Overview

For decades, the Catholic conversation on dress has decried the loss of decency in today's fashions. However, indecency is just one symptom of the ravaging disease that has made our world a sartorial wasteland. This disease is a hatred of beauty and a glorification of ugliness. It comes in many subtle forms, but its rotten fruits are all around us. The ugliness of our clothing has a devastating effect on our souls. It is time for Catholics to demand something better. In this book, Anna Kalinowska draws on Church teachings, the Catholic philosophical tradition, and fundamental principles of art to diagnose insidious and far-reaching problems with today's fashions. She argues that the quest for normalcy in a world where normal is ugly leads to the loss of souls, and she provides an alternative to the losing strategy that would have us ""just fit in."" Written for anyone interested in cultivating beauty in everyday life, Clothed With Beauty provides concrete artistic instruction along with answers to such perplexing questions as: - What exactly does it take for clothing to be beautiful? - Why are many of today's modest options actually so unattractive? - Can clothing be both modest and beautiful? - Is the quest for beautiful clothing a kind of vanity or waste of time? - How do we begin a restoration of the art of dress?

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9781965303795

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Reviews

""Miss Kalinowska has stitched together a magnificent standard on beauty in dress that is ready to be raised aloft by its readers. Her arguments weave considerations from theology, aesthetics, and history into a precise and inspiring guide. Her impeccable style encompasses both fashion and writing particularly when she deconstructs the fallacies found in much previous writing on the subject."" -Gwyneth Thompson-Briggs ""The followers of Linda Przybyszewski's cult classic The Lost Art of Dress will find much to ponder in Clothed With Beauty, as will anyone dissatisfied with today's dismal choices in clothing. The Italians have a word for the situation we women endure: antiestético. Going beyond the flat translation 'unsightly, ' this word indicates more: the absence of aesthetics. Christians historically have based aesthetics in every area not on mere preference but on objective criteria. Can this thought be applied to fashion? By what criteria would we free ourselves from contemporary fashions' depredations? What about modesty? In answering these questions, Anna Kalinowska explores the concept and principles of beauty in dress."" -Leila Marie Lawler ""We are not angels; what we do through the body both manifests and affects us. Dress is a language with its own grammar and vocabulary. One's dress can say: I respect neither myself nor anyone else. Kalinowska identifies two reactions to the present malaise. Without regard for beauty, modesty ('cover up') seeks only to meet criteria derived from a Vatican document/saint/zealous priest, whereas normalcy ('don't stand out') seeks to embrace modern trends and 'despoil Egyptians' who have nothing worth despoiling, and in this way normalcy becomes degeneracy in slow motion. In contrast, Kalinowska articulates genuine 'rules of dress': harmony produces an impression of unity; rhythm allows the eye to travel with ease; emphasis brings the eye to what is most important, the face, where we most of all see the person created in the image of God. Clothing which is beautiful possesses some mark of excellence, is 'other-worldly': it speaks of a woman's dignity and eternal destiny. Anna Kalinowska is to be congratulated for this insightful and timely work, which I highly recommend."" -Rev. Matthew McCarthy, FSSP

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