Candlemas
purple copes, paris couture week, and the importance of hairstyle
Hello again to anyone who stuck with Sunday Best during my Christmastide hiatus. Tomorrow would normally be the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, but this year it’s outranked by the Feast of the Purification, popularly known as Candlemas. February 2, Candlemas, traditionally marked the end of the Christmas season, and several things are commemorated on this day: Mary’s ritual purification in the Temple after bearing Christ 40 days earlier, the presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple, and the prophecy of Simeon.1 A blessing of candles and a procession takes place before Mass in connection to the Nunc Dimittis (the Canticle of Simeon): Lumen ad revelationem gentium, et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.2
For the blessing of the candles, the priest wears purple, despite the liturgical color of the feast being white.3 Candlemas is a bit of a bittersweet feast, a mix of joy and penitence. As we recognize that Christ is the light of the world, we are forced to acknowledge that, yes, there is darkness. Our world, as well as our individual souls, is dark, clouded, blind to God. Like Simeon, we have been waiting for a light to shine mercifully into this sea of darkness. The purple reflects the penitential mood of this rite, as do the priest’s prayers over the candles:
O Lord Jesus Christ […] mercifully grant that, as these lights enkindled with visible fire dispel the darkness of night, so may our hearts illumined by invisible fire, the splendor of the Holy Spirit, be free from every blindness due to vice: so that with clear sight our minds may discern what is pleasing to Thee and profitable to our salvation; so that after the darksome perils of this life we may deserve to attain to never-fading light.
After the procession, though, the priest changes into the white vestments to begin the Mass. The congregation holds their lighted candles, and the introit proclaims, “We have received Thy mercy, O God, in the midst of Thy temple.” We see the light of our salvation and rejoice.
For Candlemas, to reflect on this exchange of dark and light, I’d recommend color blocking or a high-contrast pattern. As for colors, white works well both to match the liturgical color and to symbolize the purity of Mary; yellow or gold reminds us of the beeswax and the light of Christ; and touches of purple correspond to the brief appearance of the purple cope. Materials like silk and fine knits are a nod goodbye to the finery of the Christmas and Epiphany seasons which end on this day.
In the outside world, it’s couture week in Paris. The evaluation of haute couture collections is rather different than that of ready-to-wear collections because the looks aren’t really intended to be universally appealing or accessible. I haven’t combed through all the shows yet, but of the ones I’ve seen, Schiaparelli was by far the highlight of the week, Giambattista Valli was stunning as always, and Valentino was… well, its own thing.
In this post, though, I want to focus a little bit on Jean Paul Gaultier designed by Ludovic de Saint Sernin. I’ll start by admitting I’m not a Gaultier fan to begin with; the aesthetic and the messaging aren’t my thing at all. However, I can appreciate the craftsmanship and construction. The theme of this collection was naufrage, shipwreck, and the looks definitely captured that. Almost all of them moved beautifully on the runway; I could see a few being worn at award shows or other celebrity occasions.
My problem with this show was not the clothes, which were certainly nothing “normal” but undeniably good Gaultier-ish couture. Nor was it the soundtrack, although the weird techno remix of heavy breathing did make me mute my computer about halfway through. Nor was it the models, who had clearly been directed to swing their arms around and shoot dirty looks at the crowd. My big problem was the hair and makeup.
In accordance with the shipwreck theme, all the models had wet strands of hair gelled over their faces, intentionally ‘sickly’ makeup, and a hairnet over their entire head. The wet/gelled hair isn’t new—Dior did it tastefully at their SS 2023 Couture show—but this particular execution, where the models truly look like they just dragged themselves out of the ocean, detracts from the garments. Add the sunken-eyes makeup on top, and it’s too much. Comments from r/whatthefrockk agree: “Literally all I could focus on. I had to go back and look at every picture again to see what the actual outfits were. The styling is so distracting” and “The models all look bored and sickly.”
The question we must ask is: how much does the hairstyle matter to the clothes? Would the overall impression of each look be different if the wet hair was executed with more restraint or taste? I think yes.
Growing up, my mother had very strong opinions on leaving the house with wet hair. There were two main reasons that she was so firmly against it. One, because it would make us sick; and two, because it would make her, the mother, look bad if her children had wet, unstyled hair in public. This obviously annoyed my childhood self to no end. I didn’t understand at all why my hair being messy, dirty, or damp should influence strangers’ impression of her as a mother. There was no connection in my mind. I would tolerate having my hair fixed for school but never without grumbling.
When I was old enough to fix my own hair, I kind of just… didn’t. I would leave the house with wet hair and let it air-dry in whatever shape it wanted. Beyond fixing it in a very practical and very tight bun every week for ballet class, I hardly touched my hair, and I prided myself on my “untouched” hair. I look back at pictures from middle and high school now and cringe.
Now that I’m so much older and wiser (lol), I’ve grown out of this, and I’m coming to appreciate the huge amount of influence hairstyle has on a look. The same dress and shoes could look dressy with well-styled hair or errand-worthy with a quick claw-clip style and no makeup. Earlier this week, my fiance and I were touring some houses with our realtor. Pinning up my hair and heat-styling my bangs made my somewhat casual outfit—gray cashmere sweater, wide leg jeans, black suede flats—suddenly give the impression of a Real Adult who could afford a House. I wouldn’t say that hair is an accessory necessarily, but it is an integral part of one’s appearance and plays a large part in one’s outfits.4
It sounds silly, but a bad hairstyle can be a distraction from a good outfit, and it can communicate things that we don’t intend to communicate, like “This gathering doesn’t matter enough for me to fix my hair” or “my mother doesn’t care enough about me to dry my hair before we leave the house.” On the flip side, a little heat styling or even just some combing and a nice pin can communicate effort and thoughtfulness.5
I know that hairstyling can sometimes feel like vain adornment for Christian ladies, and perhaps it is vain if practiced without moderation, but it communicates care to those around us; it cultivates our sensitivity to beauty; it completes the effort we put into our clothes and relationships.
Candlemas is a turning point in the year6—the ice is melting and the temperatures are slowly creeping up. Throughout December and January, it becomes so easy to let hairstyling fall to the side because we know it will be covered or mussed by hats and scarves anyway. If you, like me, have taken on that mindset, Candlemas would be the perfect time to renew your hairstyling efforts. Perhaps you find one easy, becoming style and wear it every day. Perhaps you make a commitment to always dry your hair before leaving the house (my mother recommends this one). Start small, explore what works for your hair and life, and stick to it because it does matter.
Has anyone else been keeping an eye on Paris couture week? Did you also go through the “I don’t fix my hair” phase? I would love to hear your thoughts below.
We have several wonderful saints to celebrate this week following the Feast of the Purification on Sunday—I really recommend reading about their lives and meditating on the ways each one reflected Christ, the light of the world, and conformed their lives entirely to Him.
Liturgical Week
⚪🔴⚪🔴⚪⚪⚪
Sunday 2/2 - Purification of the Blessed Virgin ⚪
Monday 2/3 - St. Blaise 🔴
Tuesday 2/4 - St. Andrew Corsini ⚪
Wednesday 2/5 - St. Agatha 🔴
Thursday 2/6 - St. Titus⚪
Friday 2/7 - St. Romauld ⚪
Saturday 2/8 - St. John of Matha [New Calendar: St. Josephine Bakhita]⚪
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God bless you <3
Luke 2:22-35.
“A Light to reveal You to the Gentiles and the glory of Your people Israel”
Your priest may or may not conform to this. The use of the purple cope for the blessing of candles was written out by 1962. As far as I can tell, some priests have re-adopted this custom but many others have not, instead performing the blessing in the same white used for the Mass. Because I find the purple vestments interesting, and because this is my substack, I’m gonna write as if we’re assuming all priests have re-adopted it.
This applies to men as well including facial hair! A little beard balm and trimming the mustache can go a long way.
I highly recommend this chrism-scented beard balm, it makes my fiance smell like a freshly baptized baby and it tames his beard really well.
Yes, Candlemas is the original Groundhog’s Day. Old lore says that the weather on Candlemas predicts whether winter will continue or there will be an early spring.
I wholeheartedly agree with what you’ve said here about hair making a difference. And I will add that what your mom felt about your hair reflecting poorly on her can be true of our husbands, too! If I go out with my hair looking like a mess, stained clothes, etc., I’m effectively expressing to the world that I am not being taken care of by my husband. Most good husbands want to take care of their wives, and mine in particular wants me and our children to look our best. He makes sure I have the time to shower and wash and heat style my hair and it makes us both happy!
Love couture week!! thanks for sharing these images! Although in the last two years I’ve switched over to the Olsen, natural hair train and it’s been the best change ever so I might have to disagree with you on that part haha!