Vatican fashion: Rome’s tailors abuzz over prospect of new pope | Religion News

Rome, Italy – For the princes of the Catholic Church, as cardinals are referred to, the conclave is not just about electing a pope. It is also about restocking wardrobes. In recent days, many have swung by central Rome’s famed tailors before the conclave to browse and buy refined clerical vestments that are hard to find elsewhere.

The Gammarelli family – whose artisans have been stitching vestments for popes for the past 100 years and garments for priests, bishops and cardinals since…