By Barbara J. Simon (Gallatin ’82)
Women’s bodies are amazing. The things that flow through a woman – the light in flashing eyes, the heat of burning lips, the tenderness of a healing touch – love, milk, children. All these things have a holy element. Fashion, at its best, can bring a woman’s personal beauty to the surface for all to see, regardless of her age.
• The Wardrobe
When I was 12 years old, and my body was beginning the long road to womanhood, my cousin introduced me to The Chronicles of Narnia, and I became a C.S. Lewis fan for life. Oh, how I longed to walk into that magic wardrobe! To put on an oversized fur coat like the siblings Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy did as they walked from the inside of the wardrobe through to another dimension, into the outdoor wintery landscape of Narnia. What an adventure to find a secret country, private legends, and a mythology that prophesied my own arrival through a divine portal. This year, I was delighted to discover that my pastor was using the first book of The Chronicles of Narnia (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) as his sermon theme for the entire season of Lent.
• Adult Science Fiction from C.S. Lewis
As a senior in High School, C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy became the next series of his books to captivate me – so much so that I wrote my final English term paper on these science fiction stories. What a surprise to discover that, at the end of the last book, the adult women characters find their way into the same wardrobe that is first introduced in his children’s stories. These characters find a more mature magic waiting for them there. Here is a piece of their conversation as they help each other dress for the festive climax of the tale:
“What is it made of?” said Camilla, fingering and then smelling the green mantle. It was a question worth asking. It was not in the least transparent yet all sorts of lights and shades dwelled in its rippling folds and it flowed through Camilla’s hands like a waterfall. Ivy became interested.
“Gor!” she said. “How much a yard would it be?”
“There,” said Mother Dimble as she draped it skillfully around Ivy. Then she said, “Oh!” in genuine amazement. All three stood back from Ivy staring at her with delight. The commonplace had not gone from her form and face, the robe had taken it up, as a great composer takes up a folk tune and tosses it like a ball through his symphony and makes of it a marvel, yet leaves it still itself. A “pert fairy” or “dapper elf,” a small though perfect sprightliness, stood before them: but still recognizably Ivy Maggs.
“Isn’t that like a man!” exclaimed Mrs. Dimble, “There’s not a mirror in the room.”
“I don’t believe we were meant to see ourselves,” said Jane. “He said something about being mirrors enough to see another.”
– C. S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength
• The Women’s Clothing Swap
In the last decade, I’ve enjoyed the company of women in several spiritual communities where we shared a “Women’s Clothing Swap.” The one I attended most recently is advertised as an annual opportunity for all the participants to clear our closets of seldom worn garments in time for Spring’s renewal. We have a pleasant afternoon bidding on clothes to raise money for a specific local charity event before the remainders are donated to local thrift shops. But it has become much more than that.
The hostess offers her home for the event, and some guests provide homemade brunch items, fresh fruit, and muffins. The church members invite friends, and it’s a party atmosphere as women start the bidding on anything from a cashmere sweater to sporty hat to sequined gown for $2 – and bid to a higher price for the more popular items. Once, the bidding went up to $25 for a black leather jacket, with just the right amount of wear to suggest a dangerous lifestyle. The pleasure and enthusiasm of the day often lead women to put larger donations, in addition to what they bid, into the collection envelope.
Sometimes, while wearing one of my “new” garments to Sunday morning service, I’ve encountered another woman from the event, who donated the item I’m wearing. Each outfit is worn differently by the woman who inhabits it, and this leads to a deeper conversation between us: a new camaraderie, a wholesome appreciation of each other’s good taste and unique beauty.
• My Wish
It is my wish that spiritual communities could embrace this kind of celebration as part of their mission. How amazing to have found that the divinity inside me can be accessed through an adult woman’s figure – with style, fabric, colors, patterns, and textures. And to see other women, with their own original beauty shining through, each in their own way – to rejoice in them finding their authentic light. We can be the reflection of each other’s beauty – to be “mirrors enough to see another.” Finally, my inner child is delighted to realize that I can enter the fabled wardrobe, and witness its magic firsthand.