As someone who was raised Protestant1 I've always been curious about Catholicism. Specifically its aesthetic sensibilities with its pageantry and vestments. In part, because they contrast so greatly with the reserved, dour stylings of the Methodist tradition I grew up in. As well as with the try-hard “Chripster” look that was all the rage when I was in high school. But in recent years, I’ve been inundated with the ultra-online set trying to make Catholicism edgy and cool. This trend began to take shape in about 2020 with podcast host and actress, Dasha Nekrasova, revealing that she was practicing Catholicism in Interview magazine. While it provided faith for her, she also said that it was “an aesthetic, literary religion,” inspiring a wave of “conversions” to one of Christianity’s first iterations.
Within the last four years, there have been TradCaths, Mexican Catholic Girl, and of course, the Coquette Catholic Girl–much of which include white lace, rosaries, veils, and Lana Del Rey’s Born to Die era. But each vibe has been embodied by an e-girl seeking a devoted following of likeminded, or aspiring, e-girls; or an increasingly alienated audience of male posters. To the average person, it reeks of contrived edginess, and to anyone raised in a Christian culture with a less than positive experience–it’s confounding.
So like clockwork, the trend discourse has begun to shift away from Catholicism and its digital incarnations, and towards reflecting and contrasting it with its followup: Protestantism. The first hint I saw of this shift was from a tweet exchange (pictured below). Which made me notice a similarity with fashion in America: much of it bears a Protestant sensibility that’s so baked in, we don’t even think twice about it.
Two trends or aesthetics that bear this resemblance come to mind: Quiet Luxury, which was another buzzy online “trend,” and athleisure, which just about everyone you see in a suburb or near an equinox is wearing. Both of these typify Protestant sensibilities which are also embedded in much of our culture writ large.
The most notable of these sensibilities being the Protestant Work Ethic. This term was defined in 1905 by German sociologist Max Weber in a book called The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, after a trip to the United States. Weber, after much observation during his travel and in his home country, first noticed that many in the managerial or capital-owning2 positions of society were Protestant. And many believed that they had earned these positions through their good works in and out of business, which in turn had gotten them good will from God.
Weber described that while many protestants were wealthy due to their work ethics, they felt that it was sinful to indulge in earthly delights. Especially in the form of spending money on luxuries. This contributes to what could be considered un-ascetic. In chapter V of the work, he describes the Puritan aversion to the arts and aesthetics:
The theatre was obnoxious to the Puritans, and with the strict exclusion of the erotic and nudity from the realm of toleration, a radical view of literature or art could not exist. The conceptions of idle talk, or superfluities, and of vain ostentation, all designations of an irrational attitude without objective purpose, thus not ascetic3, and especially not serving the glory of God, but of man, were always at hand to serve in deciding in favour of sober utility as against any artistic tendencies. This was especially true in the case of decoration of the person, for instance clothing. That powerful tendency toward uniformity of life, which to-day so immensely aids the capitalistic interest of production, had its ideal foundations in the repudiation of all idolatry of the flesh4.
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Last year was the year of “quiet luxury” for those that “girlhood” didn’t resonate with. It seemingly kicked off with the rise of Sofia Richie Grainge and her marriage to Elliott Grainge at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Southern France5. All of her looks were designed by Chanel, and were notably minimal, modest, and mature. Despite the obvious display of wealth, many applauded her style as “quiet luxury” because logos and excessive skin weren’t present.
So what does the style of “quiet luxury” look like? Well, it’s business casual and sometimes sporty, but most simply it’s “refined,” or preppy, but more muted and neutral-forward, lest the wearer draw attention to themselves (but there are other ways to do that). Most proponents of the style say that it’s timeless, and that pieces can be thought of as investments. Which, generally speaking, isn’t a bad way to approach style and acquiring clothing. In a time that is defined by fast fashion companies pushing microtrends to get people to buy more clothing, it can be refreshing to create a wardrobe that can last longer than a few weeks before meeting its end in a donation or garbage bin. But at the end of the day, this style started as a trend, so for those who can’t shell out the money to “invest” in their wardrobes, it seems to just add to the cycle of consumption.
Quiet luxury often intersects with “old money” sensibilities, but they’re not interchangeable. So to distinguish their differences, here’s a chart based on my scientific research:
As seen above, being Old Money is not something that can easily be replicated like wearing Quiet Luxury clothing is. The thing that differentiates Old from New Money is how many generations the money has been in the family. New Money has been made within one to two generations at most, and has been recently earned, which is also where the term self-made comes from. And this may be shocking, but Old Money is typically three generations or older. In America, the oldest money usually dates back to the founding of the country; but that’s nothing in comparison to European Old Money, which is so old it’s typically aristocracy. To the outsider, they’re all rich, which they are, but these distinctions create rules about who reigns supreme within the tippy top of the socio economic pyramid.
A great example of an American Old Money family is the Sedgwick family, who’s most famous for producing Edie Sedgwick, the It Girl of Andy Warhol’s Factory in the 1960s. Hailing from Massachusetts, the family dates back to the founding of the country and participated in the founding of the United States. They were typical WASPs who were concerned with not being too flashy and maintaining their traditions. Even while owning a lake house, the main concern was utility rather than design or aesthetic, as described in the oral history of Edie’s life during the chapter on her father’s family, Edie: American Girl by Jean Stein6. However, the Sedgwicks, despite being Harvard-educated and founding stock, were more middle class than Edie’s mother’s family, the De Forests. Edie’s maternal grandfather was a railroad baron from Cold Springs Harbor, NY, in Long Island, and ended up providing much of the financial resources for his daughter and Edie’s father to begin their life together7.
When Edie left her family, she left their sensibility behind in pursuit of the arts. In some of the anecdotes in the first two chapters, we can see the way that many of her father’s family members were more pedantic and concerned with knowledge rather than creativity and exploration, which Edie famously participated in during her time in the Factory8. This falls in line with what is expected of an established Old Money family. To be cultured and well-read, but not so worldly that they draw attention to themselves. Can’t risk bringing shame upon the family through scandal and or over exposure–both of which are needed for New Money families or individuals trying to make a name for themselves.
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Athleisure on the other hand doesn’t really embody the modesty of Quiet Luxury. It does however, embody the work ethic that Protestantism is known for. However, this is a new phenomenon. When Weber wrote about Protestant sensibilities about sport, he noted that generally, sporting, outside the utility of maintaining fitness, was in the same category as leisure, which was seen as questionable in intentions9. Now that this ethic has evolved with a more secular world, I would argue that sporting, or working out, could be seen as evidence of work ethic and discipline. In Evangelical (which is a sub-type of Protestantism, but differs from what Weber was talking about as it hadn’t yet become the dominant strain as it is today) circles, working out is a very popular hobby that exemplifies a strength of body and spirit, which is a 180 from how Puritans and other Protestants viewed it in earlier centuries. This is parodied on the Righteous Gemstones in season two, but can be seen on Marjorie Taylor Greene’s twitter to show fellow House Representative Jasmine Crockett that her comments didn’t matter because she’s tough.
Toughness is a byproduct of the Protestant Work Ethic because it means that one can put up with the bullshit of the world to be successful in one’s calling as defined by God’s (or the universe’s, in our secular context) plan for everyone. So by wearing athleisure clothing from Lululemon or Alo Yoga, it can signal that you actually are disciplined enough to work out multiple times a week. Or just at least disciplined enough to stick with your job to earn the money for clothing from those places for every occasion (mostly to work from home, myself included).
These may not be the intentions of wearers of athleisure or Quiet Luxury styles, most of the time it has more to do with simplicity or comfort on an individual level. But when we look at these trends on a macro scale, an interesting story about what these styles reflect within our culture emerges. Whether these styles emerged organically or from boardrooms, the outcome is still the same: we live in Protestant style hell.
Protestantism: One of the three main types of Christianity (Catholicism, Protestantism, & Orthodox), which came about as a result of German priest Martin Luther’s movement in the 16th century. It began as a reaction to medieval Catholicism with Luther’s 95 theses against the Church’s practices. http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/knowledge/Protestantism.html
Capital: “Capital is not just wealth, but wealth in a specific historically developed form: wealth that grows through the process of circulation. As an aside, it should be noted that wealth itself is a social relation, not just an accumulation of things. For example, if you owe someone a favour, then that is something personal between the two of you; if your debt is determined by a third party or by some social ritual such as a birthday, then that is a social relation. Wealth is a social relation in the same sense, and its various historically developed forms are social relations. The issue is to understand exactly what kind of social relation is capital and where it leads.” https://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/c/a.htm
Ascetic: “ practicing strict self-denial as a measure of personal and especially spiritual discipline” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ascetic
Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic & the Spirit of Capitalism. New York, NY, Dover Publications Inc, 2004 republication of the 1958 edition from Charles Scribner’s Sons. Pg 105.
It should be noted that this was a Jewish wedding, as Sofia converted from Christianity to Judaism for Elliott. I don’t think this detracts from the fact that the overall aesthetic of Quiet Luxury has the Protestant sensibility, but it’s worth noting.
Stein, Jean. Edie: American Girl. New York, NY, Grove Press, 1982. Pg 14.
Stein, Jean. … … Pg 42.
To be pedantic myself, her father also had an artistic flair…that he only developed after a nervous breakdown which preceded his wedding. So it was still more in line with the expectations placed upon him, but worth noting.
Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic & the Spirit of Capitalism. New York, NY, Dover Publications Inc, 2004 republication of the 1958 edition from Charles Scribner’s Sons. Pg 104-5.
Very interesting! I've never thought about clothing style in relation to religion, but it makes a lot of sense.