One sees some rather angry responses to the MET GALA’s chosen theme this year: HEAVENLY BODIES: FASHION and THE CATHOLIC IMAGINATION.
Frankly in Hinduism we have seen so many sacred symbols get appropriated by politicians…(Hitler and the Swastika, BJP and the Lotus) and so many spiritual symbols repeatedly appear in contemporary Indian art…sometimes even fashion…where even saffron and reds are rife with sacred connotation…I actually see an incredible infusion of fresh design…the kind of opulent medieval baroque embroidered accessories..that the West, in the post Industrial Age had all but forgotten!
Is that something to take offense to? I felt all along that Middle Eastern, Indian and Chinese fashion somehow always had more vivacity than anything purely American or British. And because Italy still does fantastic, ornate and flamboyant fashion my favourites have always been brands like D & G..Versace….even a GUCCI. Now come to think of it, Italy houses the vanguard of creative ecclesiastical visual stories in it’s Vatican City…in its fantastic carved facades and cherubs and gold-laden Cathedrals and moving mysticism. This year’s MET GALA has finally gone to the most creative of European civilisations. It has taken Western fashion back to its own wellspring of energy and sacrality.
What Dan Brown did to wake up a lost generation and era to the sacred and gorgeous symbols of Catholic and Christian symbolism and stories, the MET has done at a visual level, as a sacred and sexy fashion adventure.
Your views?
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