Comments on: Resources on Quaker Plain Dress

By: Martin Kelley

Martin Kelley — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 17:19:05 +0000

@Hans: I've seen very nicely-made nineteenth century clothing but I have to wonder if this was the exception even then. I'd be curious if anyone's read through the Cushing family diaries to see if they explained their choice of fabric? There might be a discernment to a decision that we too easily brush off as pride and hypocrisy. But yes, there have certainly been Friends more concerned with the outward form (and social/economic networks) of the Religious Society of Friends than the need to stay humble and close to the Inward Christ and have consequently made ironic choices like fancy plain dressing.

By: Hans

Hans — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:33:18 +0000

Interesting to note that well-to-do Friends (and there were some) maintained plainness in dress, but had no qualms in having their attire made from fabrics associated with their social station. The Cushing House Museum in Newburyport Mass., for example, has on a display a plain, grey dress worn by one of the city's 19th century Friends - and it's made of costly (for the time)silk! Early Friends wore simpler versions of whatever everyone else was wearing and this set them (visually) apart from the mainstream. In time, Quaker garb became a uniform of sorts. I believe that the later, more "prescribed" dress was no less an inspiration of the Spirit than was the former. Many Friends today, including young Friends, have consciously adopted traditional looking "Quaker dress", and often cite its ability to allow them to "witness" and share the ways and beliefs of Friends.

By: Pam

Pam — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 22:50:25 +0000

I was brought up in a liberal Quaker home in Indiana. I understood the Quaker practice of “plainness” as merely avoiding ostentation. I think this tradition was a reaction to the excesses in lifestyle and clothing of the wealthy during the 18th century. Recalling that the earliest Quakers were not wealthy people, they desired to be recognized for their devotion to their faith and inner light, not wealth and trappings, or lack thereof.