channel it today, but you know, we don't have
that kind of budget, (laughs) and we also don't look like Zendaya, so. And I will be talking
about Heavenly Bodies and the role of Catholicism in like the high fashion industry, but also I wanna talk about a phenomenon that started a couple years
ago, which is this trend of young, cool people
flaunting Catholic aesthetics and even converting to Catholicism. As an example, a Depop user
reached Twitter virality for selling Catholic confession readings. Under her product description,
she wrote, "I would love "to help any fellow coquette
clean girl aesthetic girlies "to absolve you of your sins,
for a cheap price of $5." (record scratches)
"I would love "to help any fellow coquette
clean girl aesthetic girlies "to absolve you of your sins." - [Person] Huh? - Not only is it crazy to
me to charge for confession because you can literally
get that done for free at your local Catholic church, but even if you don't
agree with the hierarchy of the church, I think
it's common sense to say that it's probably better if you're going to get a confession reading to get it done by someone who's been
studying the Bible for years and has reached some kind
of level of certification, versus getting a reading
from a girl on the internet who is only baptized, allegedly. Also, the fact that coquette
and clean girl aesthetics are two completely different things and don't go together,
a questionable source. Do not get your confessions
from this person. But anyway, there's a lot to discuss, so let's just get started. (upbeat jazz music) In this day and age, it feels
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purchase of a website or a domain. (upbeat jazz music) (Catholic organ music) One Pope ago, Pope Benedict XVI was known for a number of things. I'm sure many of those things had to do with his actual leadership
of the Catholic Church, but the other thing, the
arguably more fun thing, was that he had quite the fashion sense. (energetic house music) So much so that in 2007, Esquire named him as one of the best dressed men in America, which, I know, doesn't even make sense because he's not in America, but whatever, the point
still stands. (laughs) ♪ You betta work ♪ - And one of the sartorial
things he was most known for were his shoes, a pair
of red papal loafers that actually made headlines because people initially
thought they were Prada. The Washington Post even
addressed the rumors shortly after his coronation in 2005. "Whether it's Prada and Gucci "or just fancy ecclesiastical tailoring, "Pope Benedict XVI is his own
man when it comes to dressing. "The vintage styles have
turned Benedict into something "of a fashion celebrity." The shoes were not Prada and
were actually made locally by Roman cobblers, but the
rumors probably started because Benedict's
predecessor, Pope John Paul II who served an almost 30-year term, opted for a muted burgundy pair instead when he was in office. Do they say in office? When he was reigning? So in comparison, despite
being very on protocol, Benedict's firetruck red shoes
looked a little ostentatious for office. With that said, the Pope was photographed
wearing Serengeti sunglasses, Adidas baseball caps, and
allegedly also received, but was not photographed wearing, 20 pairs of swimming trunks
from the company Fallani. He also owned an iPod Nano given to him by Vatican Radio on the
station's 75th birthday. (Catholic organ music) Rocco Palmo, a Vatican
watcher and correspondent for the Catholic newspaper, The Tablet, gave a possible explanation for why the two popes differed
so much in presentation. He said, "John Paul shirked
many of the ancient trappings "of the papacy for a handful of reasons. "He wasn't keen to allow the
props to upstage what he saw "as the main draw, his
message and himself. "Benedict, on the other hand, "had none of John Paul's charisma, "and according to Palmo,
Benedict was a man "to whom the constant mass attention "of the papacy did not come easy "and who, in consequence,
took immense pains "to get his appearance right." Honestly, kinda shady for Palmo to say. Peter Popham offered a nicer explanation for The Independent, writing that, "Vanity may have something
to do with all this, "but more likely, "it is the shy theologian
exploring the symbology "of his church's oldest traditions, "sending out messages through
the items he chooses to use." The Guardian also contended that Benedict's papal
uniform represented an effort to revive the Catholic
Church's hegemonic heritage and tradition within visual culture. Benedict himself even
repeated both as cardinal and as Roman pontiff that "art and the saints
are the greatest apologetic "for our faith." But despite all the hoopla, Benedict was far from the
first pope to be fashionable. Prior to the 1960s, it was
actually common for the pope to wear intricate and decorative clothing, but in the mid-'60s, the Catholic clergy convened
at the Second Vatican Council to discuss the
modernization of the Church. Pope Paul VI, who was
pope under this phase, eliminated these more ostentatious
robes and accessories, and even auctioned a papal tiara, which The New York Times
estimated was roughly $80,000 in 1964,
(cash register dings) and then donated those
proceeds to charities and organizations assisting the poor. As a priest told The Guardian, "The church processed into
the Second Vatican Council "in cloth of gold and watered silk "and shambled out the other
end in drip-dry horse blankets "and polyester." (chuckles) Not polyester. - Becoming like this big polyester meteor in our closet, you know. - However, at a time of
global economic uncertainty and with the Church struggling
to retain its members in an increasingly secular world, Benedict may have felt
that reinforcing tradition and underlining the continuity
of ritual was a bold and necessary direction. The result of his dressing meant that companies were scrambling to get the pope's endorsement, which I honestly thought
was really dystopian when researching all this,
'cause I had no idea. Popham reported in 2006,
"Manufacturers of everything "from luxury cars to loafers
are climbing over each other "to obtain the discreet endorsement "of a man whose needs are so few "that everything he lays
hands on gets noticed." John Allert, the chief
executive of the British unit of Interbrand, a global
branding consultancy, even told The Wall Street Journal that for a product to be associated with the Pope was at
least 100 times better than being sported by an A-list celebrity, because his following is more devoted. Imagine having a parasocial
relationship with the pope. - I saw Cady Heron wearing
army pants and flip flops, so I bought army pants and flip flops. - In defense of Pope
Benedict, I will mention that Pope John Paul II had
his own material vices. He was known to enjoy a
fondness for Rolex watches, which Teen Vogue cites as an
iconic papal fashion moment. As for our current pope, Pope Francis has brought
back a humble fashion sense. Yes, sorry to bear the
bad news, but the photos of him wearing a puffer coat
were in fact AI-generated. Francis opts for wool instead of silk, simple wood or metal
crosses instead of gold, gem-encrusted ones, black
shoes instead of red. Catholic news outlet Crux refers to his laid back style as
papal athleisure. (chuckles) The most interesting trivia
I learned is that his tailor, Filippo Sorcinelli, who was
also Benedict's tailor, is gay, and in 2013, someone or some people sent in
2,500 anonymous letters to newspapers outing Sorcinelli in efforts to I guess like cancel him, but I guess the Vatican
thought his work was so good that they continued to work
with Sorcinelli anyway. Though interestingly,
TODAY Italy interviewed him and asked if any priests have
ever made advances towards him and he said, "It happens,
but I make it clear "that it is a mistake." Sorcinelli also created
a room and clothing spray for the popes, which that inspired him to open up his own perfume
business called Unum, which includes in their
line, a scent that is based on gay eroticism. Anyway, I just thought it was interesting to talk about the fashion
styles of the popes because they are arguably
the most fashionable members of the Catholic Church, and also a lot of their clothing tends
to be reappropriated in the high fashion space. (Catholic organ music) I think we should discuss the opulence of the Catholic Church,
because it helps explain why Catholicism tends
to be more appropriated by the fashion industry than, let's say, Protestant denominations. Okay, so to understand the
aesthetics of Catholicism, we have to go way back. In 311 AD, I wasn't
exaggerating, (laughs) way back, Emperor Constantine established
the Christian Church as a power in the state, and the result was that they
needed to erect institutions where people could practice
this now dominant religion. The problem was, they couldn't
just build Christian churches on top of the ancient pagan temples because the functions of
these temples differed from the functions of the church. Many ancient temples had
pretty small interiors that usually hosted a shrine to a specific god,
while larger processions and sacrifices took place outside. In contrast, the church
needed a large interior space because that's where
everyone would congregate for service while the priest read mass. The church also condemned the worship of these specific gods, so everything about these existing temples were like, giving Christian red flags. What they ended up doing
was model new churches based on the large assembly halls
of the time known as basilicas or royal halls. Probably, the architectural
styles that many of us associate with Catholicism the
most are the Gothic style that arose in the 12th and 13th centuries and the Baroque style that
arose in the 17th century. These types of ornate
cathedrals were meant to inspire and show the kind of triumphant power that the Catholic Church wielded. As professor of Italian studies
Stephen J. Baker explains, "Ornamentation in Catholic
sacred architecture serves "to increase a building's emotional impact "upon an individual's
transformational process "during the liturgical ritual." What also sets the Catholic Church apart from some other groups of
Christians is its emphasis on religious art. In the early Constantine days
when they were just trying to figure out what to fill
these new churches with, statues were for sure out of the question. They reminded everyone of paganism, and idolatry was also a concern. The term idolatry means
the worship of idols, and the reason idolatry is prohibited by the church is because there's a fear that people will worship the image and then attach divine attributes to said image instead of
worshiping the one true God. However, it's unclear what
exactly is considered idolatry, but early Christians could at least agree that statues were definitely considered, and so out of the question. But what about paintings? There were some Christians who believed paintings
also counted as idolatry, but Pope Gregory the Great who lived at the end of the 6th century AD believed that paintings were integral
for religious teaching and inspiring devotion,
especially because many members of the church could not read or write. And so artists following
his lead painted frescoes to cover the churches' walls. Fast forward to 1517, a German priest named Martin Luther published the "Ninety-five Theses," which challenged almost every aspect of the Catholic Church, leading to the Protestant
Reformation in which more and more people found something
about the Church to hate on. Among these complaints was the idea that the church was encouraging idolatry with all their religious art. There was also the idea that
the Church was hypocritical because they were preaching
Christian values of poverty, meanwhile, cathedrals were
literally dripping in gold, silver, and other precious materials. The pope was also accused
of living lavishly. In retaliation, the Catholic Church hard-launched
the Counter-Reformation in which they attempted to strengthen their own doctrines
against the Protestants. When it came to religious
art, they decreed that the Protestants were wrong because the Old Testament
God had requested that his house be decorated richly. Elayne Oliphant, NYU Professor of religious studies, explains, "While the Protestant
Reformation critiqued excesses "of wealth and opulence
in churches and art, "in many ways, the Catholic Church replied "by further emphasizing the
richness and beauty of art." The Counter-Reformation movement inevitably sparked a resurgence of Catholic fervor throughout Europe and its cultural
manifestation was Baroque art. Artists like Caravaggio, Reni, Carracci, and Barocci were recruited
to affirm salvation in the Catholic Church through beauty. This championing of more extravagant religious art extended beyond painting scriptures in architecture to also include the ceremonial robes and jewels worn by the clergy. Oliphant explains, "Just at the point "when nation-states were
taking over the rights "of taxation, were
expropriating church properties "and capitalism was expanding
rapidly throughout Europe, "the Vatican again sort of doubled down "in its use of art to
celebrate its power." Today, the Vatican still wears
traditional ecclesiastical clothing for reasons I mentioned
earlier in the video. In contrast, many Protestant reformers
abandoned ecclesiastical dress because they wanted to downplay the visual
distinction between church leaders and the laity. What that means is that
in a very general sense, Catholics have a clear visual culture which makes their aesthetics
more ripe for the picking. (Catholic organ music) High fashion is very elite. I don't know if you
guys knew this. (laughs) But especially couture, and lots of times, the luxury industry will seek out codes to distinguish their expensive garments from their lesser counterparts. It therefore makes sense
to use Catholic imagery to convey the sense of
expensiveness and eliteness because of the longstanding
history tying elite culture and Catholicism. For the Met's Heavenly Bodies Exhibit, the Sistine Chapel actually
loaned several items of clothing, including the
golden cape of Pope Benedict XV who reigned from 1914 to
1922, the chasuble and mitre of his successor, Pius XI, and the 19th century dalmatic of Pius IX, as well as his heavily jeweled tiara. All of this is to say,
according to Andrew Bolton, head curator of the
Met's Costume Institute, that "The finest costumes "in history were always either
imperial or ecclesiastical, "sometimes both." - Catholics see the world
through enchanted eyes. Catholicism conveys really deep concepts, but it's reflected in
these beautiful stories that are much more accessible. - The Met's Costume Institute
is co-chaired by Vogue EIC, Anna Wintour, and the exhibit
Heavenly Bodies can be seen as a continuation of her
legacy in the fashion world. I say that because
Wintour's debut Vogue cover in November, 1988 featured
a model in a jacket adorned with a large cross. Professor of religious
studies, Lynn S. Neal, characterizes this cover
as the "transformation "and decontextualization
of religious symbols. "Using religious symbols
in this way corresponds "with the diminishing role
of religious institutions "and the rise of spirituality "where people seek authentic inner life "and personhood rather than group identity "and social location." Originally, Heavenly Bodies
was conceived as an exhibition that would actually explore the influence of religion on fashion more
generally, but over time, the curators realized there
was this major imbalance between designers who are
from the Catholic tradition and those from other faiths. I mean, I think this
really highlights the lack of diversity in high fashion
and fashion in general. I mean, the reason fashion designers
integrate Catholic aesthetics obviously varies from
designer to designer, but I think it's important
to mention that many of the successful fashion
designers we know today were either from or
trained in France, Italy, and Spain, which are three countries in which Catholicism was and
still is the dominant religion. For example, Coco Chanel
who grew up in France, spent her youth in the Aubazine Abbey, and it was in this orphanage
that she learned how to sew and where she found inspiration. Fashion writer Eliane Bedu noted that Chanel ended up reusing
the slender in straight cut of the nuns' dresses in
many of her collections, notably, in her little black dress, to which she sometimes
added a white collar, also recalling the institution. This style and color palette, along with Christian-inspired accessories, have become a staple of Chanel's brand. More recently, beginning
in the 1990s, Versace and the controversial Dolce
& Gabbana are two brands that integrate their
Italian Catholic heritages. Versace's 1991 to 1992
ready-to-wear collection, for example, featured a biker
jacket with a bejeweled Mary and an infant Jesus on the back. Their Fall 1997 couture show
featured cross necklaces, Byzantine cross embellishments, and little black dresses with
white collars reminiscent of Chanel's aforementioned
homages to the abbey and its nuns. For Dolce & Gabbana, while they've made Christian-themed
clothing in the past, it was their Fall 2013
ready-to-wear collection that was considered to
be the biggest exhibition of religious accessories in
the history of high fashion, with its incense burner-shaped
bags, cross earrings, crowns, and Baroque shoes. I believe Kourtney Kardashian and Travis, Travis Barker, (chuckles) their wedding, which was I think sponsored by Dolce & Gabbana because
she wears Dolce & Gabbana, that was also very like Catholic themed. Other designers who have
used Catholic symbols in at least one collection
include Cristobal Balenciaga, Jean Paul Gaultier, Alexander
McQueen, John Galliano for Dior, Thom Browne,
Alessandro Michele for Gucci, and Rick Owens. As we can see, even non-Italians
can find inspiration with Catholicism, and
that's probably because of how culturally
pervasive the religion is in the western world. (spooky organ music) Catholicism's material culture
and proximity to the mystical and supernatural also
makes it just taboo enough to be enticing. In his article, "From
Friars to Fornicators: "The Eroticization of Sacred Dress," William Keenan explains, "Part of the lure "of the religious dress fetish lies "in the frisson obtained when carnal "and spiritual bodies
juxtapose and commingle, "when the lusts of the flesh commune "with the garments of God,
when the conventional morality "of dress is overturned. "Such challenges to norms
produce a pleasurable grinding, "a sense of edgy rebellion, "and the possibility of
questioning the boundaries "that separate categories." In a similar vein, a
fascination with Catholicism and its aesthetics took
hold in conjunction with the Second Vatican Council
in the mid 20th century, exemplified in films
like "Rosemary's Baby," "The Godfather," and "The
Exorcist," among others. Also just as a sidebar, I grew
up around Washington, D.C. and "The Exorcist" I
think takes place in D.C., or at least it like takes
place on a specific staircase, like there's a staircase where
"The Exorcist" was filmed, and it's like this really like
vertical, steep staircase, and I remember there was like a rumor that like the crew team in my high school would
have to like jog up and down "The Exorcist"
stairs for training, but now that I think about it,
I'm like, that can't be real because I feel like you could actually die if you fell down those stairs. Anyway. Catholicism was especially
prominent in the horror genre and when juxtaposed with sins
like sexuality and violence. Catholic iconography and religious language also
has a long history in music, specifically for songs with sexual themes and erotic imagery, and many times, trends in music lend its
way to trends in fashion. For example, in the 1980s, pop singer Madonna
adopted cross accessories and used subversive religious imagery in her music videos and performances. Many people liked her rebellious
stance against conservatism and her unapologetic female sexuality, and thus looked to emulate her style. - She gets what she wants and she does it the way she dresses and the way she acts.
- Is that good? - It is, of course. - Of course, some conservative Christians
found Madonna's wearing of these religious symbols trivializing and even blasphemous. - I am aware that the Vatican and certain Catholic
communities are accusing my show of being sinful and blasphemous. If you are sure that I
am a sinner, then let he who has not sinned cast the first stone. - Another artist, a more recent
artist that is often tied to the Catholic aesthetic,
is Lana del Rey. A young writer for Teen Ink
explained the phenomenon. "Del Rey's religious imagery
in her lyrics has appeared "in the #catholicaesthetic, "which features Virgin Mary
statues, wooden crosses, "and young girls dressed
in white nightgowns locked "in simple bedrooms and looking
longingly out of windows. "Her music encapsulates
the mood of this aesthetic "and cements its undertone of docility. "In short, the #catholicaesthetic
is about three things, "softness, sexiness and submission." So yeah, in case you missed
it, beginning around 2021, there was a rise in the Catholic aesthetic
among young people. I would personally describe
the Catholic aesthetic as a subset of the coquette subculture. Its use of Catholic symbols
is definitely not as opulent as in Versace's couture collections. It's like more of an accessible
style that integrates a lot of pastel blues and
pinks, lace, slip dresses, cross necklaces, Catholic
school girl uniforms, rosary beads, ribbons, and baby tees with religious idioms on them. The brand Praying is
actually a good example, and I actually think that this
brand is partly responsible for the larger trend of
memifying Catholic culture, but what I also think is really weird is that this brand is run by two men and the clothes are clearly
meant to like sexualize women but also like sexualize women's innocence. It's a very weird brand. They sell a viral Holy Trinity bikini and a Hail Mary dress as a few examples. Their designs generally
follow a Dadaist tradition in street fashion made popular
by ironic brands, VETEMENTS and Off-White, though I think they border on the more offensive just because of the religious connotations. Rebecca Jennings wrote about
the memification of Catholicism and interviewed Kyle Hide who
runs the Catholic meme page, ineedgodineverymomentofmylife,
on Instagram. Hide attributes his follower
growth to quarantine, saying that "Being home alone "without your routine makes
you confront your faith "or other deeper things that
society isn't dealing with." Last December, Eliza McLamb
wrote an essay on her experience at a Catholic church
with her extended family in West Virginia, and in it, she talks about how young
people, including herself, feel a pull towards
meaning-making and ritual to deal with the trials and
tribulations of modern society. And I think she's absolutely right. I also think that there's just so much
fear nowadays towards AI and social media and other like "Black
Mirror"-coded technology that sometimes reverting
back to a traditional belief that has lasted like 2,000
years can feel comforting, especially for those of us
who grew up in a religion but have since stopped practicing. So revisiting that religion can feel like revisiting
our youth in some way which we might see through like nostalgic, rose-colored glasses. I mean in my case, I've yet
to romanticize this part of my life. All I remember is like
dingy church basements, boring services, and not
being able to go to sleepovers on Saturday nights because
I had CCD the next morning. There's also of course people
who adopt Catholic fashion and culture as more of a vibe (laughs) than a sincere gesture. Writer Biz Sherbert wrote in 2021 about how Catholic aesthetic
reclamation could be a result of public reckonings towards
cultural appropriation, because by the late 2010s,
it was generally understood that a white person should
not wear a feather headdress or a bindi. So Sherbert writes,
"Alternative white kids have had "to adapt and look for new ways "to differentiate themselves from the sea "of normies and basics. "Trendsetters began to
avoid ripping off styles "from people of color. "Their pursuit of otherness now took place "within the strict limits of
familiar, quaint horizons." Sherbert also interviewed
artist Samuel Marion for i-D who added, "Tastemaking
habits have become magnetized "towards forms of appropriation "that have no overt racial ties." Hence the blue collar Dickies
fascination, normcore, cowboy LARPing, Walden cosplay. While most Christians
worldwide practice Catholicism, most Christian Americans belong to a Protestant denomination. Protestant rhetoric has
imbued itself culturally here in the US from views towards
marriage to legal laws to like the Hollywood formula
of good triumphs over evil, and so contextually, Catholicism
seems like the edgier, more alternative branch of Christianity, on top of just being a more
aesthetically inclined religion in general. I will add though that last year, we saw an adjacent aesthetic called Catholic Mexican
girl core. (laughs) I feel like it's that
meme where it's like, none of those words are in the Bible, but it like, (chuckles)
is even more like ironic because we're literally
talking about the Bible. Catholic Mexican girl
core, which is an aesthetic that's partially inspired
by Brazilian designer Marcelo Gaia's Mirror Palais collection, and partially inspired by Hispanic actresses like
Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek. The major difference from the Catholic coquette
is that this aesthetic is less cute and more
sexy, shows more skin, but I would also say it verges
on cultural appropriation because of the way it
whittles down the diversity of Latin America, it could even be seen as like a fetishization
of Spanish colonization. I don't think anything in like
the Mirror Palais collections are explicitly culturally appropriative, I think it's just like the
fact that people have decided to name this aesthetic
Mexican Catholic girl. Like, why couldn't it just be, clothes that are pretty,
I don't know. (laughs) There could have been another name for it. Or there could have just
not been any name at all. That's a hot take. (laughs) But speaking of insincerity,
another more niche influence of the postmodern Catholic aesthetic is the Dimes Square
scene in New York City. Dimes Square is an area
of the Lower East Side, named after the local restaurant Dimes, and the art culture around there for the past few years has
been pretty reactionary, contrarian, and
right-leaning as a response to the progressive hegemony
in young urban spaces. Julia Yost covered the scene in an article for The New York Times in 2022. In it, she refers to
podcast hosts, Honor Levy and Dasha Nekrasova who have both recently
publicized their Catholic faith. However, some people believe
these women's religious choices were insincere and it's
not difficult to see why, considering the fact that
Dasha once called herself, "Catholic like Andy Warhol," and considering how Warhol
was a self-proclaimed, deeply superficial pop artist, it seems like Catholicism
is more of a vibe to them than like a
genuine choice of faith. - How much of your move to Catholicism is a like
cultural gesture versus a more, you know, authentic, like, submission to the church authority? - Still something I'm navigating. I think, you know, a lot of people think I'm
being Catholic ironically, which is true, (laughs) but
it doesn't really matter if you're doing something
ironically because it still works. - Levy pointed out on her podcast that if you perform enough
rituals, then it becomes real, even if you don't initially believe in it. So who knows? Yost also writes something
interesting about it. She says, "The idea that it
is a properly religious act "to observe the forms of
faith, even in the absence "of perfect belief, most
likely comes naturally "to a generation raised on social media "where performance is a
constant fact of life." So basically, (laughs) because of social media's
over-reliance on aesthetics and performance to create
meaning, it's unsurprising that some people would think
being performatively a Catholic is enough to qualify as Catholic. Much to think about. What's especially funny to me when I was going into this
like research wormhole is that, I came across this
conservative Catholic writer, Steve Larkin, (chuckles) who actually criticized the
Dimes Square Catholic revival for I guess like not
being Catholic enough, like the Catholic girls are fighting. He wrote, "Whether it's
a pose or a belief, "it indicates another problem
with 'Vibes' Catholicism. "It is mediated almost entirely "through spending time online. "New York Times profiles "of the most Twitter-visible
Catholics may make you think "that Catholicism is the religion
of an intellectual elite. "It's not." (laughs) "It's the religion of
about 1.3 billion people, "most of whom are neither
intellectual nor elite. "Really, this kind of media treatment almost
makes me miss the days "when Catholicism was the
religion of illiterate peasants, "kept in darkness and
superstition by their priests." (Catholic organ music) I feel like there's
always an argument I see whenever someone wears like
a nun costume for Halloween or even wears like a cross
necklace in a goth sort of way, which is that, is it okay to
wear Catholic-inspired fashion? I was raised Catholic, I
don't practice anymore, and I've talked to a lot
of people about this issue. Most of my friends who
were also raised Catholic also don't practice anymore either, and their view is that Christianity, being such a dominant religion with such a violent oppressive history, cannot be appropriated,
and I, for the most part, agree with that as well. But I can't say that current practicing
Catholics feel the same kind of nonchalance. Over and over again, we hear about Catholics criticizing
music artists like Madonna. - Madonna, why do you
want to burn in Hell? - Lady Gaga, Lil Nas X, and even the Met's Heavenly
Bodies exhibit faced disdain. - Our blessed mother, (kisses) she has been so offended (kisses) by the blasphemies that
occurred here at the Met. - Several Catholic organizations coordinated the Met Reparation Rally where more than 600 people participated in a protest outside the museum, which I think is a little ridiculous because I don't know, I
feel like museum exhibits, the point of them is to convey knowledge. They're educational spaces. Like, I don't think it's like
a judgmental space, you know? Like they're not saying
like it's inherently good or inherently bad to integrate fashion and to integrate
Christianity into fashion, like, they're just presenting what's literally been the case. And so I think that was
kinda silly to be protesting, but I think on a very general level, like not counting extremists, what really matters to
most people is sincerity, because I notice that
fashion brands like Versace and Gucci get a free pass more often because their designers are Italian and their clothing pays homage
to like the beautiful aspects of the Italian Catholic heritage. Meanwhile, I noticed the conversation around Namilia's Spring 2024 collection was that it was offensive and corny and this is a sentiment that was conveyed from like Catholics and
non-Catholics alike. Namilia is a brand known for
creating provocative clothes. For example, they incorporate
a lot of genitalia in their designs, so
I can see why choosing to use Catholic imagery would come across much more distastefully. It also just might be that that particular clothing
collection was ugly (chuckles) and using Catholic imagery is only okay if your designs are beautiful. But either way, Catholicism has lasted for over 2,000 years now and its meaning in the culture experiences
shifts and changes, and sometimes those
changes are orchestrated by the Church itself,
like with Vatican II, and that means that while it may be edgy and cool now, today, to rock Catholicism, doesn't mean it will be in 10
years or 20 years depending on what the Church says or how
religious or anti-religious or anti-ironic we become as a culture. As Julia Yost writes, "Real-world events will
confront young urban Catholics "with the full implications
of Catholic doctrine, "making it hard to view the
rosary as a fashion statement. "Over time, these developments
will sort the converts "from the LARPers." Okay, that's all I have
for today everyone. Thank you so much for
listening to me talk, listening to me ramble, and I hope you have a
lovely rest of your day. Okay. See ya, bye. (kisses)
