/karen/

Fashioning (part 1)

Tuesday, 03 November, 2009

So for the past couple of months, I've been thinking about fashion and struggling to blog about it. I've been thinking about it partly because fashion has really “come out of the closet” (so to speak) this year, with films like Cococ Avant Chanel, The September Issue and Valentino: The Last Emperor being released, plus The Devil Wears Prada screened again recently on TV. In addition, it's partly because of posts on the subject by Bec, Elsie (on Jelssie) and even Dave. And it's also partly because fashion dovetails with the series I did for WebSalt on “Looking good”.

I just find it interesting that although fashion is something that affects us all (because we all have to wear clothes; it's not exactly decent or sensible to walk around in the nude!), we don't really think about it beyond the practicalities of figuring out what to wear (and what to buy, and therefore what we can afford), what looks good and, perhaps, how what we see on the runway translates to the every day. (We don't all get taught fashion at school the way we're taught maths, science and English!) I may be wrong, but it seems to me that very little has been written about the whole business of clothing oneself and how we ought to think about it from the perspective of the Bible.

Now, I don't claim to have all the answers. Instead, in this post, I want to explore the topic and share a few thoughts that I've had. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Fabric

When you delve into the Bible, it's curious to see where the whole concept of clothing comes from. In Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve sin in disobeying God's command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, this interesting little verse pops up:

Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. (Gen 3:7)

The creation of fashion (which, for the purposes of this post, I am defining as what you wear) takes place in the context of sin, with God's creatures, who were meant to be the pinnacle of his creation, using creation (the creation that was meant to glorify God) to hide their shame.

But of course, when it comes to the true and living God, fig leaves are not enough. Indeed, nothing is enough: the man and woman try to hide, but God seeks them out. The consequences of their sin are his judgement, cursing and exile from the Garden of Eden. But before they leave, as a sign of his grace, God replaces their pathetic little fig leaf loin cloths with something a little more durable:

And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. (Gen 3:21)

It doesn't say what sort of skins, and my Hebrew is pretty much non-existent, so everything I say after this should be taken with a grain of salt. But it's probably safe to say that the skin mentioned here is not human skin (i.e. God gave them an epidermis; they probably already had that). I'd say it's highly likely they were animal skins, which makes me wonder if, even back here in these early chapters of the Bible, some sort of atonement—that is, some sort of covering (which is partly what the word “atonement” means)—was made. Was blood shed for the first man and the first woman on account of their sin? And was the blood of these animals a precursor to the ritual sacrifices of the book of Leviticus—only here, God provided the offering the way he did in Genesis 22 for Abraham and Isaac?

Another thought: all this makes me wonder if sin and atonement should form the backdrop to all our dressing—if, every time we put on our clothes—our underwear, shirts, shorts, pants, skirts, dresses, and so on—we should remember what sinful wretches we are (and why it is we can no longer exist in nakedness the way Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden) and how God has atoned for our wrongdoings in Christ Jesus (more about that later).

Pattern

Now, I did not do an extensive study of clothing, garments and vestments in the Old Testament and the New Testament. (I've been struggling for a month and a half to even commit these thoughts to pixels amidst the hustle and bustle of life, so apologies for the rather half-baked nature of this survey.) But here are some fashion-related thoughts arising from parts of the Bible:

• Tearing your clothes is a sign of deep and intense grief—for example, Jacob's sons in the story of Joseph in Genesis 37:29, 44:13.
• In the Levitical priestly system, the high priest had to wear special clothes to carry out his duties: breastpiece, ephod, robe, coat, turban and sash (Exod 28; cf. Exod 39 where these pieces are actually made). It's interesting that many of these are made from the same fabric and colours as the rest of the tabernacle—from gold; from blue, purple and scarlet yarn; and from fine twisted linen. The ephod and the breastpiece have jewels and stones, which are supposed to represent the 12 tribes of Israel so that Aaron can “bear the names of the sons of Israel” on his body as he goes into the Most Holy Place to minister on their behalf and make atonement for their sin (Exod 28:29-30). The robe he wears underneath has a hem made up of alternating pomegranates and bells for when he goes in there “so that he does not die” (Exod 28:35). Similarly, the attire for Aaron's sons consists of coats, sashes and caps, and linen undergarments to cover their naked flesh: “They shall reach from the hips to the thighs; and they shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they go into the tent of meeting or when they come near the altar to minister in the Holy Place, lest they bear guilt and die” (Exod 28:42-43). The clothes are protective: if the priests do not wear them, the Lord will strike them down.
• Notice also that the priests' clothing was to be “for glory and beauty” (Exod 28:40). Continuing that thought, the tabernacle was, no doubt, an extremely beautiful place. The curtains that walled the Holy Place in were made of fine twisted linen (again, blue, purple and scarlet) and cherubim were embroidered onto them (Exod 26). Their stands were made of silver, gold and bronze. (Another thought: I wonder if the colours are supposed to be reminiscent of God's bow from Genesis 9:8-17—the bow he sets in the cloud as a reminder of his promise that he will never destroy the world again by flood and his covenant with all creation. I suppose the connection is tenuous—not like Ezekiel 1 where the connection is explicitly drawn.) The veil to the Most Holy Place was also made of this fabric. (Fast forward several thousand years to Jesus' crucifixion when the temple curtain is torn in two ...) Furthermore, the vessels and objects in the tabernacle need to be handled by the Levites using cloths made of similar material—cloths of blue and scarlet and goatskin (Num 4). The sons of Kohath, who were in charge of moving these objects, were not to touch them, “lest they die” (Num 4:15). Am I right in thinking that this sort of covering protects the sinner from his holy God?
• Clothes in the ancient world were an asset. Consider Exodus 22:25-27: “If ever you take your neighbor's cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep?” A cloak could be used as a surety—perhaps, again, because of its protective function in fending off the elements from the human body (which cannot lie down in peace and tranquility as in Eden). Consider also Samson in Judges 14 who makes a wager with his in-laws and the rest of the Philistines for 30 changes of clothes. It's strange to us that they would bet with garments (because we wouldn't do that—not even in strip poker!) but they obviously didn't have the same qualms as we do about wearing other people's secondhand clothes. Then of course, once Jesus had been nailed to that cross, the Roman soldiers cast lots for his clothing (Matt 27:35; cf. John 19:24 and Psa 22:18).
• To be rendered naked and exposed is a severe judgement of God. Consider what the Lord says he will do the daughters of Zion in Isaiah 3:16-4:1 who walk around haughtily and wantonly with no regard for him: he will strip them of their finery—their jewellery, their accessories, their fashions—and “lay bare their secret parts” (Isa 3:17). Metaphorically, the Lord also promises the same sort of punishment to the nation of Israel, which prostituted itself with other gods (Ezek 16:35-39): “I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure ... I will gather them against you from every side and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness”. This is a marked contrast to earlier in the chapter where he clothes Israel and makes her his in verses 8-14. Notice how the chapter ends:

  I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord, that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God. (Ezek 16:62-63; italics mine)

• Let's jump to the New Testament now—specifically, to the events surrounding the crucifixion. It's interesting that the soldiers clothe Jesus to mock him:

  Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. (Matt 27:27-30)

  Will all the imagery from Aaron the High Priest and the tabernacle in the wilderness swirling around my head, it makes me wonder if those elements of sin, atonement and intercession are all present here symbolically in the scarlet robe (it's a purple cloak in Mark 15)—that here is the High Priest and King of all the earth, about to enter into the Most Holy Place of heaven itself to make intercession for all flesh through the shedding of his own blood (Heb 9). Perhaps a long bow to draw, however.
• Here's a related point, however: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21): clothed in our sin, the Son of God became sin on our behalf (taking on our sinful flesh—our sinful humanity) so that we in turn might become clothed by him as per Ezekiel 16. What sort of clothes does Jesus wear? At the transfiguration, “his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach” (Mark 9:3; cf. Matt 17:2). The imagery is picked up in Revelation where the people of God are clothed in white linen (Rev 3:4-5, 18, 4:4, 6:11, 7:9, 14). Revelation 7:14 is particularly interesting: “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb”. It's interesting because, once again, clothing here is symbolic of a spiritual reality—the death and resurrection of Christ cleansing us from all our iniquity. (“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool”—Isa 1:18.) This is the work of Christ—giving himself up for the church so that he might present herself to him as holy, without spot or blemish (Eph 5:25-27).
• Being clothed by Jesus also has to do with immortality—with the physical redemption of our corrupted flesh so that we are truly made alive:

  For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

  “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
  “O death, where is your victory?
      O death, where is your sting?”

  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor 15:53-57)

  2 Corinthians 5:4 also echoes this sentiment: “For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life” (italics mine).
• Of course, being clothed in the New Testament is not just about our outer vestments and frail flesh; it's also a matter of the heart. When Paul says “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” in Romans 13:14, he's not talking about literally taking Jesus' skin and pulling it over our own, but about putting on the character of Christ. In Colossians 3, we are to put to death our earthly natures and instead, put on “compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience ... [and] love” (Col 3:12, 14). In 1 Peter 5:5, we are to “Clothe yourselves ... with humility toward one another”. This sort of thinking lies behind both Paul and Peter's words to women and wives (and, let's face it, women are more likely to be lured by the temptations of fashion): “[W]omen should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works” (1 Tim 2:9-10) and

  Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands ... (1 Pet 3:1-5)

  Silver, gold, fine fabrics and the latest fashions are all very well, but it is better that one clothe oneself with Christ—with godliness and good works.

All right, I dare say that's enough for one day. I'll pick it up again my next post (which, hopefully, will not take me as long to write).

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