God was the first fashion designer. It’s odd, then, that the pictures in the children’s Sunday school consistently show Adam and Eve wearing outfits apparently borrowed from Fred Flintstone.

Children and adults alike perceive their first parents’ wardrobe as ugly: a ragged-edged deerskin awkwardly tied around one shoulder. It’s as if the God who had just finished clothing the first lilies of the field were unimaginative and clumsy with a needle and thread.

Christians rightly recognize that the need for clothing is rooted in sin. Adam and Eve took, ate, saw their own nakedness, and started to sew. With this in mind, Puritan writer Henry Scudder, in The Christian’s Daily Walk, even says: “When you arise and dress yourself … think upon the cause why you have need of apparel; namely, the fall and sin of your first parents … what man in his senses would be proud of the badge of his shame?”

Given clothing’s sinful beginnings, and the deceitfulness of sinful hearts, much of Christian writing and thinking about fashion has focused on modesty and humility. Modesty is important (see I Timothy 2:9-10,) and Christians do need warnings against idolizing their own appearance. But clothing is also joyful evidence of God’s grace.

In the Scriptures, God’s people are clothed as a sign of favor and provision. Clothing is a lavish gift: Abraham’s servant gives Rebekah jewelry and clothing; the boy Joseph, beloved son of Jacob, receives a garment of many colors; the adult Joseph gives each of his brothers clothing and, to Benjamin, five sets of clothing. Clothing is also God’s provision for need: the clothes and shoes of the wandering Israelites did not wear out for 40 years, and the faithful love of Hannah provided the boy Samuel with one new outfit each year.

Christians can give thanks for their running shoes, mittens, sunglasses, and raincoats. Fashion that protects the body is a good gift from the Lord.

God did not leave Adam and Eve blushing and naked in the bushes, fending for themselves with fig leaves. He drew near and clothed them with better things. (In his commentary on Genesis, Bruce K. Waltke calls this “an image of God’s tender care for the couple.”) The Flintstone outfits in the Sunday school room do God a dishonor. Clothing tailored by the hand of God Himself was the most perfect clothing anyone has ever worn.

So, is there a theology of redeemed fashion? How should Christians get dressed?

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