Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination

Exhibition Website

May 10 2018 - Oct 8 2018

The Costume Institute's spring 2018 exhibition—at The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters—will feature a dialogue between fashion and religious artworks from the The Met collection to examine the relationship between creativity and the religious imagination.

Since antiquity, religious beliefs and practices have inspired many of the world's greatest works of art. These masterworks have, in turn, fueled the imaginations of fashion designers in the 20th and 21st centuries, yielding some of the most innovative creations in the history of fashion. Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination explores fashion's complex and often controversial relationship with Catholicism by examining the role of spirituality and religion in contemporary culture. This two-volume publication connects significant religious art and artifacts to their sartorial expressions.

Serving as the cornerstone of the exhibition, papal robes and accessories from the Sistine Chapel sacristy, many of which have never been seen outside The Vatican, will be on view in the Anna Wintour Costume Center. Fashions from the early 20th century to the present will be shown in The Met's Medieval and Byzantine galleries and at The Met Cloisters alongside religious artworks, to provide an interpretative context for fashion's engagement with Catholicism.


Image Left: El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) (Greek, 1540/41–1614). Cardinal Fernando Niño de Guevara (1541–1609),  ca. 1600. Oil on canvas, 67 1/4 x 42 1/2 in. (170.8 x 108 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (29.100.5). 
Image Right: Cristóbal Balenciaga (Spanish, 1895–1972) for House of Balenciaga (French, founded 1937). Evening coat,  autumn/winter 1954–55. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift  of Mrs. Bryon C. Foy, 1957 (C.I.57.29.8). Digital composite scan by Katerina Jebb




Whether or not you go, you can bring the exhibition into your home. The exhibition catalogue, Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, explores fashion’s complex engagement with the great art and artifacts of Catholic faith and practice. Since antiquity, religious beliefs and practices have inspired many of the masterworks of art. These works of art have, in turn, fueled the imagination of fashion designers in the 20th and 21st centuries, yielding some of the most innovative creations in costume history. Connecting significant religious art and artifacts to their sartorial expressions, the book provides a critical analysis of fashion’s engagement with notions of the divine. 

Exploring fashion’s complex and often controversial relationship with Catholicism, it probes what dress reveals about the state of religion and spirituality within contemporary culture, and how it may manifest—or subvert—Catholic values and ideology. Art objects, such as devotional paintings and altarpieces from The Met’s collection, are presented alongside fashions from designers including Cristóbal Balenciaga, Callot Soeurs, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, John Galliano, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Madame Grès, Christian Lacroix, Karl Lagerfeld, Jeanne Lanvin, Claire McCardell, Alexander McQueen, Thierry Mugler, Elsa Schiaparelli, and Gianni Versace. The volume also presents a selection of ecclesiastical vestments and accessories from the Vatican collection, many of which have not been published before.

Select Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination to learn more, or to place this book in your Amazon shopping cart.  Your Amazon purchase through this link supports ArtGeek with a small commission. 


  • Various Media
  • El Greco
  • Karl Lagerfeld
  • Jeanne Lanvin
  • Alexander McQueen
  • Gianni Versace
  • and others

Exhibition Venues & Dates