Operation Runway: Reclaiming the World of Fashion

{by Brittany Sadler}

Think back to the 1860’s. A beautiful rendition of, "Bless His Name, He Sets Me Free" filled the air. Sitting in the audience, William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, was so touched by the performance that he went up afterwards and asked what the tune was. The singer responded hesitantly with, “Champagne Charlie is My Name.” It was a popular drinking song.

That settled it, Mr. Booth decided. After all: “Why should the devil have all the best tunes?”

The Salvation Army proceeded to take those tunes and put God-honoring words to them.  Another defeat for darkness.

Fast forward now to the year 2011. You don’t have to look at very many magazine covers before you conclude that the enemy has taken over much of the fashion in our world today. Unfortunately, the response of many Christians has been to either imitate the world or cede the territory and ignore fashion completely.  We disagree with both these approaches.

You do not have to buy into every latest fad or completely embrace mainstream fashion. You don’t have throw high standards out the window to look current or even attractive. Neither, however, on the other hand, do high standards have to be interpreted into singularly homely attire. There is absolutely no reason [or excuse] for looking old-fashioned or frumpy just because you object to certain trends. A balance can be found. Sometimes it’s difficult, but it is always worth it.

Following in the footsteps of the Proverbs 31 woman who, "makes tapestry for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple," (vs. 22) we believe that beautiful clothes and great style glorifies God. We are His image-bearers; I think that warrants being well-dressed for the job, don't you? Just because the world has, for the most part, “claimed” this area doesn’t mean that we can’t challenge that! We are here to take it back.

 

After all….

Why should the devil have all the best clothes?