Helloo, darlings!
Gosh, do I owe you many thousands of posts! I have so many thoughts but so little time! But yesterday I took a ton of photos of the hideous clothes at Macy’s (let’s just say that this season is NOT inspiring Miz Bang) and we’ll talk about style and fashion soon.
For right now, though, I want to ask you an important question:
What vestments would you love to own that don’t exist yet?
I was just on the phone with Patty Fitzpatrick, founder and designer of of WomenSpirit.com, talking about fabric and shape and utility of robes of various kinds, and the issue of mic pacs and not robing for summer services and how church culture is changing, and whether anyone wear cinctures anymore and I wanted to open the conversation to you. What kind of robe-ish garment would work for your worship context that you wish you could purchase from a vendor like WomenSpirit?
For myself, I long for a kind of lightweight duster-shaped garment with pockets, that fastens at the clavicle and skims over the body. I could wear this with a stole over a skirt and sleeveless top for warm months.
Because the way my sanctuary is lit, I would like to have brighter colors available: rich blues and greens in particular. I love the idea of a simple robe in a beautiful color with a contrasting fabric panel in a beautiful ethnic textile like indigo or suzani or Indian kantha or the traditional Transylvanian embroidery we get from our Partner Church.
Church culture is changing and so are vestments. We have seen designers take the clericals tradition and run with it in interesting new ways (especially for women clerics), and we are obviously in an era where robe designers are also aware of an opportunity to be creative. But they need our input and collaboration.
If there was a PeaceBang Line of robes for men and women, what would you wish to be included in it? 🙂
I do love my off-white Benedictine-style alb from the Holy Rood guild. It has a hood, wide sleeves, and a flowing shape that does not need a cincture. (Cinctures always make me feel Bunchy). I wish there were such a style with side pockets that would accommodate a wireless mic pack (with an internal buttonhole that would allow me to thread the wire underneath the alb and maybe another buttonhole up top where the mic could clip on or where the Madonna-style mic could emerge again). . I love the idea of robes in rich liturgical colors, though in my tradition, we get the color from the additional layer of the chasuble (aka communion poncho).
I want vestments that are graceful, comfortable, non-wrinkly, breathable, and non-flimsy. I would trade machine washability for gorgeous light wool, but it sure is nice to be able cold wash and drip dry that alb.
[Thank you!! – PB]
I finally broke down and ordered an alb from womenspirit; I forget the name but it has raglan sleeves. Otherwise it is a pretty traditional alb and has a cincture. I looovvveee it. It is closer fitting than others I’ve had and it is actually flattering. It has a sort of mandarin collar which means I could wear it with a collar or not and it would look pretty much the same, and this is a huge help in the summer. I wish the fabric was more opaque but it isn’t worth it to have it lined.
My dream vestment would be a cotton blend alb that had princess seams, so it could be worn with or without a cincture. I do wear them and we have all liturgical colours. I put the chausable on when we start the table liturgy, and that is the colour of the liturgical season.
What I wouldn’t give for the aforementioned alb that was opaque and traveled well.
If you design it, I will most CERTAINLY purchase. No pressure though. 🙂
My dream vestment – a clergy shirt that fits!
Yep, clergy shirt that fits – and flatters would be good! No gaping necks that make me look as though I am wearing a clown collar…
And I would like an alb with a roll collar that stayed looking rolled when I tuck a stole under it, instead of allowing the weight of the stole to distort the collar.
These are great!!! Keep ’em coming!
I’ve seen it for men; have yet to see it for women AND it’s very niche…but…I would love a Geneva gown in Kente cloth.
or….if you look at WomenSpirit’s Ruth or Naomi robes that have brocade…substitute the brocade for Kente and that would make me smile until somebody makes the full robe out of Kente.
Not exactly vestments, but a pack of some sort that can be worn under a dress or a skirt to hold a mic pac would be awesome. I’ve seen a few home-made ones, that sorta work, but go on a belt that leaves weird lumps. It is hard as an associate female clergy person in the summer when the senior Pastor says, “Let’s not robe, but wear nice clothes.” not realizing that nice women’s clothing rarely has pockets.
I will second (or third) a comfortable alb that’s form fitting and can be cinctured (or not), and a pocket for the mic pack would be amazing. And I am really, really sick of velcro on my albs…definitely need a different solution there. Thank you!