Ship of Fools: The Vicar wears Prada

Thread: The Vicar wears Prada Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by que sais-je (# 17185) on :

Druidess Eileen (may her tea light never be dimmed nor her beaker spill) has a link to this Daily Mail story. Is this the new face (or legs) of Anglicanism? What would a woman bishop wear? And will the Daily Mail ever carry proper news stories ...

[ 04. December 2012, 14:23: Message edited by: que sais-je ]

Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :

I don't see what the problem is. She doesn't look outrageous to me. No reason for a priest to look dowdy. Not that other kinds of garb one sees around are necessarily dowdy. She just looks particularly cutting edge.

A former rector of ours used to ride a motorcycle part of the time, and when he did he wore a leather jacket. (He did avoid wearing one with "Harley Davidson" or "Bikers for Christ". [Biased]

)

Posted by Bostonman (# 17108) on :

quote:
From the article...‘There is that perception that religion is in a box with everything middle-aged and that everything else is in another box; or (as far as the clergy goes) that God is interested only in middle-aged men.

‘But why shouldn’t a priest be interested in Prada? I dress in a way that reflects my personality.’

[...]

But it would be unfair to suggest that Rev Hitchiner became a priest simply because she thought wearing a dog collar might make her look groovy.Her parishioners say she is hard- working and committed, and as Rev Hitchiner says on her Twitter profile: ‘She loves many things: God, anthropology, The West Wing, good food with good friends, mostly God though . . .’

Sounds great to me.

And "what would a woman bishop wear"? Are we supposed to extrapolate from one woman's clothing choices to all women's clothing choices? You're joking, right?

Posted by Not (# 2166) on :

(Shudder)

Not at the (apparently likeable, competent and stylish) Reverend Hitchiner, but at the coyly patronising tone of the article. Should know better than to follow a Mail link by now. It always leaves me feeling vaguely compromised.

Posted by Enoch (# 14322) on :

For those shipmates that are Top People, the same story, with photos, was in the Times illustrated weekend supplement last Saturday.

Posted by Lord Jestocost (# 12909) on :

The Druidess's closing lines came close to endangering my keyboard:

quote:
I think, at the end of the day, the following question from the Mail is the most important one:

"After all, would a ‘traditionalist’ wear Louboutin leopard print heels?

To which the only answer I can find is, "only on his day off."

Posted by Meerkat (# 16117) on :

For those of you who remember the thread about Priests and 'detective' stories, I think she looks how I imagine Merrily Watkins to look! [Axe murder]

Posted by Angloid (# 159) on :

Brilliant! She's a scouser too! (Another reason for the Daily Wail to take against her)

Posted by deano (# 12063) on :

I wonder how the numbers of teenage boys in her congregation stack up against the national average!

Posted by fletcher christian (# 13919) on :

A Vicar should never wear that kind of dross. They must always shop out of Primark, dress only in M & S black jumpers and have horrid clogging shoes. How dare she wear a hair clip and have a mustard coloured bag - it's just not right. I mean, whats the world coming to when Vicar's express their personality. I tell you, it's the end of the church and wasn't that way in my day. A Vicar should mirror Christ.....but only ever in a dull, non-descript way, and certainly not in a human way.

Posted by Enoch (# 14322) on :

Does anybody see her as a - hardly even thinly disguised - heroine in a Susan Howatch novel? One also has no difficulty imagining the usual Howatch raft of competitive middle aged senior male clerics frantically crossing and uncrossing their legs.

Posted by Enoch (# 14322) on :

quote:
Originally posted by fletcher christian:
A Vicar should never wear that kind of dross. They must always shop out of Primark, dress only in M & S black jumpers and have horrid clogging shoes. How dare she wear a hair clip and have a mustard coloured bag - it's just not right. I mean, whats the world coming to when Vicar's express their personality. I tell you, it's the end of the church and wasn't that way in my day. A Vicar should mirror Christ.....but only ever in a dull, non-descript way, and certainly not in a human way.

Otherwise us blokes might start getting the sort of fantasies young women of nice family used to get about the curate.

Posted by Angloid (# 159) on :

Fletcher Christian: you sound uncannily like Anne Reid in last night's Last Tango in Halifax. Or Alan Bennett.

Posted by que sais-je (# 17185) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Not:
(Shudder)

Not at the (apparently likeable, competent and stylish) Reverend Hitchiner, but at the coyly patronising tone of the article. Should know better than to follow a Mail link by now. It always leaves me feeling vaguely compromised.

It was the Daily Mail article, not the Rev Hitchiner, that lead to the OP. Someone said the aim of the Daily Mail is to make you dislike groups of people you didn't dislike before. Perhaps women priests are to be added to social workers/Labour councils/benefit claimants/asylum seekers.

Also the DM manages to be unpleasant in various ways then back off: she likes expensive clothes which her congregation can't afford, but as an afterthought they add, neither can she. The strapline's claim of "a most unholy row among the faithful" comes down to "one internet blogger who might be said to represent the ‘traditionalists’ within the Church of England" - or who might not.

I'm interested to see the Times also carried the story - I wonder if their take was similar? I don't like the Times but, unlike the Daily Mail, I don't feel the urge to wash my hands after reading it.

I do have one possible complaint against Reverend Hitchiner: in the second picture she seems to be standing on a polished wood floor - if so those heels will make an awful mess of it.

Posted by Eigon (# 4917) on :

Meercat - I think Merrily Watkins usually looked a little less well groomed than that, and often puffing away on a cigarette!

It isn't just Prada that women vicars might wear, though - I remember a programme on Radio 4, some years ago, where various "unconventional" priests were interviewed. One of them was a young woman (she may have been a deacon at the time) who liked to dress as a Goth, but with the dog collar, and said that she often got the reaction that people thought she was some sort of kiss-a-gram!

Posted by Curious (# 93) on :

quote:
Originally posted by fletcher christian:
A Vicar should never wear that kind of dross. They must always shop out of Primark, dress only in M & S black jumpers and have horrid clogging shoes. How dare she wear a hair clip and have a mustard coloured bag - it's just not right. I mean, whats the world coming to when Vicar's express their personality. I tell you, it's the end of the church and wasn't that way in my day. A Vicar should mirror Christ.....but only ever in a dull, non-descript way, and certainly not in a human way.

Unless they are high anglo-catholic, in which case lace is de-rigour, berets of all types are acceptable and you can swing a little smokey handbag........

Posted by Meerkat (# 16117) on :

@ Eigon... (who said: Meercat - I think Merrily Watkins usually looked a little less well groomed than that, and often puffing away on a cigarette!)

Well-groomed or not, Merrily appealed to me through the books. Google didn't turn up any images of her, though, so I'll picture her as the Rev we are discussing! [Big Grin]

Best wishes to the Reverend Hitchiner... long may she attract congregations and spread the Word.

Posted by Meerkat (# 16117) on :

And another Priest who attracted attention a while ago (and I believe, due to her post, doesn't always dress 'like a Vicar') is this lady... Joanna Jepson.

http://www.joannajepson.com/home.html

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