Vatican fashion: Rome’s tailors abuzz over prospect of new pope

As Rome’s tailors stitch new garments for clergymen, observers say what a pope wears could provide hints about his vision.

Rome, Italy – For the princes of the Catholic Church, as cardinals are referred to, the conclave is not just about electing a pope. It is also about restocking wardrobes.

In recent days, many have swung by central Rome’s famed tailors before the conclave to browse and buy refined clerical vestments that are hard to find elsewhere.

The Gammarelli family – whose artisans have been stitching vestments for popes for the past 100 years and garments for priests, bishops and cardinals since the 18th century – is among the most coveted brand.

But Stefano Gammarelli, the sixth generation Gammarelli running the shop, said his bespoke tailors will not be dressing the next pope just yet. The Vatican informed the family this year that it will reuse cassocks from past elections – a move seen by some as honouring the environmentally friendly and waste-averse Francis, who died on April 21.

“We will hope for the next conclave,” Gammarelli told Al Jazeera.

The Gammarelli family’s tailor shop has been stitching vestments for popes for the past 100 years and garments for priests, bishops and cardinals since the 18th century [Virginia Pietromarchi/Al Jazeera]

The fitting room inside the Gammarelli shop [Virginia Pietromarchi/Al Jazeera]

As with previous conclaves and before being told there was no need for its services, Gammarelli’s team of tailors had gathered the measurements of cardinals who were among their clients and created cassocks for those they believed stood a good chance of being elected as the next leader of the Catholic Church.

If a cardinal has not visited a tailor in a while, they tend to scour the internet to determine whether the clergyman has gained or lost a few kilos since his last purchase. “We take all the measurements and do the math to get it right – then we cross our fingers for divine help,” Gammarelli said.

However, that is not always an effective strategy.

When Pope John XXIII was elected in 1958, the tens of thousands of faithful greeting him in St Peter’s Square were likely unaware that he was standing on the terrace of St Peter’s Basilica with his cassock cut in half at the back. “Someone had given him the wrong size,” Gammarelli said.

In previous years when tailors prepared to dress the new pope – a mystery figure – they would prepare a small, a medium and a large size of the costume, praying that he wouldn’t be an XL.

When a new pope is elected and appears on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, he wears a hand-stitched light wool skirt, a white robe, a silk sash and a white zucchetto [Virginia Pietromarchi/Al Jazeera]

Raniero Mancinelli was not deterred in preparing the papal cassock despite not receiving a request by the Vatican [Virginia Pietromarchi/Al Jazeera]

Raniero Mancinelli, another tailor whose shop has been providing garments to popes for more than 70 years, did not receive a call to make the cassocks for the momentous day either. But that did not deter him from preparing the vestments. He decided to stick with tradition regardless.

When a new pope is elected and appears on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, he wears a hand-stitched light wool skirt, a white robe, a silk sash and a white zucchetto – or skullcap – which is red for cardinals, purple for bishops and black for priests. The white caps are in high demand because of an age-old tradition – giving a pope a new zucchetto and swapping it with the one he is wearing.

And while there is not a great margin for style variations, each pope has had his preferences. “Pope Francis was satisfied with a cheap light wool. Pope Benedict XVI used more elegant material between wool and silk,” Mancinelli said.

Benedict XVI, Francis’s immediate predecessor, made headlines for his style. He was even included in Esquire’s best-dressed men list in 2007. His red shoes did not go unnoticed by fashion commentators. At one point, the Vatican had to make a statement quashing rumours that his footwear was designed by Prada.

Pope Benedict XVI, wearing the white fur-trimmed red bonnet reserved to Popes and called camauro [File: Alessia Pierdomenico/Reuters]

In fact, the German pontiff, who believed that nurturing the church’s most ardent believers was the way to strengthen the institution, was a learned historian who enjoyed reviving old papal clothing traditions.

That was the case for the red shoes, his fiddleback chasuble dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries and the red velvet cap trimmed with ermine (known as camauro) that had not been used for decades, observers noted. It was called the “Santa hat”.

But when Francis was elected in 2013, he changed styles. A Jesuit, Francis was very much about action, about bringing the church into the streets: deeds not words. By contrast, Benedict XVI wore his history throughout his papacy, said Carol Richardson, an ecclesiastical and art historian at the University of Edinburgh.

“Francis did shift the tone of the papacy through his dress,” Richardson said. “There was nothing hidden in what he wore, whereas I think Benedict was telling us about his wanting a purer church more faithful to its roots, even if this meant excluding some people.”