Creating robes for Notre Dame’s reopening felt like a calling for French fashion designer

Jean-Charles de Castelbajac has dressed pop stars including Rihanna, and a pope. Now he’s designed priestly robes for Notre Dame’s reopening

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French fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac with some of the surprisingly minimalist priestly robes he has designed for the reopening of Paris’ Notre Dame cathedral. Photo: AFP

Associated Press

Published: 4:15pm, 27 Nov 2024

When the Notre Dame cathedral burned in April 2019, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac felt compelled to act.

The French fashion designer – a believer with personal roots in the church – began sketching ideas, imagining the monument’s reconstruction.

So, when the Paris Archbishop’s emissary approached him to design the liturgical garments priests wear during worship for the cathedral’s reopening next month, Castelbajac felt the moment transcended mere coincidence.

“It’s bigger than a job. It’s a bit mysterious,” Castelbajac said as he previewed some of the 2,000 colourful pieces for 700 celebrants at his Paris home. “It’s a calling. To be called like that is synchronicity.”

Jean-Charles de Castelbajac displays a liturgical vestment for priests to be worn at the reopening of the Notre Dame cathedral. He likens the shards of colour coming together on them to the cathedral’s rebirth. Photo: AP

This duty, as he calls it, led to a collection of garments – many in thick off-white Scottish wool gaberdine – that blend his signature pop-art aesthetic with medieval touches that show a reverence for the cathedral’s centuries-long legacy.