Written by Lisa Geisler. You may re-print all or in part only with permission
Part I
A Brief Essay on ‘Plain Dress’
Religion does not consist in bodily conformity, or
plainness of apparel, but is in and from the heart, and not in the outward
clothing, yet true religion leads into simplicity in all outward things. ~
Joseph Pike, Dress and Worldly Compliance Addressed, originally published in
1726
A few common thoughts regarding Plain
Dress
Why is it practiced among
religious groups?
Unity, humility, modesty and the avoidance of pride
and individualism (as in displaying one’s wealth through clothing) is the
central theme of plain dressing. Plain clothing is one of several reminders of
the brotherhood bond a religious community has one to another.
Benefits of Plain Dressing?
Plain dress (if
made properly), does not draw attention to the body so much, so then people can
focus on your face and God’s Spirit and joy coming from inside. Reflects the
inward quietness of a person’s spirit which does not naturally tend towards
outward adornment.
Plain Dress can act to some extent as a protection against
the world and its ways. Such dress can act as a reminder to the wearer of the
pure and chaste life to which we are called. In the sex-oriented world we live
in, a woman’s plainness can be a hedge against such bald and banal behavior.
Plainness serves as a warning sign and a declaration of modesty before the
world.
Simplicity. For me and many others,
a side effect of plain dress. I would much rather be doing something
constructive, such as working or learning in some capacity, than roaming a store
looking for a particular garment, in a certain style or color. There is not the
‘What should I wear’ dilemma daily, other than what certain dress should be
worn.
It is a waste of time and
money for which Christian women can hardly fail to find better employment, to
condescend to be perpetually changing the fashion of one's garments in obedience
to the caprice or the restlessness of the multitude.
~Caroline Stephen,
Quaker, Printed in 1907
Do I present myself as 'Holier Than
Thou?
Quite the opposite, actually.
Plain dress acts as a humiliation to our own pride: The world tells us “look out
for number one, be a leader, be a self-promoter, blow thy own trumpet, stand out
in the crowd, it’s all about you!” Thus the various styles of clothing found
today. My own experience in being called to plainness is that it proved a
humbling down, a firm lesson in humility. I seem to require plain dress because
I may think of myself as too self-important, perhaps too intellectual, at times
a bit too independent. Plain dress inhibits in me many traits that are quite
unbecoming in God’s eyes, that I need to work on daily.
If there is one
useful thing I have learnt (the hard way), it is the uselessness of just putting
oneself into a ‘plain regime’. This rapidly becomes a self-willed world of empty
works. The authentic plain life is not so much an emptying out of worldliness,
but on the contrary, a filling up with Christ’s Spirit which in turn gives us
something so enriching and beautiful that the things of the world, the colorful
adornments and affectations of the wealthy, pale in comparison. ~Simon Watson,
Quaker
An Often Heard
Argument Against Plain Dress…Is it Legalism?
If plain dress leads us to pharisaic pride, so that
we pray: “God, thank you I am not like other men – robbers, evildoers,
adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a
tenth of all I get,” we should in no way be wearing it. We must always remember
that we, like all people, are poor, broken, helpless, lost people without Christ
Jesus. If inwardly we are not on our knees praying “Lord, have mercy on me, a
poor sinner” (Luke 18:9-14), we should put aside our plain dress until we pray
about the matter and humble ourselves before the Lord.
"Do not stupidly and senselessly call holiness legalism - a silly, meaningless word. Be not afraid of being under the law of God. Rather, fear being under 'the law of sin' Romans 7:23. Love the strictest preaching best. That which most searches the heart, and shows you wherein you are unlike Christ. That which presses you most to love Him with all your heart, and serve Him with all your strength".
~A writing by John Wesley, A Blow at the Root.
Heb. 12:10..."Follow.....holiness, without which no man
shall see the Lord."
Jonathan Edwards said... "Holiness is universal agreement
with the will of God in behavior and attitudes."
A thought… Does God look on the outside? In Isaiah 3:
16-26 He names 21 ornaments of pride.
A Brief Time-Line
of Plain Dress
1693, a
conservative Swiss, Jacob Amman, preached an even more austere brand of
Anabaptism, urging beards for married men, plain dress for both sexes, and
shunning from the community for those not adhering to the rules. Amman's
preaching split the Anabaptist community, and those that followed him became
known as Amish. Eventually both the Mennonites and Amish were driven from Europe
for their beliefs, particularly for their resistance to military service.
1693 - Simple Dress ...Pennsylvania had no official
dress code, but in 1693 William Penn instructed the colonists on clothes by writing,
“The more simple and plain they are, the better. Neither unshapely, nor
fantastical, and for use and decency and not for pride.” Fashionable items that
the Quakers rejected included cocked hats, twisted neck cloths, useless holes,
buttons, and pockets, wide cuffs, excess lace, large buckles, colored linings,
broad hems, and wide skirts.
1726- Original publication date of
"Dress and Worldly Compliance Addressed", by Joseph Pike, Quaker. Read the booklet
here. It appears that the early
Quakers, known for their simplicity of attire, were wandering a bit from their
simplicity in several areas of
living.
Charles Finney (August
1792-August 1875)
Charles Finney
Confesses!
The question now regards fashion, in dress,
equipage, and so on. And here I will confess that I was formerly myself in
error. I believed, and I taught, that the best way for Christians to pursue, was
to dress so as not to be noticed, to follow the fashions and changes so as not
to appear singular, and that nobody would be led to think of their being
different from others in these particulars. But I have seen, my error, and now
wonder greatly at my former blindness. It is your duty to dress so plain as to
show to the world, that you place no sort of reliance in the things of fashion,
and set no value at all on them, but despise and neglect them altogether. But
unless you are singular, unless you separate yourselves from the fashions of the
world, you show that you do value them. There is no way in which you can bear a
proper testimony by your lives against the fashions of the world, but by
dressing plain.
Charles G. Finney’s Lectures to Professing
Christians, p. 146. was a Presbyterian and Congregationalist figure in the
second Great Awakening. He is also known for his use of ‘extemporaneous
preaching’.
1800’s - In the early
1800’s, ready-made clothing became cheap and easily available. Plain people saw
danger in letting the whims of worldly fashion dictate what they as Christians
should wear. They continued to observe the time-honored simple dress which had
become a symbol of humility. After the period of persecution and sumptuary laws
that plain clothing began to develop into its present form. ~Stephen Scott, Why
Do They Dress That Way?, published in 1986.
1880’s - Revival of plain
dress among Mennonites started and it has been said by scholars to have been an
effort to provide a means of separation from the world which the German language
had provided before this time.
1920’s - Revealing fashions were
introduced which even mainline Protestants and civil magistrates tried to
dispel. Most sociologists agree that this disintegrating of traditional
standards of decency was brought about by WWI and the impact it had on
society.
As late as 1920 the police in Sarasota, FL took
some women off the street because they were wearing no stockings. ~ "Personal
Appearance in Light of God’s Word", by Lloyd Hartzler.
Onward - Due to the 'casualness' of society, perhaps culminating in the turmoil of the 1960's, plain dress is becoming
less and less.
What other religious groups have and/or still dress
plain? Many. Amish, Mennonites, Conservative/Plain Quakers, Shakers, Holiness
Movement (came out of 19th century Methodism), Pentecostal Movements, Old German
Baptist Brethren and other Old Order Brethren Groups such as the River Brethren,
Russian Old Believers, Molokans, and Doukhobors, and esp. Catholic Orders, inc. Priests and Nuns and
Old Order Jewish Traditions, such as the Hasidic Jews.
I would like to highlight a dear Sister in the Lord whose countenance displays the Proverbs 31 woman...Verse 30 - Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: the woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
