A wise teaching of Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira points out the dual purpose of clothing: to cover the body and reveal the soul. The craft of garment-making is so high that it was God Himself who made them for the first couple, affected by the consequences of sin (cf. Gn 3:21).
Since ancient times – in a kaleidoscope as varied as the many nations that exist on the planet – the ornamentation of the human body has played an eminent role, the sophistication and beauty of garments revealing the cultural and moral level attained by each people.
Considering that the Greeks called the universe the cosmos, in the sense of ornament, St. Hilary of Poitiers1 proposes that we understand it as the ornament of God. St. Thomas Aquinas, for his part, states that man “has some likeness to the universe, wherefore he is called ‘a little world’.”2 Humanity is therefore the adornment of the universe (cf. Gn 1:27), which seems to give the custom of clothing oneself an almost sacred character that manifests the highest aspects of the soul and of society.
In fact, we have always used fabrics, stones and metals to adorn ourselves, but in times gone by this practice had an eminently metaphysical dimension difficult to imagine today. For the medieval mentality, for example, there was a correlation between gems and stars: gems were the stars that God placed within our reach, while stars were the precious stones with which He adorned the sidereal universe.3
For this reason, it was considered that cosmetology – which in its original meaning shares the Greek root of cosmos, meaning order, but also to arrange and embellish – should affirm the harmony between the microcosm, which is man, and the macrocosm, represented by the firmament. Consequently, it was believed that stones should not be used as ornaments in an arbitrary fashion. It was necessary to respect symbolic patterns in which their hierarchy, richness and variety of forms – while maintaining a degree of unity and permanence – emphasized the unique character of each human being.
In this sense, Dr. Plinio4 coined the expression “primordial light” to designate each specific vocation – of both individuals and groups – to reflect, within created limits, the wonders that exist in God on an infinite scale. It is called a “light” because it is a particular modality of the divine light, and “primordial” because it should be the main object of attention of those who receive it, as their main path to sanctification.
We find signs of this precisely in the beauty of the traditional costumes of different peoples. Insofar as there is fidelity to the divine plan, such clothing appears as a reflection of the “primordial light” that each nation is called to manifest, according to its psychology, history and cultural characteristics.
In Catholic societies, this reality was not the privilege of minorities: the typical attire of the simple people, like those of the elites, had its own unique notes, with heights of beauty, elegance and distinction, according to the different regions. And this custom elevated society as a whole.
Even in our globalized world, we notice that when someone tries to identify with their people of origin, they do not wear a present-day outfit, but one that, in times gone by, achieved a certain excellence of beauty and affinity with the best moral values of that culture. National festivals, for example, are one of the rare occasions when we escape the mass dictatorship of fashion and return to the marvellous, which, by its excellence, participates in the perennial.
In light of this, it is not surprising that some people define fashion as that which is adopted by those who lack their own identity, since – as explained above – following arbitrary patterns, based only on mimicry, is an indication of a profound lack of self-knowledge.
Chesterton said: “Christianity is always out of fashion because it is always sane; and all fashions are small insanities. When Italy is mad on art, the Church seems too puritanical; when England is mad on puritanism, the Church seems too artistic. […] The Church always seems to be behind the times, when in reality it is beyond the times.”5
Our homeland is Heaven, where we will be free from the contingencies of time and the chronically fleeting – and always outdated – nature of earthly things. In this way, the recovery of the metaphysical sense of human adornment will be able to give us back a criterion of beauty based on the absolute Good, emphasizing the social dimension of individual primordial lights: man will be dressed, on the outside, in the image and likeness of the virtues that inhabit him inside, in accordance with the vocation of being an authentic reflection of the Creator. ◊
Notes
1 Cf. ST. HILARY OF POITIERS. De Trinitate. L.I, n.7: PL 10, 30.
2 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. Summa Theologiae. Suppl., q.91, a.1.
3 Cf. BUCKLOW, Spike. The Alchemy of Paint. Sheffield: Marion Boyars, 2009, p.218.
4 Regarding this subject, see: CLÁ DIAS, EP, João Scognamiglio. O dom de sabedoria na mente, vida e obra de [The Gift of Wisdom in the Mind, Life and Work of] Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira. Città del Vaticano-São Paulo: LEV; Lumen Sapientiæ, 2016, v.IV, p.52-54.
5 CHESTERTON, Gilbert K. The Ball and the Cross. New York: John Lane, 1909, p.148.
