Fashion Culminating in the Church – the West’s First Runway

Analysis
Written By Punya Heinonen

Recently I was thumbing through Sowmya Krishnamurthy’s Fashion Killa, a non-fiction account of how hip hop has revolutionized fashion. In the first chapter I came across a sentence that made me pause – “[The Churches] were holy runways,”. As someone who grew up in a non-Christian family, I had no experiences going to the Church growing up, or even now. Were Churches and Christianity really a birthplace, of sorts, of the modern runway? I wouldn’t know. Taking matters into my own hands, I investigated. Here are my results.

 

Though the Church of Christ is well known for inventions such as Christmas, the Crusades, and champagne (invented by a French monk), it has also inspired a breadth of innovation in fashion spanning 476 CE to the present day. Clothes have always, in some sense or another, marked levels of wealth, education, and trade. Clothes indicated social status. If we looked back at the Byzantine Empire[JC1]  (founded circa 330 CE), wealth was displayed on two groups of people – royalty, and the Church. From  jewelled encrusted Bibles to shoes embroidered with the Holy Cross, mosaics show saints and priests dressed decadently. Such avid adornment symbolised the power of the Byzantine churches. The Church’s reach and power is also highlighted in the sculptures of Empresses and Emperors. Empress Ariadne’s sculpture in particular incorporated religious nods such as a bejewelled orb and spectre, emphasizing her imperial power over the region and religion.

Clothes to Represent Differing Social Classes, Ideals, and Identity

When the church split into two, the East (Byzantine) and West (Holy Roman Empire), clothing and attire were further used to differentiate between the two in models that are still followed today. Shifting the focus to the Holy Empire in the Middle Ages, the church became a centre of prosperity across Europe, which allowed them exclusive access to the best weaving, embroidery, and fabrics, which were used to adorn Bishops, Cardinals, the Pope, as well as altars. When it came to the rest of the population, most people wore simple tunics and women wore veils to cover their hair. The custom of ‘dressing up’ for church still did not exist simply because no one could afford to.

During the Renaissance, churches began using symbolism to further express their faith, largely with the colours black and red. Black represented humility, piety, and restraint. Red was a colour often worn only by nobility and religious leaders. Though these colours communicated certain roles and aspects of the church, they were also the most expensive dyes to make in terms of time and ingredients, which meant that a lot of church attire, worn by Protestants and Catholics alike, was a show of wealth.

Clothes to Represent Differing Ideals and Identity – Enforced Dress Codes

Around 1215 CE, enforced dress codes were prescribed not only to the various sects of Christianity, but also to other faiths, meaning people who followed Islam or Judaism had to dress a certain way. This was because of the Fourth Council of Lateran, the outcomes of which resulted in the Jewish population of Italy wearing badges and conical hats, optional before, but suddenly mandatory. These actions were part of  broad anti-Semitic and unjust efforts to separate the Jewish and Christian communities.

Over time, these distinguishing and discriminatory measures evolved into expressions of religious identity, such as the Star of David used in jewelry. This was actually a trend that Jewish communities had incorporated throughout the medieval period. In Judaism whilst it was always customary to cover one’s head, these periods of enforcements has made a kippah outside of religious contexts a sign synonymous with one’s pride in their Jewish identity. I must note here that wearing a kippah is not derived from Christianity in any way, but rather transforming culturally significant clothes from enforced dress codes to personal style.

Sunday Best

Fast forward to the mid-19th century, with the rise of the middle class and the Industrial Revolution, attending church became an opportunity to display one’s best attire or “Sunday Best”. Due to human nature, it was not uncommon to wear something more ‘put together,’ to show off to the local community in the most significant community event – mass. In Harlem, New York, church fashion culture had developed into wearing one’s most colourful and matching prints, suits, jackets, skirts, and often intricate and elaborate hats worn by women. This culminated culture is still well and truly alive today. As Willi Smith said, “Most of these designers who have to run to Paris for colour and fabric combinations should go to church on Sunday in Harlem. It’s all there.” Even if you couldn’t afford new clothes, you always had church clothes, as Andre Leon Talley, former editor of Vogue put it, “We sometimes had hard times, but church was very important, so everything was invested in beautiful church clothes.”

The Churches Influence on Contemporary Fashion

Now it is not uncommon to find inspiration drawn from ‘church clothes’ in trends such as ‘coquette,’ white innocent and feminine outfits with bows and lace, or even in the resurgence of ‘twee’ where simple patterns, girlish leather oxfords and modest clothing reign.

To draw our attention back to what started this all, places of Christian worship being akin to a runway, there are striking similarities between the two. Just as in the layout of a church and a fashion runway, there is a middle strip that people walk up and down, and people sit around it. Just as models strut down catwalks to demonstrate a designer’s latest work, it is not hard to imagine a catholic priest walking up and down the aisle with incense, obviously for religious purposes, but doing so with the utmost thought and care put into his attire. Fashion runways originally started out as fashion ‘parades,’ where designers in the mid 19th century displayed their latest work on people rather than mannequins. In the Middle Ages, the church allowed and sometimes even supported ‘carnivals,’ a travelling event that occurred between Christmas and lent where people would dress up and generally have fun.

The next time you see embroidered shoes, cross jewellery, even just elaborate race day hats, remember where it found its origins in the West, that’s right, the first holy runway.

P.S. bit of trivia! Karl Lagerfeld’s 2011 Spring collection for Chanel was inspired by the heavily jewelled and adorned Byzantinians, specifically Empress Theodora.

Sources

  • Hennessy, K., & Fischel, A. (2012). Fashion : the definitive history of costume and style. Dk Publishing.

  • Maimonides, M., & Eliyahu Touger. (2010). Mishneh Torah <2> Sefer Ahavah, the book of love. New York [U.A.] Moznaim Publishing Corporation.

  • Pope Innocent III. (2023). The Fourth Lateran Council.

  • Krishnamurthy, S. (2023). Fashion Killa. Gallery Books.

  • Jeffreys, E., Haldon, J., & Cormack, R. (2008). The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. In Oxford University Press eBooks. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199252466.001.0001, pp. 39-40.

  • Tinson, T. (2020). Honouring Willi Smith. CFDA.

  • Dullea, G. (1992). Now and Always, Fashion Mad. New York Times.

Photo Sources (in order of appearance):

Punya Heinonen
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