Mitre and tattoos Pope Francis' gay tailor

He lolls around topless on his Instagram account. In his studio, he designs robes for Pope Francis and dresses cardinals and priests. Filippo Sorcinelli is the name of this unusual fashion designer.

Fashion designer Filippo Sorcinelli plays with erotic and religious motifs in his work. On Instagram, the 49-year-old Italian is often seen topless.

At first glance, the designer and artist doesn't look like someone who makes liturgical vestments and accessories for church dignitaries, but more like a hipster or rapper.

Yet Pope Francis wears Sorcinelli's robes and Benedict XVI did before him. Does this extravagant artistry fit in with the strict rules of the Catholic Church?

Sorcinelli: "I don't have direct contact with the Pope"

"Yes," says Filippo Sorcinelli in his store in Rome between vestments and with church music playing in the background. Being religious in this job is "fundamentally important for this work".

At the same time, however, he also needs to be able to live out his artistic freedom in order to be creative.

There have already been examples of this symbiosis of art and religion in the past. Sorcinelli mentions the baroque artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, for example, who found a balance between the rules of the church and creativity.

According to the fashion designer, certain rules are in the nature of things. "This is part of the liturgy. The liturgy is made up of rules and these must rightly be observed. But none of this restricts the creativity of the artist." It is precisely this interplay, these supposed opposites, that make up his work.

Because he lives his homosexuality openly, Filippo Sorcinelli is hated and loved at the same time. He came to his craft by chance. "I don't have any direct contact with the Pope," Sorcinelli reveals in an interview with the Tages-Anzeiger magazine.

He has to submit his ideas and the vestments to a commission in the Pope's Office for Liturgical Celebrations. The Pope's team provides him with the measurements, after which a vestment goes back and forth several times.

"The process is a little cumbersome, but not an obstacle, because vestments are airy," says Sorcinelli.

From organist to fashion designer

In 2001, Filippo Sorcinelli founded the label LAVS (Latin for praise) for the production of sacred vestments and accessories for the Catholic liturgy.

The designer not only sells all kinds of chasubles. The famous mitre - a head covering - badges, veils and bags as well as embroidered gospels - liturgical books - can also be purchased in the stores in Rome, Mondolfo and Santarcangelo di Romagna near Rimini, where his studio is located.

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Sorcinelli came to Rome at a young age to study organ at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music. A friend then asked him to create the vestments for his ordination to the priesthood. Other church people and ultimately the Vatican took notice of him.

In 2008, he made his first vestment for Pope Benedict

Since making vestments for an Italian bishop, who is now a cardinal, he has been hired by the Vatican at irregular intervals.

In 2008, he made his first vestment for Pope Benedict. In 2013, he designed the clothes worn by Pope Francis at his inaugural mass. In total, he tailored a dozen vestments for each of the two popes.

Sorcinelli's store in Rome is located close to his most famous customer. In the Borgo district in a side street of the famous Via della Conciliazione, which leads to St. Peter's Square, he almost overlooks the Apostolic Palace.

In the store, the colorful vestments embroidered with symbols immediately catch the eye. Between crucifixes and pictures of Jesus stands Sorcinelli, whose appearance - bald head, beard, black clothes, tattoos - you wouldn't expect to see here.

He is not the only designer to dress the Pope

Filippo Sorcinelli is modest despite having the pontiff as a client. The fact that he is referred to in the media as the Pope's tailor or designer naturally makes him proud.

But it is important to him to emphasize that he also outfits other church people. And he is not the only designer to dress the Pope. But he is probably the most conspicuous.

On social networks, the 49-year-old often appears half-naked and lolling on the sofa or in bed. The fashion designer doesn't understand why such photos and his appearance in general should be a contradiction for many people.

"It's not scandalous. I'm a free and normal person." There are many tattooed priests, for example. He has never received any negative reactions from the Vatican.

In 2013, however, an anonymous letter was sent to the media, Sorcinelli reveals in the Tages-Anzeiger magazine. "I was outed - presumably by a competitor who wanted to get me out of the way. He achieved the opposite: after a break, I resumed my work."

Incense fragrance as a box office hit

Filippo Sorcinelli has also been creating perfume for several years. He calls it "scent tailoring". The bestseller is the incense line.

Initially intended as a recognition feature, the demand among his customers for a fragrance was high, as he explains in his perfume store next door.

Sorcinelli used to spray his clothes with the incense fragrance before selling and shipping them. He now has eight collections. His fragrances are called "Haec Dies" (Latin for "This Day") or "Tu es Petrus" ("You are Peter").

Part of the job of a papal tailor is to dress popes for their final journey. After the death of Benedict XVI, his body was laid out in public in St. Peter's Basilica.

Filippo Sorcinelli made the white mitre with gold trim that Joseph Ratzinger wore when he was laid out. The tailor went to great lengths - according to him, a pope remains closely associated with the vestments in the memory of the faithful.

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