One of the more ambitious and creative projects that I have seen in recent years is a project pursued by the vestment atelier Sacra Domus Aurea who are based in Italy. We have featured this atelier before of course, but what is of particular interest in this instance is one of their recent pursuits in the area of bespoke silks -- silk designs that are historical reproductions commissioned by that atelier for their exclusive use. They are, of course, not the only maker who produce such bespoke silks, but it is the particular nature of one such project that especially caught my attention and I think it is one which will catch our readers attention as well.
The project in question falls under the umbrella of what Sacra Domus Aurea tend to call their "Guadalupe" sets. Now, one might be tempted to believe that the reason they are so named is simply because of the embroidery of Our Lady of Guadalupe that can often be found on these sets. While that is, at least in part, true of course, the reality there is something much bigger going on here.
If you look away from the beautiful blues, golds and the beautiful embroideries and fix your attention on the cream silk that surrounds it, you will notice something: a very interesting floral pattern.
The pattern found on this cream silk textile is in fact directly based on the design found on the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe itself -- specifically her dress or tunic. In this regard then, these particular vestments tie back to Our Lady of Guadalupe in a very deep and profound way well beyond the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe herself.
While the atelier produces many variants using this design, one of the most impressive is this particular set which includes not only the Guadalupe fabric, but also the stars set on blue and a refined, embroidered image of Our Lady of Guadalupe herself:
The set shown above is their Guadalupe No. 1 or Guadalupe Solemn Set, but if you'd like to see a few more examples of these designs coming in different forms, here are a few more iterations taken from their website: Guadalupe No. 3 and Guadalupe Neri.
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