Editing Modesty (section)

====Anabaptists====
[[File:Niagara Falls - panoramio (69).jpg|thumb|An [[Anabaptist Christian]] lady wearing a [[cape dress]] and [[Christian headcovering|headcovering]] ]]
{{Main|Anabaptist theology#Modesty and woman's veiling}}
{{Further|Plain people}}
Many Christians belonging to the [[Conservative Anabaptist]] and [[Old Order Anabaptist]] traditions (including the [[Amish]], [[Conservative Mennonites]], [[Old Order Mennonite]]s, [[Hutterites]], [[Apostolic Christian Church|Apostolic Christians]], [[Charity Christian Fellowship|Charity Christians]], [[Bruderhof Communities|Bruderhof]], [[River Brethren]] and [[Schwarzenau Brethren]]) have [[plain dress]] prescriptions designed to achieve modesty and create a sense of church identity, as Petrovich writes: "Their dress standard is not only intended to specify a pattern which all members agree to be a modest covering for the human form but must also correspond to their vision of Jesus as meek and humble, dressed as a simple peasant from a common village. Since an established dress standard promotes uniformity, it also provides a sense of shared purpose."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Petrovich|first=Christopher|date=2013|title=Spiritual Theology in an Amish Key: Theology, Scripture, and Praxis|journal=Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care|volume=6|issue=2|pages=250|doi=10.1177/193979091300600206|s2cid=171605201}}</ref> These requirements are either written in denominational or congregational statements<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Raber|first1=Dan|last2=Sheets|first2=Gregory|last3=Anderson|first3=Cory|date=2019|title=<em>Ordnungs Briefen</em> of 1865, 1917, and 1939: English Translations of Important Old Amish Church Orders|url=https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/amishstudies/vol7/iss2/3/|journal=Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies|volume=7|issue=2|pages=109–114|doi=10.62192/japas.v07i2n03 |doi-access=free}}</ref> or are understood and reinforced through informal pressure and ministerial reminders.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Scott|first=Stephen|title=Why Do They Dress That Way?|publisher=Good Books.|year=1997|isbn=9780934672184|location=Intercourse, PA}}</ref>

Requirements vary across churches and denominations; however, all conservative Anabaptist women wear [[Christian headcovering]]s and a skirt or dress, and all men wear long trousers.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last1=Anderson|first1=Cory|url=https://acornpublishing.info/|title=Fitted to Holiness: How Modesty Is Achieved and Compromised among the Plain People|last2=Anderson|first2=Jennifer|publisher=Acorn Publishing|year=2019|isbn=978-1-7322864-1-2|location=Millersburg, OH|access-date=2020-05-07|archive-date=2020-08-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804050807/https://acornpublishing.info/|url-status=dead}}</ref> From there, considerable variation exists in men's, women's, and children's styles. Anabaptist adherents read a church group's relative strictness, distance from popular culture, and even religious ideas by their appearance and the speed of dress changes. Accordingly, the extent to which popular fashion elements show up in an Anabaptist person's dress often depends on the social distance of that church from popular culture.<ref name=":1" /> For example, women's headcoverings have numerous subtle design elements that distinguish church association, age, and attitude toward modest dress.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Enninger|first=Werner|title=Multimedia Communication I|publisher=Gunter Narr|year=1982|editor-last=Hess-Lüttich|editor-first=Ernest|location=Tübingen, Germany|pages=86–123|chapter=The Semiotic Structure of Amish Folk Costume: Its Function in the Organization of Face-to-Face Interaction}}</ref> Women in more fashion-conscious groups, especially among some Conservative Mennonites as well as young adults among some Old Order Amish, may wear a lacy doily that fits a stylized appearance, whereas groups and individuals holding to a distinctive form of modesty wear a fixed-style [[kapp (headcovering)|kapp]] with a back part that covers the hair bun and is pleated to a front part that vertically encircles the head.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Anderson|first=Cory|title=The Ornament of a Spirit: Exploring the Reasons Covering Styles Change|publisher=Ridgeway Publishers|year=2013|isbn=978-0984098514|location=Lyndonville, NY}}</ref>

Churches vary in how much members may experiment with modesty and fashion in dress. Some groups, for example, may be less inclined to censure tight dresses so long as the church's distinctive style is maintained<ref>{{Cite book|last=Boynton|first=Linda|title=The Plain People: An Ethnography of the Holdeman Mennonites.|publisher=Sheffield Publishing Company.|year=1986|location=Salem, WI}}</ref> or to censure popular swimwear worn while swimming in groups or in public;<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Hamilton|first1=Jean|title=Religion, Dress, and the Body|last2=Hawley|first2=Jana|publisher=Berg|year=1999|editor-last=Lazaridis|editor-first=Gabriella|location=New York|pages=31–51|chapter=Sacred Dress, Public Worlds: Amish and Mormon Experience and Commitment}}</ref> others carefully observe and embrace their church's pattern for modest, distinct dress on all non-private occasions.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Graybill|first=Beth|title=Strangers at Home: Amish and Mennonite Women in History|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|year=2002|editor=Kimberly D. Schmidt |editor2=Diane Zimmerman Umble |editor3=Steven D. Reschly|location=Baltimore, MD|pages=53–77|chapter='To Remind Us of Who We Are': Multiple Meanings of Conservative Women's Dress}}</ref>