Okay ladies, your turn!

When it just doesn't fit anywhere else.
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steve-in-kville
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Okay ladies, your turn!

Post by steve-in-kville »

(anyone is welcome to join this thread, though!)

My wife and I got into this conversation quite a bit as of late, possibly because we have teenage daughters and some of the fashions I see creeping into the plain churches. Maybe its because we are "shopping around" for another congregation and we've been exposed to different clothing styles, etc. But I pose a question:

Is the cape dress outdated?

Some random discussion points: Do we have better options available? What about jumpers? Is one more modest than the next? Can the cape dress be made to be immodest? What about women wearing culottes? What's the point of wearing a cape dress and then wearing a tight sweater on top?

Discuss.... but please keep it civil.
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Valerie
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Re: Okay ladies, your turn!

Post by Valerie »

Because we frequent Holmes County- where we see every single (probably) Anabaptist sect there is, we see myriads of Anabaptist styles from Anabaptist Church to Church-
We were seekers quite awhile trying to reconcile all this ourselves-

Cape dress 'out of style'? Well it is 'distinctive' for Anabaptists- who don't concern themselves with 'style' but purpose it seems.
The purpose of the cape dress from what I can tell (by observation) is to provide an extra 'layer' to hide form.

If you are going to a more liberal church and trying to teach your daughters- the main thing is to, as a husband and father, teach why your daughters (and wife for that matter) would be kind to dress in a way that does not reveal their feminine 'form' bodily- (tight clothing). I have witnessed young Amish girls who are quite pretty, and wear a type of cape dress but they are so tight on them you can see their underwear lines. While being pretty and feminite and long, they still will reveal a nice figure which could be difficul for young men (or older men!) to keep their eyes & thoughts off of being attracted.

Jumpers were quite popular among the Charity Churches & their affiliations- they are not the least bit 'revealing' and I have witnessed some that are kinda cute- some could make one look kind of frumpy- try that on your daughters and you will be met with much resistance.

If there is freedom in these churches to chose, really staying away from form fitting is (to me) essential.
The rule of thumb in our old church was nothing 'too low, too short, or too tight' although they didn't make that a rule.

My husband happens to feel like the Anabaptist conservative women look quite lovesly in their cape dresses-

There is a big difference between looking attractive and seductive-

There was a really great booklet put out by a Husband/Father with guidelines, I sure wish I had a copy to share with you!
It explained all of this in dept with Godly wisdom.

I have or had a friend who came from Old Order Amish, then family went Mennonite- she went to a Christian High School but had to wear the distinctive Mennonite type of little see thru cap- she explained how embarassed she was wearing it in school- she since ended up leaving Mennonite and became what she called "Full Gospel" . When I began covering 7 years ago, she distanced herself (I think she just didn't want to return there).

Prayerfully consider all of this, do you home school?
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Re: Okay ladies, your turn!

Post by Hats Off »

Yes, the cape dress can be made immodest! IMO fancy dresses on plain people is an oxymoron. Most people wearing plain dresses are good seamstresses and can modify patterns to be tighter or more form fitting or revealing. Sleeves and necklines can be modified to be "fancier." Skirts can be made so long and tight that side slits are necessary. Materials can be sheer and of a colour that is more revealing. We have a niece who wears jumpers as do her daughters and they are certainly more plainly dressed than many women and girls that wear cape dresses. (I am not a female.)
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steve-in-kville
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Re: Okay ladies, your turn!

Post by steve-in-kville »

Valerie wrote: Prayerfully consider all of this, do you home school?
No, we don't.
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Bootstrap
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Re: Okay ladies, your turn!

Post by Bootstrap »

Any women in plain Mennonite / Anabaptist congregations want to weigh in? With a subject line like "Okay ladies, your turn!", it would be nice to hear from at least one ;->
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Re: Okay ladies, your turn!

Post by ken_sylvania »

Bootstrap wrote:Any women in plain Mennonite / Anabaptist congregations want to weigh in? With a subject line like "Okay ladies, your turn!", it would be nice to hear from at least one ;->
Weigh in? Don't get your hopes up too high. Ladies in general tend to be somewhat sensitive about their weight, and AFAIK plain Mennonite women are no exception.
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Re: Okay ladies, your turn!

Post by Valerie »

Bootstrap wrote:Any women in plain Mennonite / Anabaptist congregations want to weigh in? With a subject line like "Okay ladies, your turn!", it would be nice to hear from at least one ;->
Give them time! They may not sit and watch MN like most of us as they probably have more benficial things to do!
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Bootstrap
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Re: Okay ladies, your turn!

Post by Bootstrap »

Valerie wrote:
Bootstrap wrote:Any women in plain Mennonite / Anabaptist congregations want to weigh in? With a subject line like "Okay ladies, your turn!", it would be nice to hear from at least one ;->
Give them time! They may not sit and watch MN like most of us as they probably have more benficial things to do!
We might have to give them some space. If they know that everyone else will dominate the conversation, they tend not to offer their opinions. That's a problem with most questions involving the views of plain Mennonite women on a forum like this.
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Valerie
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Re: Okay ladies, your turn!

Post by Valerie »

Bootstrap wrote:
Valerie wrote:
Bootstrap wrote:Any women in plain Mennonite / Anabaptist congregations want to weigh in? With a subject line like "Okay ladies, your turn!", it would be nice to hear from at least one ;->
Give them time! They may not sit and watch MN like most of us as they probably have more benficial things to do!
We might have to give them some space. If they know that everyone else will dominate the conversation, they tend not to offer their opinions. That's a problem with most questions involving the views of plain Mennonite women on a forum like this.
If it would help, maybe the moderaters can remove my post and anyone else that isn't an Anabaptist female- I only offered my opinions because he asked for ladies not necessarily Anabaptist ladies and we see such a broad array of Anabaptist dress where we live- that it can help I think give an opinion on what's immodest, or possibly outdated- (especially for a teenanger who isn't in a church where all girls of all ages where a type of cape dresses- girls do not like sticking out like sore thumbs, unless there are enough other girls their own age that dress the same way- so in this case it would probably make them feel resentful to be made to feel odd. Where we live, that doesn't happen really because there are SO many ANabaptists around that although they stand out from the norm, they have a lot of company of fellow sisters that dress the same or similar.

ANyways if it would help please remove my posts-

I notice the Catholic Children still wear conservative uniforms- was glad to see that girls still wear dresses!

In the past, the ladies were not shy about contributing to these threads- and they usually articulate their thoughts very well- that being said, if you go to a church that regulates your dress, it may be more difficult to give your honest feelings on it knowing others in your fellowship may be reading this? I don't know-
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Re: Okay ladies, your turn!

Post by Sudsy »

steve-in-kville wrote:(anyone is welcome to join this thread, though!)

My wife and I got into this conversation quite a bit as of late, possibly because we have teenage daughters and some of the fashions I see creeping into the plain churches. Maybe its because we are "shopping around" for another congregation and we've been exposed to different clothing styles, etc. But I pose a question:

Is the cape dress outdated?

Some random discussion points: Do we have better options available? What about jumpers? Is one more modest than the next? Can the cape dress be made to be immodest? What about women wearing culottes? What's the point of wearing a cape dress and then wearing a tight sweater on top?

Discuss.... but please keep it civil.
OK but this is how I sees it. I would say the cape dress is unnecessary. Imo, what a cape dress does is defines a certain group of Christians separate from other Christians and many of these other Christians do women wear modest modern style clothing. Imo, there is no such thing as not being able to dress modestly outside of a cape dress. I don't see scripture supporting a 'uniform' to identify us separate from the world. Good deeds, yes, not a uniform.

Many women I see at various churches I have attended do not dress to draw attention to themselves sexually. And Christian men need better control of their thoughts if they are so easily drawn to lust after a woman if she shows certain curves God made to her body. And speaking of curves, too many of the cape dresses I see in our city are not covering attractive curves of a woman's body but rather unattractive curves from obese bodies. I guess if we want to take away any responsibility of a man to control his thinking the burqa would be the most non-revealing dress. How far must modesty go and men take responsibility for their thoughts ? One of the fruit of the Spirit descriptions is self-control. Maybe men need more teaching in this area. Come on women do I hear an 'AMEN'. :lol:

OK, with that said, do we need teaching today in some of our Anabaptist churches regarding modesty ? For sure, including the church I attend. Some dress like 'I dare you to not think how sexy I am' . One of the reasons I left a Pentecostal church was that they had gone from modest dress when I was younger to dressing revealing areas that do attract sexual attention. Not all the women but it seemed no one was going to speak up and guide some younger women. I had to try to find a seat where I could focus on worship and sometimes this immodesty got on the platform. 'In your face immodesty'. It is one thing to control your thoughts out in public but when you are focusing on God distractions of all kinds need to be removed, imo.

In my younger days there were a few guidelines such as a certain length of skirt below knees and no plunging necklines. This basically was all that was necessary from making sexy dress a big issue. And since men normally wore suits and ties, men had no big dress issues either.

Myself, I appreciate the Mennonite teens in our area that dress in colourful but simple long dresses and many wearing their hair long also. Not much paint on, if any, and just allowing their natural beauty to be seen. I don't believe God wants us to hide the beauty He gives us but not to flaunt it to draw thoughts of lust. And these teens do it without a cape dress.

The Salvation Army, another uniformed group, is asking the same questions regarding their uniform. Is it outdated and what should a new one look like. Their original uniform wearing was to be obvious to people who needed help just like those wearing a policeman uniform. And they have maintained a modest uniform for all.

I just don' think the NT points to us creating a distinct uniform to stand out as Christ followers. Our lights are to shine through good deeds, a gentle spirit and love for one another, those areas.
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