"Therefore
I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink;
or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than
food, and the body more important than clothes? ... And why do you worry
about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor
or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was
dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the
field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will
he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do we not worry,
saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall
we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly
Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his
righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
Matthew 6:25; 28-33
Lest there be any false pretenses that I know how to toe the thin line
between lavish living and unnecessary self-imposed suffering, let me confess
that I am not the best example of living out the practices of wise wardrobe
selection or outfit composition. This whole subject may seem silly at
first. For those who live in the developed world, having clothes to wear
is not something we typically spend much time thinking about. And maybe
for you, the clothes you wear are not a source of temptation or struggle.
I think if we take just a second to think about it, we’ll find that
having clothes is easy enough., but it is in having the right
clothes that we tend to trip up. Our desire for the right clothes leads
to two problems with American fashion. First, we end up having too much
of it – fashion asks us to have the right accessories, the perfect
costumes for particular occasions, and an endless supply of mix ‘n
match outfits. Second, we end up replacing fashion with character in our
treatment of others: in short, we do judge the books by their covers.
On having too much: Looking back to those awkward middle school years,
it may be easy to think that we have gotten over the need to have that
perfect Tommy Hilfiger polo shirt or pair of Gap jeans. “Hah,”
you might scoff, “I never worried about that stuff anyways. I
was too engrossed in succeeding and making perfect grades so that I
could get into college.” Fine. Truthfully, then, can you say that
you never begged your mother for the really cool Star Wars t-shirt or
the L.A. Lights shoes that flashed when you took a step? “Fine,”
you reply, “But that was middle school. Now I never worry about
clothes and stuff.” And maybe you don’t worry.
But think about your wardrobe and the efforts you put into its expansion.
If you’ve ever heard yourself think, “I need this even though
I already have two shirts/pants/skirts/shorts sorta similar to this
one, but not quite the same cut or fabric,” then yes, you probably
do have too much. Or maybe these thoughts never crossed your mind, but
it is true that you can go a month without having to do laundry and
without repeating outfits. The fact is, if you’re the average
college student, you probably do have too much.
But why does that even matter? Does having too much clothing mean that
we’re in some way sinful? My short answer is: not necessarily.
When clothes become determinants of our self-worth; when we use shopping
as an outlet to feel better after a difficult experience; when clothes
make us proud of ourselves and make us feel self-reliant, then our wardrobe
has become an idol of sorts. Clothes make us stumble when we forget
that God provides them for us and when we begin to value the gift more
than the giver.
And this leads into the second problem with American fashion.
We use fashion to judge others. That kid who only wore sweatpants and
t-shirts to school every day. The nerd with her elastic-waistband skirts
with the awkward pastel pattern and her mismatched socks. The rebel
and his black leather jacket. It’s true – clothing is a
signal. We’ll flock to those who dress the same way we do because
we have their implicit approval. We’ll mock those who are behind
on the fashion times or whose clothing we view as uncool. We’ll
avoid those who dress according to more popular or more expensive trends
because they might be too cool for us. They might even be “bad
kids.”
When we’re in the mindset that clothes really matter, we forget
what we should be clothed in and who has clothed us. We, and the people
we judge on the basis of their appearances, are made in the image of
God. We are loved by him, and he loves all of his creation, not just
the well-dressed ones. We are also to show love to others as God has
showed us love, and the way that others dress should not stand in the
way.
Where do we go from here? Are we to run in the opposite direction,
towards nakedness? I don’t think so. Let me share a couple of
experiences. The first took place about a week prior to the writing
of this article. Stressed out about a midterm, nervous about my senior
thesis, and exhausted from inadequate sleeping patterns, my eyes lit
up when I saw the email in my inbox. 40% off tops at Bluefly. I ordered
four. In retrospect, I doubt I needed all these shirts, although I do
enjoy them. But let’s set aside the separate issue of opportunity
cost – other people are in much greater need and perhaps my (parents’)
money would have been spent in a more responsible manner elsewhere –
which is another article altogether. The real problem in my behavior
was that the clothing became my comfort, my stress relief. It is sad
that I tried to rely on the shirts instead of the hands that provided
them. It is also dangerous, and not the way we want to view clothes.
The second story took place this past summer. Not wanting to pack much
because I would have to travel up and down the east coast on my own
a few times before heading back to Texas at the end of the summer, I
limited myself to a rolling duffel bag, my backpack, and my laptop.
In the battle for space between books and clothes…the books won.
I would have to do laundry at least once a week or risk being that smelly
person on the subway. What did I learn? I learned that I don’t
have to have a lot of clothes to get by. I learned that choosing my
outfit from just a few items meant more time to think about other things,
perhaps more important things. I learned to be thankful for what I had
been given, even when (and probably especially because) I couldn’t
have it all with me.
I’m not challenging you to give all your clothes away to Goodwill,
although if you have a lot of stuff that you don’t wear, maybe
you should think about doing this. I’m not challenging you to
never buy another article of clothing again. But I do think that in
an effort to view our wardrobes with gospel-centered worldview glasses,
we should recognize the proper place of clothing in our lives. Clothes
are a provision from the God of the universe who loves us as little
children. But we are to be clothed in more than fabric: we are also
to be clothed “with the Lord Jesus Christ,” (Romans 13:14)
and “with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.”
(Colossians 3:12) Let this be our guide to fashion.
Karis Gong ‘06 is a Woodrow Wilson School major from San Antonio,
Texas.