For decades, the Catholic conversation on dress has decried the loss of modesty in today's fashions. And there's no doubt this is a huge problem.

However, immodesty is just one symptom of the ravaging disease that has made our world a sartorial wasteland. This disease is a hatred of beauty and a glorification of ugliness. It comes in many subtle forms, but its rotten fruits are all around us. The ugliness of our clothing has a devastating effect on our souls. It is time for Catholics to demand something better.

In Clothed with Beauty: A Catholic Philosophy of Dress—the latest release from Os Justi Press—Anna Kalinowska draws on Church teachings, the Catholic philosophical tradition, and fundamental principles of art to diagnose insidious and far-reaching problems with today's fashions. Written for anyone interested in cultivating beauty in everyday life, this book provides concrete artistic instruction along with answers to such perplexing questions as:

• What exactly does it take for clothing to be beautiful?

• Why are many of today's modest options actually so unattractive?

• Can clothing be both modest and beautiful?

• Is the quest for beautiful clothing a kind of vanity or waste of time?

• How do we begin a restoration of the art of dress?

In addition, Kalinowska assesses treatments of this topic by such authors as Przybyszewski, Goldstein, von Hildebrand, Noonan, Boudreau, Hammond, Caruso, Sokolowski, Fallon, et al. She shows why the more recent writing on women's fashion tends to be very inadequate.

Every reader—young or old, man or woman—stands to gain from engaging with this wonderful, thought-provoking, and (I would say) life-changing work.

Available in hardcover and paperback from the publisher (link below), where you can also "look inside.”