The concepts of Religion, Fashion, and Gender are all explicitly related. We see society use concepts of Religion to push certain modes of dress. Society’s expectations from us to behave in a certain manner is commonly explained and defied in the world of fashion. But where are these expectations derived from?
Let’s take a look at Religion. The concept of God generalized across most Religions has a sense of masculinity. We see God use He/Him/His pronouns and God is commonly referred to as the father of the world. And of course, God is a woman or even genderless in a multitude of Genders. Regardless, whether God is a Man or Woman or Neither, it is important to see recognize how religion pushes women to have a sense of purity and chastity.
Most of the time, the concept of purity is pushed through how women dress. Society deems it “proper” to dress conservatively for woman all around the world. All religions seem to push the oppressive idea that women should never tempt that women should be pure. Religions commonly test the essence of a woman where if she deems herself as anything other than pure she brings shame to herself and her family. It is absurd that society puts women into two categorize “sluts” and “good girls” and judges these categories by the clothes they wear. We even see this in brides where white signifies a virginal purity.
Religion can also be a fashion statement in itself. It has been weaved into the themes for the Met Gala, Designer Collections, and more. The Met Gala’s celestial bodies theme allowed so many designers to push the envelope on religious outfits. With Galliano making Rihanna into the Pope and other designers following suit, we all saw Fashion take a religious angle at this event. Vivienne Westwood has a religious angle to her clothing with her Bas Charm featuring a prominent cross element. Jean Paul Gaultier is also famous for using religion as inspiration. His spring summer 2007 collection was an homage to Catholicism. He had collections in 1990 exhibiting Hindu accessories and Goddesses on his clothing. Clearly, Fashion draws inspiration from various religions at times.
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