Fridays with Benedict: Chapter 55, On Clothing

Chapter 55 of The Rule of St. Benedict has to do with the clothing provided the monks.

Of interest is that the monks aren't to complain about the colors or material of the clothing. Attention is given, rather, to the appropriateness of the clothing for the climate ("the clothing distributed to the brothers should vary according to local conditions and climate") and the fit ("the abbot ought to be concerned about the measurements of these garments that they not be too short but fitted to the wearers").

Beyond these considerations Benedict also instructs about the accumulation of clothing:

⁹Whenever new clothing is received, the old should be returned at once and stored in a wardrobe for the poor. ¹⁰To provide for laundering and night wear, every monk will need two cowls and two tunics, ¹¹but anything more must be taken away as superfluous.

Basically, it's a wear one/wash one rule.

All told, then, a monastic approach to clothing seems to be a focus on functionality over aesthetics and to not accumulate clothing past the circulation of regular laundering.