Liturgical vestments with intricate patchworks of gold and silver thread embroidery, jewelled mitres and historic papal tiaras (one comprising 18,000 diamonds) have been provided for the exhibition by the Sistine Chapel sacristy.

In all, raiment from 15 papacies will be included in an exhibition at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The exhibition - dubbed "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination" - opens in May.

The show will also include designer clothing by fashion houses including Dolce & Gabbana, Versace and Chanel, along with exhibits of the Museum's medieval and religious artwork.

"Some might consider fashion to be an unfitting or unseemly medium by which to engage with ideas about the sacred or the divine," curator Andrew Bolton says.

"But dress is central to any discussion about religion. It affirms religious allegiances and, by extension, it asserts religious differences."

On Monday fashion designer Donatella Versace, Pierpaolo Piccioli of Valentino, along with designers Thom Browne and Jean Charles de Castelbajac joined Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue magazine.

Along with a group of journalists, they met with Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the Vatican's de facto culture minister, for a sneak preview of some of the exhibits.

"From the first pages of the Bible, God enters the scene certainly as a creator, but also as a tailor," said the cardinal.

He backed this up, citing a passage from Genesis where God made garments of skin for Adam and Eve and clothed them.

"God himself worries about clothing his creatures, and this represents the genesis of the significance of clothing."

Source

• The Guardian
• New York Times
• Image: Catholic Herald

The vestments were more than 100 years old and have significant meaning to the central city church.

The items are very distinctive and would be of little value to anyone outside the church, police said.

They include matched sets of burses, palls, manipules and veils in church 'season' colours - red, white, green and purple.

Church sacristan Susan Atkins said the vestments probably came from a guild in England.

They were in a locked glass display cabinet. A slide-lock from the cabinet was found lying on the floor, having been popped off the top of the sliding glass doors.

While some Anglican churches had done away with ceremonial frills from the past, the vestments had been on display to show people the beauty from what at times felt like a bygone era, Atkins said.

The vestments have been used for communion services particularly on special occasions such as the Wellington church's 150th birthday.

"We would never leave our silver and things out. We've had bits of brass stolen off the big eagle [at the front of the church]. People used to screw bits off of it because they could sell the brass.

"The poor box has been replaced so many times, I think it's stronger than Fort Knox now. One time someone smashed it clear from the wall."

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• Image: stuff.co.nz

Hundreds of clergy jostled for a place on the show's front row as the group revealed cutting-edge bespoke vestments in bright colours. Watch Vide0