Catholic 'fashion' items to be displayed in New York

The Vatican will lend around 40 ecclesiastical works to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for an exhibition focusing on the Catholic religion's impact on fashion, organisers said on Monday.

Items such as papal rings and crowns worn by various popes from the 18th and 19th centuries will go on display, including precious treasures from the famous Sistine Chapel "never seen outside of the Vatican," organisers said.

The exhibition "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination" will feature items spanning a period of more than 15 papacies.

Andrew Bolton, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, said fashion and religion have always inspired and influenced each other.

Designer Donatella Versace and Vogue's Anna Wintour were among those to attend a presentation of the exhibition on Monday in Rome, as well as Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the Vatican's culture minister.

The exhibition at the Met is due to open to the public from May 10 until October 8.