Introduction

Abstract

Abstract In Haitian Vodou, the gods care about how they look. This chapter argues that within the religious and social life of Vodou, fashion accentuates the importance of aesthetic trends to spiritual communal identity formation in the African Diaspora. The primary sites of this ethnographic research are the temples of a Haitian Vodou practitioner named Manbo Maude in Mattapan, Massachusetts and in Jacmel, Haiti. Manbo Maude, who is a mental health clinician and formally trained fashion designer, fashions outfits inspired by Vodou spirits to satisfy the material demands of deities while also creating unique spiritual practices that shape the experiences of other practitioners and observers in her temple. Drawing from an interdisciplinary methodology that includes history and transnational Black feminist ethnography grounded in Africana studies, religious studies, performance studies, and queer studies, this chapter introduces the innovative concept called spiritual vogue. Spiritual vogue is a dynamic, multisensorial experience that incorporates the presence of the spirits, movement, fashion, and touch in a religious context. It is a stylistic apparatus that showcases interactive processes between the participants, the spirits, and the audience.