The mystery of faith according to fashion Why the Church is the world's first brand

Although practising Catholics are an endangered species, the fascination exercised by ecclesiastical icons on the imagination of fashion designers has not lost its vital force. Catholic iconography is everywhere: from the rosaries, effigies of the Virgin Mary and ex-votos of flaming hearts that form the basis of D&G's stylistic identity and have defined Italianism in the eyes of the world for years, to Demna Gvasalia's monkish aesthetic in the FW21 campaign with Justin Bieber in a cassock, via Praying's more recent trinity slogans and Mowalola's papas. Whether the Holy Spirit manifests itself in an austere manner, recalling the unadorned imagery of the Franciscan monks with simple and mournful lines, or whether it takes the form of a Byzantine-inspired blaze of opulence, fashion has repeatedly drawn from the sacred dimension to create something very profane.

The ancestral link between clothing and religion could be reduced to a simple assumption: the fashion capitals, Paris and Milan, are historically Catholic. In the 1950s, Cristóbal Balenciaga Eizaguirre, a Spaniard by birth, inspired France with his garments that originated from the Catholic iconography he had grown up with: from the red drapes of papal robes to the opulent velvets of the Holy See. Since the beginning of time, human beings have questioned their existence, their nature, the meaning of things, without however finding an answer that goes beyond 'faith', the act of relying on a superior and supposed entity of whose existence there is no objective certainty. Since the 1st century, man has made up for the mystery that grips him by constructing a system of values and symbols that still today, despite being often controversial and anachronistic, influences our lives, from politics to society, passing through the wardrobe: the Church is the first brand ever created by man, perhaps with a little help from above.