The Great Amish and Mennonite Dress Experiment – Chapter 2

Chapter 2 of the book:

The Failure of the Great Amish and Conservative Mennonite Dress Experiment

Why Christian Conservatism Isn’t the Answer and What to Do

For over 100 years, Amish and conservative Mennonite leaders strictly legislated a dress requirement on hundreds of thousands of their members. Although they did not actually set out to perform an experiment, the purpose of implementing dress regulations was to keep the church from drifting away from Christ and becoming like the world. A very important aspect of the dress experiment has been ultra-modest dress for women and girls to keep the men and boys from “stumbling” (lust). The women in general have had many more regulations detailing how to dress than the men.

Are you looking for something more than just the same old concepts, interpretations, explanations, and perspectives you have heard regurgitated over and over again? This website will give you some new insights and things to think about. You may not agree with everything you read, but Biblical Research Reports will stimulate your thinking. Our goal is to help you to formulate in your own mind what is Jesus’ truth as you look at the research we share on the various subjects facing the Church.

I am calling it the Great Amish and Conservative Mennonite Dress Experiment because it is the term that God gave to me when He first revealed to me the serious failure of Amish and conservative Mennonite dress. It is not called an experiment because it was the intent of the originators or current preachers to conduct an experiment.

I am not the first to call it a dress experiment. In his book, Mennonite Attire Through Four Centuries, Melvin Gingerich writes:

“This experiment in regulating the kind of clothing acceptable to a given culture or social class is not something new in history. Instances of clothing regulations are at least as old as ancient Athens…Ancient Rome also had these laws regulating the amount of clothing a woman dared own. In cities of Switzerland, much later this kind of legislation was continued and actually became increasingly strict so that city councils ‘even went so far as to prescribe the length of certain garments, length of shoe points or height of bonnets.’ In New England such laws were very common because of the Puritan belief which regarded ornamentation not only as an extravagance but also as a sin. Thus in Europe and America, the strict climate of opinion in the days of the Reformation and of several centuries thereafter regarded the kind and cost of dress a matter of public and religious concern. It is therefore not difficult to understand why the Amish, for example, who wished to preserve the old ways and customs would not find it difficult to shape the clothing standards of their communities into conservative, almost inflexible customs.” (p.11)

Amish and conservative Mennonite dress styles are a human method, rather than a Biblical method, to attempt to solve a perceived problem. For the first 300 years of their existence, Mennonites dressed in dress styles much like society around them. The Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online tells us: “It is evident that the American Mennonites of the colonial period (and on into the 19th century) dressed plainly, but there is no evidence that they then had a special uniform cut of coat for the men, or a peculiar form of headdress or costume for the women. Their difference from ‘the world’ consisted of regulations proscribing luxuries and articles worn for display, such as lace collars, etc.” (www.gameo.org/index.php?title=Dress)

It was not until the late 1800’s and early 1900’s that a regulated dress style was implemented. The dress styles were implemented by Amish and conservative Mennonite leaders to stem the tide toward liberalism, worldliness, immorality, and sin, and to prevent people from being led away from Christ.

But the dress experiment has failed. Focusing on outward appearance does not change a person’s heart. Instead, a regulated outward appearance helps to hide what is really in a person’s heart.

As we will see, the failures of the Great Dress Experiment are shocking and serious. The failures are much greater and wider spread than what most people have any idea is happening.

The distinctive Amish and conservative Mennonite dress experiment was a method promoted by well-meaning men with good intentions to “stem the tide” and “stop the drift” toward modernism and worldliness.

George Brunk I and wife Katie in the 1930’s. He then handed his mantle of promoting the Great Dress Experiment and the editorship of the conservative Mennonite magazine, The Sword and Trumpet to his son George Brunk II. George Brunk II in turn, handed the mantle on to Paul Emerson

The conservative Mennonite dress movement gained momentum in the 1920’s and 1930’s. It had the appearance of wisdom in piety, humility, and modesty. Many saw value in it and were convinced that it was Godly, and would help to prevent the wickedness that they saw happening around them. For years it has been argued that it does work and that it is helping to slow the drift. Many today continue to argue that it is a success, but their field of view is too narrow. The distinctive “modest” dress experiment ignored some significant commands that Christ gave us in the New Testament, and Amish and conservative Mennonites churches have reaped the consequences. Under the pious appearance of the distinctive garb there are hidden sins. These hidden sins have for years been kept hidden from the public view, but they are now coming to light.

There has been a lot of change in the world in the last 100 years. As a result of that change, a rigid, conservative dress standard has consequences and implications that one does not want it to have. What might have been good in one’s great-grandparent’s generation can be the wrong thing to do today because society is so different today than it was then. When living inside the Amish and conservative Mennonite “box” and community, there is a tendency to continue to view things from within the “box” and not see what one is really doing and saying by what he or she does.

If the dress experiment was a method that helped people to be more Godly, to be better followers of Christ, to be more interested in spiritual things, and to be more successful in carrying out the Great Commission, then the ultra-conservative groups such as the Old Order Amish, Old Order Mennonites, and the Colony Mennonites in Central and South America would be our best examples of what Christians should be. The moderate conservatives would be the ones with the greater amount of sin and wickedness. But that is not the case. Some of the most conservative Amish and Mennonite groups are the ones with the greatest amount of sin and wickedness. We will see that a wicked heart is still wicked, regardless of how “Godly”, conservative, or piously the person is dressed.

There are examples that people will point to and say that the Great Amish and Conservative Mennonite Experiment has not been a failure. These examples are the success stories that have been used to convince people to continue the dress experiment. But we should not continue the experiment just because we do not see failure in 100% of the people or 100% of the congregations who practice the experiment, or because some feel blessed by the dress experiment.  In addition, because of the top secret nature of some of the failures, one cannot be 100% certain that some of the failures have not occurred in the congregation that is being held up as an example.

The conservative Mennonite denomination is at least partially correct on a number of important doctrinal subjects. According to my research for Biblical Research Reports, they are probably one of the more doctrinally correct denominations in many subjects. This has held many in their deception with their conservative dress experiment.

This point is very important to remember: It seems that among any group, not just Amish and Mennonites, most false teachings and doctrinal errors have some element of truth that other Christians are ignoring, and that is what keeps people deceived and prevents them from delivering themselves from the error.

However, in addition to being doctrinally correct, at least in part, on a number of subjects, the Amish and conservative Mennonite denominations also have a number of serious doctrinal errors. It is because of these errors that they are experiencing significant moral failures.

The Dress Styles of the Great Amish and Conservative Mennonite Dress Experiment

For those not familiar with Amish or conservative Mennonite dress requirements, following is a list of conservative Mennonite and Amish dress requirements. Each group has its own specifications and small details. Each group does not have all the same requirements as another group.

• In the more conservative churches, women must wear a dress. Skirts and blouses are not permitted. Pants and shorts are strictly forbidden for women. Many churches require the women to wear a cape dress. The cape is an extra layer of fabric over the bodice to try to make it more “modest”. Many groups have requirements on dress color, print design, dress and sleeve length, and dress style. The color, print, and style of a woman’s dress may identify her with a particular group.
• Women are required to put their hair up in a bun on the back of the head. The style of how the hair is fixed is also regulated by some groups.
• The color of the socks or nylons is sometimes regulated. Some groups require the women to wear black stockings or nylons.
• Some require dark shoes and do not allow sandals.
• Women wear a white cap style head covering. Some churches require strings to be attached to the covering. Some groups allow a white or black hanging veil. The small differences in style and size of the woman’s head covering identify her with a particular group. It has great significance in identifying her as “more liberal” or “more conservative” to other Mennonites.
• Some require the women to wear a bonnet over the cap head covering when going to town or church.
• Some Amish women are required to pin their dresses shut with straight pins because zippers and buttons are forbidden. The men are allowed to have buttons on their shirts.
• Some require girls who have not yet joined the church to wear their hair in braids or a bun.
• Some require the men to wear a broad-brimmed hat, but not for prayer or church. The hat style is an identifying emblem of the group that they are a part of.
• In many churches, a man’s suit is required to be a plain suit – a suit with a short, standup collar with a small square notch in the front, similar in appearance to the clergy vest or clergy collar worn by the clergy of the Catholic Church and some other denominations. Some require an extra layer of fabric over the pocket area on the lower part of the suit. This is called a frock suit. Some require hooks and eyes instead of buttons. A modern style suit, with or without a tie, is forbidden by many groups. Some of the less conservative Mennonite churches will permit a modern style suit but a tie is forbidden.
• Men are required to wear long pants. Shorts are strictly forbidden. Some groups require dark colored or black pants.
• Some groups require the men to wear a beard, but prohibit them from wearing a mustache. Some groups forbid both a beard and mustache.
• Some groups require men to wear a solid colored and/or a long sleeve shirt. Some require the top button to be buttoned.
• Wedding rings and jewelry are forbidden.
• Some groups prohibit wrist watches, but allow pocket watches.
• Some groups have other regulations that are not dress related such as:
  • Requiring members to drive horses and buggies and forbidding them to drive cars.
  • Forbidding rubber tires on buggies and/or farm equipment.
  • Prohibiting electricity.
  • Only allowing black cars, prohibiting chrome on the car, etc.

The Origins of Mennonite and Amish Dress Styles

The Amish and conservative Mennonite dress and hair styles do not come from detailed commands in Scripture giving specific dress styles and details, but originate from the dress and hair styles of the European and early American cultures in which their ancestors lived. As time went along and dress styles changed, the Amish and Mennonites held onto the basic dress styles and only made minor changes. They developed their uniform clothing styles mainly by prohibiting adoption of new clothing styles. The various degrees of conservatism among Amish and Mennonite groups are often judged by the degree to which each group has allowed changes and the type of changes to those “original” dress styles. It is a prime example of the basic cornerstone of conservatism, whether religious or political – hold onto the way our forefathers believed and practiced, and don’t change.

Over the last 100 years there have been many minor modifications, but the basic dress styles of the Great Amish and Conservative Mennonite Dress Experiment are still based on the way “the world” dressed years ago. The main church leaders that promoted the Mennonite Dress Experiment adopted specific conservative regulation dress and hair styles by going back to dress and hair styles that the world had in the era of their childhoods of the mid to late 1800’s. This can be seen in some of the following pictures:

This is a picture of Mary Lee, the wife of Robert E. Lee, a General of the southern Confederate “rebel” army in the American Civil War which was from 1861 to 1865. Mrs. Lee was not a Mennonite or Anabaptist. Her cap and hairstyle are an example from the mid 1800’s. It is this hairstyle and cap style headcovering of Mrs. Robert E. Lee and the American culture in the 1800’s that has been adopted today by conservative Mennonites in their dress experiment.

Conservative Mennonite women today. You can see their hairstyles and cap coverings are very similar to that of Mrs. Robert E. Lee 150 years ago. These women are wearing Mennonite cape dresses with sleeves that come below the elbows. Some of the women have strings on their headcoverings, which are a holdover from early American culture when women had strings on their bonnets and tied them under their chin to hold the bonnet in place. Now the string is a useless loop and is an example of the conservative “don’t change” mentality. Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/taedc/6223587859/

As time went along and the dress styles became more out of date with society around them, church leaders developed religious doctrines such as “separation from the world”, “non-conformity”, “plain dress” and “humility”. They found proof texts to back up their dress standards and built manmade dress standards on those texts such as Romans 12:2, “Be not conformed to this world,” and 1 Timothy 2:9, “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array.” The specific Amish and Mennonite dress styles were made synonymous with following Scripture and following Christ’s commands. Amish and conservative Mennonites came to believe that wearing their dress styles was following Scripture. They did not realize that they were actually dressing old fashioned with dress styles adapted from the way “the world” dressed in years gone by. It is ironic that while preaching “non-conformity to the world”, they are following the world’s dress, headcovering, and hair styles of the past.

The dress regulations of the Amish and conservative Mennonites are not casual requirements or suggested dress styles. They are strict manmade regulations, both written and verbal, that carry stiff church discipline. Adhering to the church’s manmade standard of dress is a requirement of church membership. A person cannot be a member of the church unless they agree to conform to the dress regulations. If a member does not comply, their church membership is revoked or they are excommunicated. It is as if a person has to dress according to their individual church’s specific dress style and regulations in order to be a real Christian in their church. In many churches, those who are not members cannot take communion even if they are Christians. In many groups, the discipline for not following church dress regulations is greater than for real sins such as sexual immorality. The dress standards are strictly enforced by fear of the church (“What will the preacher say?”), intimidation and peer pressure (“what will others think?”), and force (church discipline).

To the outsider looking in, there does not appear to be much significance in the different dress styles. When I was growing up in the greater Washington, DC area, my Mennonite family was often asked if we were Amish. Amish and Mennonites would have considered us far from Amish. Inside Amish and Mennonite groups, small differences in dress and head covering styles and colors that appear unimportant to outsiders are used by members to judge the other person as being more Godly or less Godly. It is usually referred to as more conservative or less conservative. Those who are dressed like one’s own group are viewed as more Godly and those who are more conservative or less conservative are viewed as less Godly. This statement is a broad generalization, but the dress style, and especially the style and unique details of the woman’s headcovering, tells an Amish or Mennonite whether or not the other person is part of their group. It is common for Mennonites and Amish to judge another person’s spirituality by the details of their dress. It is a sad consequence of manmade dress regulations.

Amish Dress Styles

The Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online has this about the dress of the Old Order Amish:

“The practice of wearing a beard was common in Europe until about the 18th century, and the Amish who questioned innovations kept the beard as a symbol of something sacred after it disappeared from the general culture. The same was true of hooks and eyes; buttons were first used by the ruling classes as ornamentation, and so it was quite natural that the Amish should retain the old and shun the new. The Amish dress coat, the Mutze, broadfall trousers, and black wide-brimmed hats, are adaptations from the ordinary dress of the Palatines a century and longer ago. By comparing old drawings of regional costume in Europe the similarity in dress is established beyond doubt.

“The dress of the Amish woman is almost identical with examples in Palatine [Germany] museums. The white Häubchen (prayer cap) of the Amish, the Halsduch, Leppel, and the “scoop” hat, were the ordinary dress of the common people in Alsace, the Palatinate, and other parts of Europe. The Amish bonnet of today is an exception; since the Amish migrations to America proceeded the bonnet era they adopted this headpiece apparently from a New World source. Both men and women refuse to wear the newer type of overcoat. Amish women still wear only shawls, or in the case of some of the younger women, short coats. Older men and ministers wear the cape overcoat.” (Emphasis added)

www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/O54.html/?searchterm=old%20order%20amish

 Amish in their distinctive regulation dress wave to then President George W. Bush in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. (White House photo)

The Conservative Mennonite Plain Suit

Mennonite historian, J.C. Wenger tells us the history of the Mennonite men’s plain suit: “In Colonial America the dress coat of men was a long-tailed coat, with split tails for horse-back riding; having no lapels it buttoned up to the top in front. There were no outside pockets. By the end of the 18th century the collar had risen as high as it could on the back and had turned over to make the modern lapel, which lapel still carried the buttonhole and notched corners of the old frock coat. During the 19th century the frock coat slowly passed out of general use in American society… in the 1950s Mennonite ministers generally wore the “plain coat” which has the short tail of the modern sack coat but the plain collar of the Colonial coat.”

http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/contents/frock_coat

A man playing the part of a Baptist preacher in colonial times (late 1700’s) in Colonial Williamsburg. The conservative Mennonite plain suit coat, according to Mennonite historian J.C. Wenger, is an adaption of the colonial suit. Instead of non-conformity to the world, the Mennonite plain suit is holding onto the past and the way the “world” dressed years ago.

A man at Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia dressed in the period style dress of the late 1700’s in a long-tailed colonial coat.

A close up view from the waist up shows the similarity between the colonial dress coat and the conservative Mennonite plain suit in the photos below.

Winter Bible School Teachers dressed in their Mennonite plain suits. Guernsey, Saskatchewan, Canada 1956 The plain suit is plainer and less fancy than the colonial suit. There are fewer buttons and the long coat tail has been shorted to a more modern length.

George Mueller (1805 – 1898) Mueller was not a Mennonite, but his appearance is similar to Amish and conservative Mennonites. Mueller lived in Bristol, England. Note the beard with no mustache, which is typical of Amish and Beachy Amish men today.

History of the Conservative Mennonite Woman’s cape dress

The Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia states about Mennonites in the Eastern United States: “They also commonly wore what is called a “cape” over the shoulders, an article of dress which is probably an adaptation from the shawls which were current in the early decades of the 19th century…” “The cape on women’s dresses covers the front and back of the bodice. The older style comes to a point in the back. This item is derived from the three-cornered kerchief.”

http://www.gameo.org/index.php?title=Dress

Women in Colonial Williamsburg wearing the three-cornered kerchief over their shoulders. This was the forerunner of the current version of the conservative Mennonite cape dress. Over time the kerchief, or cape, was extended to the waist and attached to the dress to form the current Mennonite cape dress. And that is why it is called a “cape dress”. At least one group, the Washington-Franklin Mennonite Conference, retained the point of the kerchief on the back of their cape dresses. It was common in colonial times for women to wear two layers on the bodice.

This side view of a woman in Colonial Williamsburg looks very similar to the dress of modern day conservative Mennonite women. She has her hair up, a colonial cap, and the bodice from the side has the appearance of a cape dress even though it isn’t. 

Another look at this picture so that you can compare the similarities of the dress of these Mennonite women with the woman in the previous picture who is dressed in colonial (1700’s) attire. Instead of the Mennonite dress style being the symbol of a Godly woman like we were told in the Mennonite church, it is actually old fashioned and is a holdover from the way the world dressed years ago. Conservative Mennonite women have to wear their hair up, not because the Bible says to, but because that is the way it used to be done.

The Mennonite cape dress became a symbol and statement of nonconformity to the world especially against the rapid and dramatic changes of fashion from the end of the nineteenth century onwards. In many groups, the plainer the dress, the higher it was valued.

An 1868 diagram from the fashion magazine “Harpers Bazaar” showing “proper” girls’ skirt lengths increasing as they grow up.

History of the Mennonite Woman’s Head Covering

It appears that prior to the early 1900’s it was the practice of almost all Christian women in the various denominations to cover their heads when they went to church. In general, women did not attend church bareheaded. During those years, Mennonite women followed the same practice of covering their head that had been observed by the rest of western Christianity for many centuries. Many Mennonite women wore a headcovering only for church or special occasions.

Melvin Gingerich states: “During Queen Victoria’s time (1819-1901) women gradually discarded the cap. Mennonite women who were members of the church, however, continued to wear them, at least to church. During the nineteenth century, plain white muslin caps were worn to church in eastern Pennsylvania. Those worn in 1870-1890 were very similar to the ones worn in the later period and even today, except that they were more ornate, trimmed with ruffles, lace, and ribbons, and very likely were larger. During these years, the caps had wire frames. In the Franconia Conference (PA), where it was customary to keep the caps in a box at church, some churches had rows of shelves for boxes. The cap was not worn in the home. This practice was not confined to eastern Pennsylvania.” (Mennonite Attire through Four Centuries, p.126)

Dr. W. P. Page family, Mennonite missionaries to India in 1898. Dr. Page is wearing a Mennonite plain suit. Notice that Mrs. Page is not wearing a headcovering. It was common in a number of Mennonite church communities of that time period, before the push for regulation Mennonite dress, for women to wear a headcovering only to church. 

Gingerich goes on to say: “In spite of the fact that no official decrees had indicated what type of cap was to be worn, custom did indicate the particular style of cap that was acceptable. Those who are familiar with the garb of the ‘plain people’ of America can recognize whether the cap distinguishes a member of the Church of the Brethren, the Old German Baptist Brethren, the Brethren in Christ, the Amish, or the Mennonites. Within Mennonite circles, regional differences in the style of the cap can be discovered. Even within the Lancaster Pennsylvania Conference area, as many as seventeen distinct styles are worn. Within this range there are smaller variations, so that the total number of styles handled by the plain clothes department of Hager and Brother Store in Lancaster, for instance, reaches approximately one hundred.” (Gingerich p.131)

What Gingerich alludes to here is that there are usually not any written descriptions describing exact details of the style of headcovering or dress. Nor are there pictures or drawings showing the exact style. Instead, the headcovering and dress details are oral regulations of the congregation that are regulated by the preachers. If a person does not conform to the specific details of their congregation’s styles, the preacher will say something to the person and ask them to change and conform to the details of church’s style. If they do not change, they are denied communion as if they had sinned.

One group does have their headcovering regulation written down. The Pilgrim Ministries Mennonite group in their 60 page document of “Decrees for to Keep” have this decree about the style and size of the headcovering: “The covering application to be honored at all times is a two piece type of sufficient size so the bottom comes below the bun to the neck and the front comes forward to a position (on top of the head) in front of the ears. The front piece shall be at least 1½” wide.

p.24 http://pilgrimministry.s3.amazonaws.com/Pilgrim-Decrees-2015.pdf

A Mennonite lady sewing. 1965 She has her hair up as is required by her church, and is wearing a regulation style Mennonite headcovering.

In some of the more “liberal” conservative Mennonite groups today, the women wear their hair up with a smaller cap style Mennonite head covering that covers the back of the head. They can wear commercially made skirts and blouses but not pants or shorts. The guys can dress much like the rest of society.

Church Buildings

This is a typical conservative Mennonite church building. The building is usually plain and simple. It is not uncommon for the church to be located on a back country road.

Mennonite preacher in 1953. The inside of conservative Mennonite church buildings is often very plain.

An Amish “church” building. The large meeting room on the second story of the building on the right is typical of the type of building that Amish in Lancaster County Pennsylvania use for church services. A number of farms have this type of building and they take turns hosting the church service. In some Amish communities, the Amish meet in houses. The furniture is removed from the first floor and benches set up for the service.

A closer view of the building in the previous picture that is used for Amish church services.

The large white wagon is an Amish church bench wagon. The wagon is used to store the church benches from one Sunday to the next. Each week the wagon is taken to the next farm where the church service will be held.

What is a Conference?

Throughout this book, you will hear references to “conferences”. A Mennonite conference is a group of Mennonite churches that has its own organization, leadership, ministries, and set of beliefs and practices. Mennonite conferences are basically sub denominations under the broad title of Mennonite. The use of the term Mennonite can’t be used by itself when stating what Mennonites believe or practice because of the wide range in beliefs between conferences from ultra conservative to ultra liberal and everything in between.

The next Chapter – The Failure of the Amish and Mennonite Dress Experiment in Preventing Sexual Abuse