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- In Our Sunday Best
As a born and bred Methodist, one of the less ornamental branches of Protestantism, I’ve always harbored some minor jealousy over Catholicism’s grandeur. I mean, no one showed up to the 2018 Met Gala, themed “Heavenly Bodies,” dressed like the religious figures I grew up with: Pastor Gary and the church basement potluck planning subcommittee.
Last week, my inferiority complex related to the homely, austere aesthetic trappings of Midwestern Protestantism reared its ugly head as I tried to find something suitable to wear to my chic and Catholic friend Rayne Fisher-Quann’s reading event, dress code: Sunday Best.
Along with Substack, Rayne Fisher-Quann threw an incredible reading event last week at Holy Trinity Lutheran, a gorgeous 150-year-old church on the Upper West Side. Writers anonymized and swapped original confessional essays. The readings were raw and moving and the afterparty featured a church organist playing Madonna. I tasked Andrew Muller and Genevieve Wagner with photographing what guests were wearing:
Sunday Best at the Secret’s Reading
Photos by Andrew Muller from Rayne Fisher-Quann’s Secret’s Reading
Master of ceremonies, Rayne Fisher-Quann, photographed by Andrew Muller
Three of the show’s readers, author Marlowe Granados in a vintage dress with Maryam Keyhani bustle and Prada shoes, writer and musician Eliza McLamb in Zadig and Voltaire, and writer and artist Mackenzie Thomas in a thrifted white dress, photographed by Andrew Muller
Guests waiting outside the church, Paley, Maggie, Genevieve, and Madeleine, photographed by Andrew Muller
Guests waiting outside the church, students Rowan, Josie, and Asa, photographed by Andrew Muller
Guests, including comedian Tessa Belle and Sophia Efthimiatou, Head of Writer Relations at Substack, photographed by Andrew Muller
Guests waiting outside the church, James, Mansi and Dhru, and Maya, photographed by Andrew Muller
The view from the pews, photographed by Genevieve Wagner
Guests waiting outside the church, Mika, Claire, and Nico, photographed by Andrew Muller
Rayne Fisher-Quann in an Ella Mae dress and chainmail she had been leant by the actress and director Ariela Barer, photographed by Andrew Muller
One of my fav religion-inspired collections, Alexander McQueen’s FW96 show Dante, staged at Christ Church in Spitalfields. McQueen told AnOther Magazine at the time: “I think religion has caused every war in the world, which is why I showed in a church.”
Debra Shaw in the 'Dante' mask
This footage of the Imitation of Christ SS01 RTW, which was staged like a funeral:
This deluge of church incense perfume reviews by Audrey Robinovitz is so evocative and lush:
Recommending an Articles of Interest episode for the second week in a row? Likely!
This essay on lust, eroticism, and Catholic guilt by Gabrielle Sicam in the very heavenly Angel Food magazine:
This lusciously embroidered 15th-century chasuble:
This great article in Afterglow exploring Christian iconography in music videos…
… was published too soon to include Sabrina Carpenter’s crazy Catholic Church music video stunt:
If you’ve can’t find a copy of Ken Russell’s The Devils (1971), you should watch Ken Russell’s The Lair of the White Worm (1988):
I'm sure you've seen some Catholic-inspired Jean Paul Gaultier. His entirely Catholic-themed SS07 Couture show was iconic, pardon the pun. But have you seen his AW93 show Chic Rabbis?
And, finally, great a tweet about Sydney Sweeney playing a nun:
It’s the most rite of all passages to be a hottie in a nun movie: Audrey Hepburn, Deborah Kerr, Ingrid Bergman, Vanessa Redgrave, Debbie Reynolds…quite possibly the most chic way to deglam
— Emmy (@gimmiemmy)
9:51 PM • Jun 10, 2024