U.K. Bible Society launches fashion competition inspired by scripture
The Bible Society launched recently a fashion competition that will interactively help teenagers to have an experience of the Bible.
The competition involves five costumes that were designed by students from the London College of Fashion, which they felt portrayed the personalities of five biblical characters—Jacob, Rahab, Eve, Joseph and Jesus, Christian Today said.
Students in the U.K. have been challenged to design a costume that depicts who they are. The winning piece will be displayed on a sixth hanger—the Empty Hanger, alongside the costumes of the five other biblical characters, Christian Today reported.
The competition has been opened to young people from schools throughout the U.K., according to Christian Today.
The five costumes by the London College of Fashion were designed by students with input from the school’s chaplain, Rev. Joanna Jepson. She told Christian Today, “The five characters are part of stories that convey profound struggles of heroes and anti-heroes which will connect with the children.”
Chris Blockley, chaplain of Bishops College School in Gloucester inspired the project when he asked the London College of Fashion to help him tell stories from the Gospels through different media in lessons at the school, Christian Today said.
Empty Hanger makes use of clothing as a medium and can interact with a range of subjects in different ways. Luke Walton, culture program manager of Bible Society said, “Empty Hanger will help young people to consider issues of environmental sustainability, deceit, self-deception, fame, ambition and being an outsider,” Christian Today reported.
The Bible Society is also urging schools to use the five costumes and incorporate them into a range of subjects including PSHE, art and design, design technology and RE, according to Christian Today.
The Bible Society has also called on local churches to sponsor the scheme for their community secondary school, according to Christian Today.
To advance the program, the Bible Society produced a video with accompanying lesson plans and a range of details about each of the five fashion designs. Under the program, students can be asked to design their own outfits to fill the Empty Hanger, Christian Today reported.
Another option would be to ask design technology classes to create a clothes rack that they feel is symbolic of their school or community, inspired by the five costumes. Either Rev. Joanna Jepson or a representative can also be invited to visit the schools with the costumes to be used to inspire an interactive event, Christian Today said.
According to Walton, Empty Hanger is one way to make the Bible more experiential to a generation that by and large does not read it. Walton said, “The stories in the Bible are like a soap opera for all eternity. They tell us about ourselves and we can learn about how to live life today through them,” Christian Today reported.