Castelbajac for Notre Dame:

Jean-Charles de Castelbajac has designed the vestments and liturgical ornaments for the reopening ceremony of Notre-Dame de Paris on December 7 and 8. The French designer has created a unique set of liturgical pieces to enrich Notre Dame Cathedral reopening next month. The vestments were made using the expertise of the 19M Maisons d'art Lesage, Goossens, Paloma, Atelier Montex and Maison Michel.

Paris 2024. Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, is an avant-garde fashion designer and artist, has antici- pated the foundations of modern creation, which is to be at the intersection of art, fashion and collaborations. His multidisciplinary work spans art, fashion, and design, characterised by a limited colour palette of blue, yellow, and red. One of his most notable works was dressing Pope John Paul II, bishops, and priests for World Youth Day in 1997.

Passionate about heraldry, vexillology, semiotics, pop art, and the world of childhood, his art and fashion merge these dualities: epic, history, tradition, and alternative. He has collaborated with many artists including Keith Haring, Lady Gaga, Robert Mapplethorpe, Pedro Winter, and Pharrell Williams. He began his career alongside his mother, creating the company Ko & Co. His first statement piece was a coat made from his boarding school blanket and garments made from mops, thus launching the concept of upcycling.

In 2024, he was appointed by the Diocese of Paris to design the liturgical garments and ornaments for the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris in December 2024.

About the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris

An architectural masterpiece built over 860 years ago at the initiative of Bishop Mau- rice de Sully (1163), Notre-Dame Cathedral is a place of faith, built to the glory of God to welcome congregations from the world over, but also a national heritage site and a jewel of Gothic art. Since the fire on 15th April 2019, thanks to the mobilisation of eve- ryone, the support of 340,000 donors from 150 countries, and the work of the Établis- sement public de reconstruction, more than 2,500 artisans have worked tirelessly to enable Notre-Dame to reopen on 8th December 2024. The reopening programme will continue throughout 2025. Closely linked to the history of France and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Notre-Dame is one of the most visited monuments in the world.

Embroidery by Lesage

In 1997, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac asked François Lesage - the son of the founders of this house established in 1924 - to embroider John Paul II’s chasuble as part of World Youth Day in Paris. To celebrate the reopening of Notre-Dame, more than twenty-five years later, the designer has once again teamed up with the historic embroidery House, which also specialises in textile design, the weaving of exclu- sive tweeds and upholstery embroidery.

Fashion meets faith in this incredible creations by Castelbajac.

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