More Upon the Dress Question by Carrie R. Moon

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 24, 1913

More Upon the Dress Question

By Carrie R. Moon

MRS. CARRIE R. MOON

THE moral effect of present-day fashions among women is a subject that is being discussed very extensively. The minds of both women and men of the better class are becoming deeply exercised concerning it. There certainly is need of a reform in this matter.

A bill to regulate women’s garb has recently been introduced in the Ohio Legislature, and members are urging its passage. This is loudly denounced by some of the leading women of Chicago.

“Ridiculous!” exclaimed Mrs. Catherine Waugh McCulloch, the suffrage leader. “The idea of a man even suggesting that the men lawmakers of a State should dictate to the women what they should wear!”

Yes, it certainly is ridiculous that women should so far depart from womanly modesty that it would be necessary for men to cry out against their pernicious example.

Mrs. McCulloch continues: “Do you think women would dictate what a man should wear?”

Most assuredly, if a man appeared in public insufficiently or immodestly dressed, women would immediately protest, and the man would most likely be lodged in jail. The laws of the land prohibit men from appearing in public improperly dressed. Why should not women be subject to just such laws if their womanly sense of propriety is not sufficient to make civil law unnecessary?

This is not a matter of little importance. It is tremendous in its influence in molding the characters of the young people of to-day.

The wife of Dr. John C. Hessler, of the James Millikin University, Decatur, Ill., in a recent lecture before the Chicago Woman’s Club, declared that “women attired in the extremes of modern fashion are unconscious contributors to the growth of vice.” She showed that the wrong-doing, or the degradation, of the individual woman affects all womankind, and added: “All womankind is suffering definite moral degradation from prevalent fashions.”

Mrs. Hessler places the blame for this condition, not alone upon the young women, but upon those who are older. They have set the example of wearing in public garments that are fit only to be worn in the privacy of their own rooms. Then she says: “Women have not realized that they have been taking part in the breaking down of barriers between virtue and licentiousness.” This is entirely in harmony with the following:—

“The love of dress endangers the morals, and makes woman the opposite of the Christian lady, characterized by modesty and sobriety. Showy, extravagant dress too often encourages lust in the heart of the wearer, and awakens base passions in the heart of the beholder. God sees that the ruin of the character is frequently preceded by the indulgence of pride and vanity in dress.”

—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. IV, page 645. “Vice, disguised in fashion’s garb, intrudes itself among the children.”—Id., page 643.

Seventh-day Adventists have had great light upon the subject of conformity to the fashions of the world. We have been instructed that our dress should be neat and in good taste, but without any attempt to follow the extreme fashions.

“As we see our sisters departing from simplicity in dress and cultivating a love for the fashions of the world, we feel troubled. By taking steps in this direction, they are separating themselves from God. . . .

“It is a shame to our sisters to so forget their holy character and their duty to God as to imitate the fashions of the world. . . . It is so inconsistent with our profession of faith that it makes us ridiculous in the eyes of worldlings. Many a soul who was convinced of the truth has been led to decide against it by the pride and love of the world displayed by our sisters. . . .

“Simplicity of dress will make a sensible woman appear to the best advantage. We judge of a person’s character by the style of dress worn. . . . A modest, godly woman will dress modestly. A refined taste, a cultivated mind, will be revealed in the choice of simple and appropriate attire.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. IV, pages 628, 641, 643.

Dear sisters, let us be examples in modesty, simplicity, and neatness; and let our dress, as well as our actions, be in harmony with the faith that we profess.

South Bend, Ind.