or sin in style: Fashion statements by the deadly vices in Spanish baroque Autos sacramentales Dressed to the sevens

Stage directions conserved with the manuscripts of seventeenth-century Spanish liturgical dramas offer fascinating insights into the clothing that was scripted to be worn by actors and actresses playing the parts of the Seven Deadly Sins onstage. Autos sacramentales were public spectacles performed in and around religious festivals. The costumes worn by the Vices both illustrate and problematize certain racial and social tensions and stereotypes operating within Spanish society of this time period. The theme of dressing, specifically discussed by the playwrights in the context of the Vices, also raises questions about identity, essence, mutability, performativity, and the Pauline injunction to "clothe oneself " with righteousness.

Dressed to the sevens, or sin in style: Fashion statements by the deadly vices in Spanish baroque Autos sacramentales Academic Article