Religions would do well to talk about fashion, says the theologian Alberto Fabio Ambrosio, co-director at the Collège des Bernardins of the seminar “Ecology of fashion: towards new virtues”, and author of Fashion and Religion. Wear the sacred, make the appearance sacred. (Hermann, 2024) and Theology of fashion. God three times tailor (Hermann, 2021). When does Paris Fashion Week open (23-1 September)Ahem October), this Dominican religious calls, in an interview with Worldthe sects to invent a “new modesty”no longer controlling what our clothes cover or not on our body, but committing ourselves against “Aesthetic, economic and environmental injustice” caused by the fashion industry.
Isn’t fashion a useless topic for a theologian accustomed to talking about God?
Fashion is a social, economic, political and aesthetic phenomenon that is essential to understanding contemporary societies. Just look at the figures for the textile industry. [1 530 milliards de dollars de chiffre d’affaires dans le monde en 2022] to understand to what extent fashion is a phenomenon that sustains society. As a theologian, I work on globalizing, totalizing social phenomena, that is, those that concern both the individual and the community. However, this is true of fashion as much as of religion.
Both can re-enchant an existence: individuals find meaning in their lives through the aesthetic and cultural experience acquired through clothing. Clothing and fashion are two fundamental elements of language in society. Each individual is defined by the clothes he wears: clothes make the monk. However, if I let myself be carried away by the language of brands, by fashion icons, if buying new products gives me pleasure or a feeling of well-being and if I await new trends as if they were oracles, then fashion emerges as a system of meaning. Fashion gives guidelines to follow, makes you feel good, even gives happiness and, in this sense, sows seeds of salvation.
It is also a polluting industry, particularly through fast fashion, which encourages regular purchases and waste. How do you view this global phenomenon?
Fast fashion clothing actually encourages consumption and promotes the exploitation of the planet and human resources at low cost. But we should not underestimate the impact of haute couture and luxury. It is the latter that set trends and maintain a form of aesthetic tension, made of continuous changes. Fast fashion is a popular response to this phenomenon.
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