Uncovering the Spiritual at New York Fashion Week

Tara Yazdan Panah is a first-year master of theological studies student at Harvard Divinity School. Her research interests include exploring the intersection of spiritual affect and artistic expression as well as childhood mystical experiences. In February, she traveled to New York City and attended New York Fashion Week, where she spoke to designers about their backgrounds and how spirituality informs their work.

The fabric of our clothes is woven with threads of our individuality, community, and perhaps the essence of the universe as well. While the spiritual does not often come to mind when we button our blouses and zip up our jackets, for many new contemporary fashion designers, it is an integral part of their work.

The world of high fashion, to the average eye, appears to be absorbed in its own vanity. Many would regard luxury fashion indicative of an age of narcissism and completely inaccessible to the average person. And yet, textiles are an art form we have interacted with for thousands of years, used as an opportunity for cultural and individual expression. Designers at New York Fashion Week are attempting to change our relationship to fashion—to see it not only as an art form, but as a vessel for spiritual expression and opportunity to connect with our surroundings.

Tarpley “Brooks” Jones, the founder of fashion brand “Tarpley,” is one new designer that is attempting to change our associations with fashion. During New York Fashion Week, Jones and I discussed fashion and the divine over coffee, facing a Jenga game set up on the table before us. Unbeknownst to us, the Jenga set would become the centerpiece of our conversation.

Jones’s creative spiritual journey began at the age of 21 while grieving the death of his mother, who had suffered from cancer since Jones was 13.

“Your mother is the safety net, the unconditional love,” Jones said. "Because we had such a strong connection, the loss of love in the physical didn’t mean losing the love in the metaphysical.”

Feeling this energy, Jones looked toward finding solace in Buddhist teachings about suffering and impermanence.

“When you’re suffering, there’s two options. You can either let it cripple you, or you can go so deep into why that’s happening and explore that.”

Letting Buddhism be his foundation for creativity, Jones noticed the effect that clothing can have on oneself and others. To Jones, there is an immanent quality to garments.

“Clothing is an identifier or some type of energy magnifier for others around us,” he explained. “With fashion, it’s on your being at all times. It’s not just a superficial thing to wear clothing. There can be a deeper reason why you’re wearing a certain kind of garment.”

Turning toward the Jenga set, Jones said, “[Buddhism] has given me an appreciation for everything. This Jenga piece is an energy that was created somewhere, the wood was brought from somewhere, cut down somewhere, manufactured somewhere, somebody decided it would be sold, somebody bought it. Every single thing has an energy behind it. And it might feel static to most, but to me, a whole history has brought it here. It’s been brought here by the creation of a lot of human beings.”

Jones continued to analogize this idea with his designs.

“My personal path is coming out in the clothes. It’s my story of the pain of losing the one I love the most … suffering through the pain, but within that, still creating art and meditating.”

Giselle Manzano Ramirez, a New York City-based fashion designer and founder of the NYFW avant-garde performance fashion show KRATER, similarly views her commitment to fashion design as a spiritual endeavor.

“Fashion, to me, serves as a tool for both individual and collective empowerment and self-expression, connecting people through shared human experiences,” she said. “My textile work delves into autobiographical themes such as liberation, resilience, and rebirth, representing my journey and personal growth.”

Much like a gallery opening, fashion designers imbue their collection releases with a theme. For Ramirez and Jones, the personal and the spiritual are integral parts of these collections.

“Funny enough, my first line was called Samsara. I’ve always started from a spiritual base,” Jones said.

Jones’s first collection for Tarpley, titled “000,” represents the nothingness that inspires new ideas, a clear nod to his Buddhist meditation practice. His latest presentation for NYFW, titled “ANON,” references the anonymous relationships held online in the digital age. Jones is interested in interrogating the trust in a stranger that is required to create and strengthen digital relationships.

Ramirez connects her collections through an overarching story of struggle and spiritual freedom.

“My first collection, ‘THE KEY TO YOUR CAGE,’ draws inspiration from a deeply personal place,” she said “My father's imprisonment during my childhood and my own experiences with immigration have shaped my understanding of confinement and liberation. It explores the responsibility we hold for our own lives and the power we possess to design the keys to our own freedom. Experimental printmaking techniques, utilizing bleach and industrial hardware, deconstruct fabrics and remove color, reflecting the corrosive nature of confinement and the transformative potential of second chances.”

Ramirez sees her second collection, "GATELESS," as the second act of "THE KEY TO YOUR CAGE.” Inspired by Buddhist concepts of mental factors and illusions, she argues that the perceived confining gate does not exist at all.

“My second collection, ‘GATELESS,’ derives its name from a profound blessing bestowed upon me by a monk at Catskills Zendo, a Buddhist monastery in Upstate New York,” she explained. “It explores the complexities of freedom, honoring past scars while bravely forging a new path toward self-discovery. The collection delves into personal darkness to find true healing and reclaim autonomy.”

The fashion industry is often reluctant to address the elephant in the room—the extreme waste and destruction that garment manufacturing can wreak upon the world. For these designers, however, environmentalism is just as much a spiritual concern as it is an existential one.

“My own values in fashion stem from a background in vintage and second-hand clothing, which heightened my awareness of environmental concerns,” Ramirez said. “This led me to specialize in sustainable textile art and upcycling. Through experimental printmaking and upcycling techniques, I transform garments into unique pieces of wearable art. My focus on sustainability revolves around giving garments a second life, diverting them from landfills, and creating individualized textile prints that empower wearers with a sense of uniqueness and connection to collective narratives.”

Jones’s minimalist designs and sustainable approach are also inspired by his spiritual philosophy.

“No one is going to be 100 percent sustainable, but you try your best. We owe everyone around us a responsibility for what we do. If you’re creating things, you need to think about the energies you’re emitting. All of us are making decisions individually that collectively add up.”

Alongside production, Jones also keeps sustainability and efficient usage in mind during the design process.

“I’m trying to make timeless energy,” he said. “While the coat may not be the season of, my cuts can be relevant for a long time.”

By designing pieces that ignore trend cycles and prioritizing functional use across seasons through a minimalist approach, Jones attempts to limit the waste that is so prevalent across the fashion industry.

Fashion and spirituality are seldom connected in mainstream discourse, though our own perceptions of fashion as a consumer product rather than an artform may have something to do with it.

“For many, fashion is a business first and foremost, with profitability often taking precedence over creativity, Ramirez said. “Many designers find themselves navigating a delicate balance between honoring their artistic vision and ensuring commercial success. This often entails compromising on creative autonomy to conform to mainstream trends or cost-effective production methods.”

However, Ramirez holds a more optimistic view toward the fashion world than most.

“Within the fashion landscape, there are moments of artistic brilliance, particularly in the realms of avant-garde and couture,” she said. “These are opportunities for designers to transcend conventional boundaries and create wearable pieces of art, albeit typically reserved for special occasions or discerning clientele.”

Ramirez and Jones’s reflections on their artform leaves us with an important question: How do we continue the practice of seeing the history and story of all objects, no matter how lifeless they may appear to us?

Perhaps it is through recognizing the stories embedded within bodies that cannot speak where we can practice cultivating care and liberation for what surrounds us. To say the least, I may never look at a Jenga game the same way again.

—by Tara Yazdan Panah