Vatican bling takes center stage at Met fashion exhibit
NEW YORK (AP) — Tiaras encrusted with thousands of diamonds, emeralds and rubies. Papal cloaks and vestments with golden embroidery so fine they took 16 years to produce.
Wield power means one needs to dress the part – and it seems few have understood that better than the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church through the centuries.
That is one of the key takeaways from the latest megaexhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, a look at the influence of Catholicism on fashion, which opens on Thursday and runs through Oct. 8.
For modern examples of the relationship between the two, consider that Pope Benedict XVI was called the “Prada Pope,” based on rumors – urban legend, it turned out – that his stylish red loafers were from the storied fashion house.
They were not, and actually his predecessor, John Paul II, had a similar pair, now on display at the Met – part of a long papal tradition.
That did not stop Benedict from being named Esquire’s 2007 Accessorizer of the Year.
But examples go back way earlier, according to “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination,” the Met’s annual spring fashion exhibit and the biggest one yet, spanning a full 25 galleries and stretching from the Metropolitan on Fifth Avenue to its Cloisters branch in upper Manhattan.
The show debuted at the star-studded Met Gala last Monday night.