I don’t usually pay much attention to the Paris fall clothing collection. Those fashions we see on the runway don’t trickle down to our Southern ladies very often. Not everyone can pay $1,000 for a dress or fit into a size 2. The fashions don’t usually cover enough of the body to be worn by our more conservative Southern women, either. Well, Paris has at least done an about-face with the risque clothing. The pendulum has swung back to a more conservative style, but I’m afraid it’s swung too far.

Not only were the bellies, arms and legs covered in this year’s preview of the fall line, but several of the models had their faces covered too. I suppose this is good news for ugly model wannabe’s with good figures and a sassy walk.

While modesty may be viewed as a virtue and with respect to those women who cover for religious reasons, I cannot understand why anyone would want to completely cover up God’s most beautiful creation as a fashion statement.

There is one exception — a veiled bride. When a bride enters a church with her husband-to-be waiting for her at the altar, there’s a moment of anticipation and a moment of excitement that’s suspended by the bride’s wearing of the veil. It delays eye contact between the two lovers until the last possible moment.

Finally, when they are together and the veil is thrown back over the bride’s head, revealing a face of excitement, anticipation, and passion, a lasting memory is burned into the groom’s mind for an eternity.

I don’t have any proof, but I have a theory that the unveiling of the bride during the wedding ceremony by the groom goes way back to the days of Jacob, whose story is recorded in the Old Testament.

Jacob had to leave home after tricking his brother into giving away his inheritance and tricking their father into giving him the family blessing (the right to become the next leader of the family clan). Esau was angry enough to kill so Jacob left to live with his Uncle Laban. He fell in love with his cousin Rachel. (This reminds me of a Jeff Foxworthy joke. A redneck is someone who goes to a family reunion to pick up dates.)

Rachel was a beautiful woman, “lovely in form,” unlike her older sister Leah, who the Bible says “had weak eyes.” That’s a polite way of saying she was ugly. Jacob agreed to work for his uncle for seven years for the hand of Rachel in marriage. Seven years! She must have been a knockout!

At the end of seven years, the marriage takes place. Imagine the moment. The bride comes out to meet her husband-to-be. She’s covered from head to toe. He’s excited and eager in anticipation. He’s been waiting for this moment for seven years! The ceremony is over. Later they retire to the tent to do what married couples do. They consummate the marriage.

The Bible says, “When morning came, there was Leah!” (Gen. 29:25a) Leah? Leah the weak-eyed sister? Oh, but by morning she had a twinkle in her eye. I think I hear Gomer Pyle yelling, “Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!”

Jacob, the trickster, had been tricked himself by Laban, his father-in-law. When he asked Jacob, “What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?” Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. Finish this daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.” Gen 29:25b-27 (NIV)

I have no way to prove it. It’s just a wild guess. But I have a hunch that ever since that day, every man has lifted the veil of the bride during the wedding ceremony just to make sure he was getting the woman with whom he had fallen in love. You never know when there might be another Laban out there trying to pass off a weak-eyed daughter. I have heard, though, of a few people still trolling family reunions looking for dates but none of them were from Paris.



The Rev. Michael Helms is pastor of Trinity Baptist Church.