Immodest and/or Suggestive Men's Clothing & Styles?

[Josh]

I really don't care what any church or religion decides to wear or not wear. Whether it be homemade dresses, coverings, single suspenders, hijabs, burkas, Wal-Mart clothing, thrift-store clothing, or designer clothing. People and groups are free to wear whatever they want. Churches are free to impose whatever dress codes they want. The diversity makes the world a more interesting place. Although I do think wasting too much money on clothes is an unnecessary and wasteful extravagance.

Hmmm...I wonder what your response would be to a lady I know who is very conservative, wears a cape dress and doesn't sew her own dresses, (not that, that matters). Each year she gives her seamstress 9 or 10 pieces of fabric for new Sunday dresses. I can't even imagine going through that many dresses in a year. My point is that even if people dress more conservative, they can still be extravagant.

Then there are the women who wear cape dresses, which is a symbol of "plainness", yet those "plain" dresses are all dolled up with frills and the print is so bright, the flowers so big, they look like an oversized walking flower pot.

But each to their own. If that floats their boat, so be it.

Over in the "By Their Words" thread, you can see people mocking those who say fancy floral prints are too fancy and loud.

So you really can't win.

[Josh]

Maybe I am old and tired, but it is really hard to work myself up to clothing styles as much.

I heard a story the other day about a young Mennonite guy who was driving down the road after dark. He met a young lady cycling toward him. Knowing he had just passed a guy he didn't necessarily trust, he turned around and passed by that way again to make sure she got through without being harassed.

I have no idea what the Mennonite guy was wearing, but his actions were gold.

He must have known people very well. I barely ever know the first thing about people I pass on the road, let alone if I would trust them or not.

[ABC 123]

Maybe I am old and tired, but it is really hard to work myself up to clothing styles as much.

I heard a story the other day about a young Mennonite guy who was driving down the road after dark. He met a young lady cycling toward him. Knowing he had just passed a guy he didn't necessarily trust, he turned around and passed by that way again to make sure she got through without being harassed.

I have no idea what the Mennonite guy was wearing, but his actions were gold.

He must have known people very well. I barely ever know the first thing about people I pass on the road, let alone if I would trust them or not.

Why, just why, do you have to throw shade on everything? There was more to the story that I abbreviated. Not that you need that explanation. I just can't even with you.

[Josh]

Maybe I am old and tired, but it is really hard to work myself up to clothing styles as much.

I heard a story the other day about a young Mennonite guy who was driving down the road after dark. He met a young lady cycling toward him. Knowing he had just passed a guy he didn't necessarily trust, he turned around and passed by that way again to make sure she got through without being harassed.

I have no idea what the Mennonite guy was wearing, but his actions were gold.

He must have known people very well. I barely ever know the first thing about people I pass on the road, let alone if I would trust them or not.

Why, just why, do you have to throw shade on everything? There was more to the story that I abbreviated. Not that you need that explanation. I just can't even with you.

I'm not "throwing shade" on anything, I'm just pointing out how unusual it would be to actually know well the people whose cars you drive by on the road.

Have you considered you might be a bit oversensitive and have a short fuse?

[Grace]

I really don't care what any church or religion decides to wear or not wear. Whether it be homemade dresses, coverings, single suspenders, hijabs, burkas, Wal-Mart clothing, thrift-store clothing, or designer clothing. People and groups are free to wear whatever they want. Churches are free to impose whatever dress codes they want. The diversity makes the world a more interesting place. Although I do think wasting too much money on clothes is an unnecessary and wasteful extravagance.

Hmmm...I wonder what your response would be to a lady I know who is very conservative, wears a cape dress and doesn't sew her own dresses, (not that, that matters). Each year she gives her seamstress 9 or 10 pieces of fabric for new Sunday dresses. I can't even imagine going through that many dresses in a year. My point is that even if people dress more conservative, they can still be extravagant.

Then there are the women who wear cape dresses, which is a symbol of "plainness", yet those "plain" dresses are all dolled up with frills and the print is so bright, the flowers so big, they look like an oversized walking flower pot.

But each to their own. If that floats their boat, so be it.

Over in the "By Their Words" thread, you can see people mocking those who say fancy floral prints are too fancy and loud.

So you really can't win.

This just my opinion, but if you go to the bother of adding a cape to a dress, which denotes "plainness", then keep the dress "plain". I am not opposed to big flowers on dresses.

[Josh]

This just my opinion, but if you go to the bother of adding a cape to a dress, which denotes "plainness", then keep the dress "plain". I am not opposed to big flowers on dresses.

Mennonite-background people seem to have been comfortable with prints for a long time. They like putting big flowers on their dresses. To them, this is still conservative/modest.

Amish-background people are opposed to prints. They think it's fancy. They're comfortable having plain, solid fabrics, albeit in a wide variety of often bright colours.

In my own church, we don't use cape dresses at all. For us, what is traditional and conservative is to have dresses. Most people hand make them but some try to find store bought ones. There are a variety of prints from very bold, loud designs to solids. A big part of being traditional / "conservative" for us to avoid white dresses at weddings. Other conservative Mennonites feel very comfortable with white dresses at weddings.

For men, for some reason, we don't think we should wear athletic pants, at least when doing athletic things like youth playing volleyball. This may change in the future. I have a pair of athletic pants that look like dress pants (seem to be designed for maybe e.g. a college sports coach to wear). These are fine to wear at church, and I noticed another man at church wearing the exact same brand of pants. But I would never wear these to a social function where blue jeans are expected. It would be too casual to wear them as athletic pants.