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Divine dressing: why the style set have converted to Catholicism

The election of the new pope has put cassocks back in the spotlight, chiming with fashion’s reverence for all things religious

The election of the new pope also chimes with a mood in fashion, since religious references – ranging from ornate crucifixes and the sacred heart symbol to prayer beads – have been percolating since well before the conclave. It suggests a deeper grappling with identity, heritage, and perhaps a collective sense of unease or longing for grounding in uncertain times.” Where once, she says, “religious symbolism in fashion might have been purely provocative or ironic, today there’s often sincerity behind it”. As if to counteract this, at his Paris show, Chavarria played the speech that the Right Rev Mariann Budde, bishop of Washington, gave at Trump’s inauguration, in which she implored him to have mercy on immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community.

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