Ready-to-Wear. - movie reviews

Christian Century, March 8, 1995 by Margaret R. Miles

Nothing approximating the fashion industry of the 20th-century existed throughout the history of Christianity. But religious leaders have long recognized that in its capacity to shape desire and create identities, fashion can compete with religion, which takes those tasks as its essence. A long look at the amount of cultural space taken up by proposals for redesigning bodies and clothing reveals intense attention to appearance. Fashion becomes constricting--even demonic--when it encompasses a disproportionate amount of attention, when it is used to define and design who one is. But then, of course, it is not "high fashion" or "the fashion industry" that is the problem, but the person--man or woman--who seeks identity in a "look."

Finally, however, the "slave of fashion" must be seen as representing a religious and social failure--a failure to provide resources and nourishment more capable than fashion of bearing the weight of identity, relatedness and responsibility. Rather than blaming fashion's individual "Victims and perpetrators," we should scrutinize the culture's symbolic resources.

Ready-to-wear, like many other popular films, is better at raising issues than it is at identifying culprits or offering alternatives. Nevertheless, Altman's film offers an opportunity to reflect on and explore some of our culture's dominant and dominating values.

Margaret R. Miles, Bussey Professor of Historical Theology at Harvard University Divinity School, is the author of the forthcoming book Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in Contemporary Popular Film.