Fashion and Religion: the fusion on the runway

The announcement just a few days ago: the title of the next Costume Institute exhibition is 'Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination' and explores the dialogue between fashion and religion, particularly Catholic.

Over 150 exhibited creations will offer the perfect opportunity to understand how well these two worlds have been, and still remain, deeply interwoven.

Hussein Chalayan in the FW98 has brought his women on the catwalk with the burka and Gaultier his collection 'Rabbi chic', but, if we talk about Catholicism, iconic examples multiply.

There are Cristóbal Balenciaga and his clothes of the 60s, strongly influenced by clerical apparel and Spanish painters of the seventeenth century as Francisco de Zurbarán. Also the 1996 Alexander McQueen show, a controversial statement about religion, war, innocence in which the crucifixes mingle with corsets.

Unforgettable remains the beginning of the FW 2000 Haute Couture collection by John Galliano for Christian Dior with a model dressed like a Pope scattering incense on the walkway singing 'Understand the concept of love'; as is the 'Virgin' collection by Jean Paul Gaultier with his many beautiful Madonna.

And what about the visceral relationship that binds Dolce & Gabbana to the Catholic iconography or Txell Miras’ tribute with 'Conventual'?

Crosses, crucifixes, priest clothes, images of saints, nuns (apparently one of the most beloved theme in the world of fashion) are the words of a language that, through clothing, tells a spirituality in balance between body and soul, between the sacred and profane.

Here are the most interesting collections that in recent years have developed the relationship between fashion and religion.

Balenciaga FW98

Christian Dior FW2000 Haute Couture

Jean Paul Gaultier SS07 Haute Couture

Christian Lacroix FW09 Haute Couture

Yves Saint Laurent FW10

Alexander McQueen  Pre-Fall 13

Dolce & Gabbana FW13

Givenchy SS16

Valentino FW17 Haute Couture

Guo Pei SS17 Haute Couture 

Gianni Versace 1991