I haven’t followed closely all the Catholic reaction to the Met Gala but I understand from conversations with others there is a lot out there and it is principally negative.
I hope within a week or so to have good news about my new book on natural law and its publisher. A theme of the book is the centrality of gesture, mimicry, and pantomime. I take my lead from Thomas Reid, a member of the Scottish Enlightenment whom I mention in V&R but do not dwell upon. He’s a super thinker and linked the ideas of gesture and language. Here is a really excellent article which assesses the communicative character of gesture and mimicry (https://aeon.co/essays/from-pointing-to-nodding-is-gesture-a-universal-language). It strongly favours Reid.
As the incredible iconic Balenciaga wedding gown at the top of this post shows, fashion is frequently about mimicry. So was the Met Gala, though lots of the costumes were hopelessly boring precisely because they failed as costume.
In the new book I argue that a vehicle of natural law is mimicry so I am less worried than many at the imitation of Church costume — itself a mimicry of Christ in His kingdom — at the Met Gala. My pal Chris Wojtulewicz will soon have a post up helping to explain what Erich Pryzwara would say (see V&R Chapter 8 for hints).
