By Paul O’Brien
Clothes and Creation
In the beginning, God created. And His creation was good, even “very good” (Gen. 1:31). We—male and female—were created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27). So, we too are creative and that is a good thing. It’s one way that we reflect the image of God.
God is the most majestic musician, supreme sculptor, wowing writer, and awesome artist. And we were created in His likeness. We can look at the flowers of the field and see that God is the most creative creator of clothing. He is the creator that gives creativity. Our creativity is contingent upon the Creator.
Creativity is not bad and creativity when it comes to clothing is not bad. Beauty is not bad. God saw all the good He made and said, “Very good”—beautiful. We too can, and should, create with the goal of saying, “Beautiful.”
Many critics of Christianity say that Christians are self-loathing and boring. The way that people see Christians can reflect back on the way they conceive of God. Many think of God as a drudge that hates fun and beauty. The Bible, however, says that the body is wonderful (cf. Ps. 139:14). The Bible celebrates beauty and creativity. The Bible shows that God is anything but dull, boring, and against beauty. God Himself clothed Adam and Eve after they sinned and realized they were naked and felt shame (Gen. 3:10, 21), and God clothes the grass of the field in beauty (Matt. 6:28-30).
Clothes and Communication
Clothes have two main functions. Clothes provide protection, warmth, and modesty. Clothes also communicate things about us. Should we just care about the utility of clothes and not about their beauty and what they communicate?
Clothing can be a form of defiance. It can communicate to people that you don’t care about society’s accepted norms. Clothes can be, as Steve Turner has said, “a snub to clean and neat conformism.” It was for me when I went through my punk stage (I don’t think I’m fully through it yet). My clothes said, “I’ve seen some stuff and I’m jaded.” My clothes said, “You may have had the perfect little life, but I haven’t.”
Clothes communicate. Clothes say, “I don’t care,” “I’m sexy,” “I’m rich,” and so forth. Clothes can communicate that we are respectable and care about beauty. They can show that we are intentional and appreciate quality without communicating pride. Clothes speak but are we aware of what they’re saying?
“We should… be aware of how ideas are communicated through fashion and of the thinking behind the design of clothes. We should be alert to our own motivations for choosing what we wear.”1
Fashion is on us and all about us every day, so we should know what it’s saying.
Clothes and Conformity
Clothes and culture are in many ways parallel. I think, for instance, of Marie Antoinette and 18th-century French fashion contrasted with Puritan fashion or Kim Kardashian contrasted with the Amish. Clothes communicate. Clothes reflect the views and convictions of the day. We need to consider this truth and not just conform to the surrounding culture.
As with many things, balance is important. On the one side, we can care too much about what we wear. It can consume us, and we can find our identity wrapped up in what we wear. On the other side, we can care too little about what we wear and how we look. Steve Turner points out that some
“Christians have often been not merely out of step with fashion but dowdy, boring and unadventurous. Their clothes suggest that they have no pride in their bodies, are content to be disconnected from the times they live in, don’t value creativity or imagination and have no desire to provide aesthetic pleasure for those they meet.”2
This should not be the case. God has made a beautiful and creative world. We can image God even in what we wear. For example, God beautifully, creatively, and polychromatically clothes the flowers of the field (Matt. 6:28-29). We too, like the flowers of the field, can point to our creative Creator even in the way we dress.
In our conversation about clothes and conformity, modesty is a helpful word. For our purposes, modesty means decency in dress. It is behavior, manner, or appearance intended to avoid offense and indecency. It is also the quality of being unassuming or moderate in the estimation of one’s self.
I think Steven Turner maintains a good balance. He says,
“We need on the one hand to avoid dressing in a way that makes it appear that we are ashamed of who we are, take not delight in aesthetics and have a low view of the body, and on the other to avoid wearing clothes designed to encourage sinful pride in ourselves or lust and envy in others.”3
We need to ensure our clothes do not send messages that are opposed to what we actually confess and believe.
Clothes and Christ
In my punk rock/heavy metal days (which I have not completely left), my identity was found to a significant degree in my grungy style. I was the angsty skater kid. I was mad at the world, and I was secretly proud of it.
A change happened and it didn’t happen through changing my clothing, but it did affect my view of clothing. As I put on more and more of Christ and found my identity in Him, I could literally put off more and more of my grungy clothes and be ok with it. I may not have been able to articulate it, but my identity was less and less about any outward style. My identity was in Christ and it eventually worked itself out in tangible ways.
I still like the grungy look and that’s fine. But it is helpful that I can now wear nice pants with my shirt tucked in and I do not feel like a sellout. My angst and anger have also been relieved to a great degree.
As Christians, our identity and significance are found in Christ and not in fashion; whatever that fashion is—Nike, Gucci, Ralph Lauren, or Fear of God grunge. Let’s put on Christ and have a Christian perspective as we put on our clothes (cf. Rom. 13:14; Gal. 3:27; Col. 3:1ff).
Conclusion
Clothes are not inherently evil. Beauty is not bad. Care and creativity regarding clothes are good. We can honor God and even image Him as we intentionally and appropriately dress ourselves. We must, however, seek modesty in our dress and realize that our identity is not dependent upon the shoes on our feet or the hat on our head.
Our identity and significance need to be grounded in Christ and not in clothes.
Questions to Consider
- Can we both be humble and beautiful at the same time with what we wear?
- We can often be tempted to find our identity in what we wear instead of who we are. Is that a temptation for you? If so, how can you fight against that temptation?
- Do you enjoy your clothes as an expression of who you are and of beauty or are clothes merely for protection, warmth, and cover?
- Why do you buy the clothes you buy? Are you trying to impress people and fill a void? Or do you buy clothes for quality, good design, and beauty?
- Do you know that “the prestige given to certain brands is out of all proportion to their usefulness and actual material value”?4
- What are you telling others about yourself with what you wear?
- What difference does the social and cultural context make when considering what clothing to wear?
- Steven Turner, Popcultured: Thinking Christianly About Style, Media and Entertainment (Downers Grove: IVP, 2013), 115. ↩︎
- Ibid., 123. ↩︎
- Ibid., 127. ↩︎
- Ibid., 121. As Time magazine said, “If you’re paying $300 for sunglasses, you’re buying them to look cool and impress people… You’re not buying them for the sake of your eyes’ health” (See Ibid., 121). ↩︎
