From wearing a Chicago White Sox cap with his papal robes to landing on Vogue’s best dressed list, Pope Leo XIV has drawn global attention for his striking style during his first year as pontiff. 

Behind his look is an openly gay Italian designer who has been quietly shaping the Chicago-born Pope’s image.

Filippo Sorcinelli, who also dressed Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI, spoke to the Daily Mail to offer insight into Leo’s wardrobe.

Sorcinelli said he works with the Church to bring each outfit to life, adding that Leo’s look is not about trends or personal taste but about projecting authority and reinforcing the Church’s message.

‘Nothing seems oriented toward spectacle: each visual choice contributes to building a language of reliability, balance and quiet authority,’ he said.

In other words, the clothes are designed to look calm, controlled and authoritative rather than flashy.

‘In Leo XIV, one senses a style born of a choice for measure, a composed bearing that speaks first of all of an ordered interiority and of authority,’ he said.

He added that the look is deliberately understated.

Sorcinelli said papal clothing is not about fashion, but about communicating meaning through what he called a ‘silent theology.’

‘Fabrics, colors and forms become instruments of a silent theology,’ he said.

That means every detail is designed to support the Pope’s role, not draw attention away from it.

Leo has leaned into classic papal tailoring, bringing back details like cufflinks and structured vestments that emphasize form and precision.

At the same time, he has added subtle modern touches, including being spotted wearing an Apple Watch and even a Chicago White Sox baseball cap during a public appearance.

The designer revealed that his work does not involve direct collaboration with the Pope.

Instead, it goes through the Vatican’s Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, which ensures every garment follows tradition and liturgical rules.

Within that system, choices around color, fabric and symbols are guided by the Church’s calendar and theology rather than personal preference.

Sorcinelli said each Pope expresses a different identity through style.

‘Each pontiff, like every priest, is a universe of symbols. His body becomes a visible word that asks to be clothed in forms and colors capable of reflecting the mission he embodies,’ he said.

He said Pope Benedict XVI was rooted in tradition, while Pope Francis embraced simplicity.

‘Benedict XVI expressed a culture of roots, a refinement grounded in memory and tradition,’ he said.

‘Francis chose the strength of a surprising simplicity, almost a Gospel provocation,’ he added.

Leo XIV, he said, represents a balance between the two. ‘Leo XIV manifests a desire to bring everything back to the centrality of Christ, making that axis the sign of a single path uniting past and future,’ he said.

He described the shift as two different approaches to leadership.

‘Francis with gentleness that becomes revolution, Leo XIV with strength that becomes openness,’ he said. 

Sorcinelli said his path to designing for the Vatican began in childhood, when he helped his mother clean their local parish church.

‘Every act of care, every glance toward architecture, the organ, altarpieces, awakened in me the awareness that faith also lives in small attentions,’ he said.  

Working with those at the highest levels of the Catholic Church means that Sorcinelli has also drawn attention as an openly gay man in a traditional institution.

But he said he has never seen a conflict between his faith and his identity.

‘I have never seen faith and sexuality as a battle, but as a creative tension that fuels my work,’ he told the Daily Mail.

‘What does it mean to be openly gay? Perhaps it means embracing one’s story without fear and transforming it into creative language,’ he said.

Sorcinelli added that his experience within the Church has been one of acceptance.

‘My experience of the Church has always been one of welcome. No one has ever stopped me at the threshold of a church,’ he said. 

He insisted his work is not political, but rooted in tradition.

‘It is not protest, but fidelity,’ he said, adding that ‘Doctrine provides guidance, not exclusion.’  

He also argued that debates about identity should be separate from the Church’s spiritual role.

‘The issue of rights belongs to the State. The Church exists to guide souls toward salvation,’ he said. ‘The Church is not based on identity categories, but on baptism,’ he said.

Sorcinelli said the process itself is structured and consistent, with designs typically approved without major changes due to the strict framework guiding the work.

Ultimately, he said the garments are meant to reflect something bigger than the individual wearing them.

‘The sacred garment does not serve the body, but illuminates the soul of the community,’ he said.

The one-year anniversary since Leo stepped into the pontiff role, becoming the first American Pope, also approaches on May 8. 

In December Vogue named Leo among its 55 best dressed people of 2025 alongside stars such as Bad Bunny, Rihanna and Jennifer Lawrence. 

Vogue credited Leo with breaking from Pope Francis’ famously humble style while still embracing the tradition of sharply tailored papal vestments. 

The magazine pointed to his first appearance as Pope as his ‘best outfit of 2025,’ highlighting his red satin mozzetta cape and wine-red, gold-embroidered stole worn with a cross pendant on a gold silk cord.