Why “Conclave” became the fashion movie of the year

Photo illustration: by The Cut; Photo: Everett Collection

If you, like me, have spent any amount of time on the internet in the past two years, you may have heard the term “quiet luxury” thrown around. From a $1,500 ready-to-wear sweater from Loro Piana to a 100 percent polyester blazer from Zara. But what I’m here to tell you is that I witnessed breathtakingly quiet luxury in the costumes of the movie Conclave. The cardinals in this movie are a herd of cats. They giggle, chain-smoke, plot, fat-shame the Pope, and create a spectacle unfit for age or priesthood. They also do all of the above while wearing elaborately tailored capes and achingly trendy acetate glasses straight out of a Miu Miu ad.

Being seduced by a pope’s IV drip is by no means a new pastime on the Internet. From a photo of Jude Law dressed as a young pope sunbathing in vestments and Ray-Bans to a frenzy over an image. Sadly, this photo of Pope Francis wearing a Balenciaga puffer turned out to be an AI-generated hoax. But among all the reviews, transmissions, and memes about Conclave, it just so happens that this very serious movie about a very serious event is the one that brings together my two major passions in life: beautiful clothes and sneaky clothes. Few have mentioned that it’s also a gorgeous two-hour extravaganza about gossip.

Please forgive me, Pope, for completely ignoring the film’s larger philosophical questions about faith and doubt. Because I was too busy admiring Papavili’s immaculate figure as he took his seat in the Sistine Chapel right after Cardinal Laurence, played by Ralph Fiennes, made an additional proclamation. Omnes with his rumbling baritone. When Cardinal Tremblay, played by John Lithgow, angrily denied the accusations of simony, all I thought was, “Wow, who makes wire-rimmed glasses?” . Who actually makes the glasses? Do we need Cardinal Tedesco’s bitchy blue frames? Special stationery with the words “Eligo Sumumu Pontificem” written on an adorable cream-colored notecard I also took notes to see if the store was there. There, written in a sophisticated black ballpoint pen, was a letter of recommendation to the pope. And finally, I squinted so hard when Cardinal Lawrence sobbed in front of the bathroom mirror, his face contorted with the pain of betrayal past and present. Because I wanted to know who makes these travel-sized amenities that come in a small baggy bag and look pretty luxurious. He bursts into tears in frustration. I was certainly influenced and wanted his little tube of Vatican-issued toothpaste.

Not since Gwyneth Paltrow left off the list of wedding vendors in 2018 has my charm-hungry brain obsessed so ferociously over such an unnecessary but satisfying detail. Neither Architectural Digest’s home tours of millionaire celebrities nor the “Get Ready With Me” TikTok posts of modern-day Austro-Hungarian aristocrats make me as susceptible to material greed as the divine chic of conclave cardinals. I’ve never been dragged into it.

The cardinals’ billowing cassocks look like something from a Balenciaga runway, as the film’s costume designer Lissie Kristol said she and director Edward Berger designed the brand’s cassocks, which feature voluminous billowing dresses. She’s been vocal about how she drew inspiration from the 2020 couture shows. . In an interview with The New York Times, Kristol also confessed that he found modern papal clothing, sold by Gammarelli, the pope’s official tailor, a little bland. Instead, she took creative liberties and omitted the burnt orange color of the robes worn in real life, making the on-screen vestments in the deep crimson seen in Renaissance paintings.

The result is an almost couture-like costume, with luscious reds that add to the mystique of the film’s ancient yet eerie world-building. At the conclave, the reformers within the Curia wear silver crosses, while the conservatives, led by Cardinal Tedesco, wear delicately crafted gold crosses. As the liberal Cardinal Lawrence whispers alongside his informant as he ascends the steps of the Sistine Chapel, two men in mozzettas (elbow-length cloaks) – one bright scarlet, the other almost purplish. Claret–practically glitters on the screen. The richness of its bright velvet.

High fashion and the Papacy are similar worlds, inaccessible to all but the wealthy and nobility, with codes and language of status woven into clothing. Both alternate between cycles of luxury and frugality, using each to convey specific messages about themselves and their beliefs to the world. The 2000s were the era of Benedict XVI, the famous dressmaker who was named “Accessory of the Year” by Esquire magazine in 2007. His reign as Pope has led to a lot of news about whether his shades are Gucci or Serengeti Classic. It is said that he paired the ermine-lined velvet mozzetta with red leather loafers, and that the loafers were made by Prada, but the Vatican hastened to dispel this rumor by saying, “The Pope wears Prada clothes.” He dispelled the controversy by issuing the best statement in history: “I’m not wearing a shirt.” But through Christ. But his successor, Pope Francis, also happened to become an influential figure in menswear by completely eschewing papal etiquette, earning him the 2013 Best Dressed Award from Esquire magazine ( (probably more than that). In the New York Times, Silvia Venturini Fendi called the return to modesty in fashion “a whole new spirit of Rome.”

If the premise of what passes today as “quiet luxury” is a know-it-all language spoken only by those who have learned it through generations of wealth accumulation, then the Roman Catholic Church I have been involved in the business since then. There was a time when indulgences were still being sold to believers. The holiness of the Most High God does not avoid humiliation by ordinary mortals such as profiteering, tax avoidance, and capital gains. All of this is necessary to maintain God’s sublimity, and it doesn’t come cheap. Conclave is essentially a movie about the annual shareholder meeting of a very wealthy corporate organization. This general meeting happened to be held inside the Domus Sanctae Maltae, where a full-time staff of nuns and clergymen was working around the clock to ensure that the cardinals could focus solely on their plans. are. . It is wealth in its purest state by the time it has been absorbed and unified into language. The conclave’s cardinals are just the latest in a long line of men of genuine, quiet, extravagant influence – the clergy who have been doing God’s work (literally) since the 8th century.