Sisters of Mercy Sister Patricia Illing,  works with Meghan Smith, costume and textiles collections manager at the Chicago History Museum on Feb. 25. (Catholic New World/Karen Callaway)

Chic Chicago isn’t the only place at the Chicago History Museum where visitors can find costumes. There are fully-dressed mannequins on display in Chicago Crossroads—those change a couple of times a year—and from now until January you can also see a whole different sort of costume in the Catholic Chicago exhibition.

Much of the ceremony and tradition of Catholicism is tied in with the clothing and vestments worn by priests, nuns, altar servers, and school children. There are also milestones marked by religious ceremony, such as baptism, marriage, and first communion, all of which come with a particular set of attire. Some of these costumes were really complicated; as you can see from the photo, we brought in experts to make sure we got the details just right!

Working with all of these costumes, seeing the whole spectrum of a Catholic’s life through the lens of the clothing they wear, was a really interesting experience. If you haven’t seen the exhibition yet, I invite you to take the time this holiday season and learn more about one of Chicago’s most distinctive subcultures.

> Learn more about the Catholic Chicago exhibition

Tags: Catholic Chicago, Meghan Smith

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 10:27 am and is filed under Collections, Exhibitions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.