Amish Cape Dress

[SamuraiKatz]

On one of the threads someone wanted to know what a cape dress looked like. It is the middle of the night. I am wide awake. So I did a google search and found this.

 

http://www.plainlydressed.com/cart/products.php?cat=23 This page has several examples of Amish/Mennonite style dresses. There is also a link on this page for head coverings...if you are up to it..

 

This website is maintained by a Seventh Day Adventist who is way far to the right of anything I ever encountered in Historic SDAism. While there was a push to keep sweet and wear dresses. We certainly were not pushed to dress like the old order Amish. I was expecting to find Mennonite Seamstresses...very surprising.

[ChickeyMonkey]

I was the one who wanted to know about the cape dresses. Thanks for the link! Maybe it will explain the whole "cape" thing to me...

[moreorlessnu]

I thought the cape part of the dress was to hide the bra straps in the back and the headlights in the front?

[oscar]

I thought the cape part of the dress was to hide the bra straps in the back and the headlights in the front?

My Amish friends don't wear bras, but I am not sure how common that is. The cape dress style also makes breastfeeding easy and discreet.

[Trynn]

On one of the threads someone wanted to know what a cape dress looked like. It is the middle of the night. I am wide awake. So I did a google search and found this.

http://www.plainlydressed.com/cart/products.php?cat=23 This page has several examples of Amish/Mennonite style dresses. There is also a link on this page for head coverings...if you are up to it..

This website is maintained by a Seventh Day Adventist who is way far to the right of anything I ever encountered in Historic SDAism. While there was a push to keep sweet and wear dresses. We certainly were not pushed to dress like the old order Amish. I was expecting to find Mennonite Seamstresses...very surprising.

Were you raised SDA, then? What branch of Adventism is pushing for keeping sweet and wearing dresses? I saw one or two families who only wore skirts/dresses but at least in my neck of the woods it was quite far from the norm.

[AmeliaM]

The reason some ladies wear the cape dress style is that it hides the female form better than a regular cut dress since it is double layer. The idea is that it is okay to see the top half of the woman's curves but not the bottom half which is what makes *some* regular dresses immodest and luring. Hope that helps to explain - I used to wear them. ;)

[Kaylee]

Most, if not all, Amish do not wear bras. That's part of the idea of the dress - a slip, then 2 layers of fabric to cover the breasts. (Gotta admit, I've done the cami/tank and no bra under some dresses, and it is a lot more comfortable, but I don't have a whole lot there to need holding up). In my experience, most cape dresses actually make it look like I have bigger boobs because of the way the cape lays.

I don't know many people who are ADA, but I do have one friend I met through blogging that is SDA, skirts only, and wears a headcovering. She dresses modern though, not in cape dresses, and is in South Africa, which might be part of the difference. I wonder if the site author was raised SDA or came to it through an interest in the 7th day Sabbath that was closer to what some of the Hebrew roots people have.

[bananacat]

I always thought the Amish idea of modesty had less to do with sexuality and more to do with the traditional meaning of modesty of not being prideful or trying to draw attention with your clothing. So I don't know if the cape dress is meant to hide curves better, especially since most of those dresses are fitted in the waist and actually give the models a nice shape, IMO. The jumper is the least fitted style, and even that looks better than the frumpers a lot of fundies wear. I think the cape dress was just the fashion a long time ago and they've stuck with it out of tradition.

[Jessica]

Ugh, I want a cape dress so bad! I want to wear it for Halloween. :P

[LynnKaboom]

Actually, the maternity dress looks quite comfortable. My friend complained about how uncomfortable maternity clothes were all through her pregnancy, maybe that dress would have been nicer to wear.

[Kaylee]

Ugh, I want a cape dress so bad! I want to wear it for Halloween. :P

Try ebay. There are a couple people who sell them on there, and they are much cheaper than ordering them custom made. I had a few in smaller sizes, but I think they got gone during one of the closet clean outs this year.

[moreorlessnu]

Most, if not all, Amish do not wear bras. That's part of the idea of the dress - a slip, then 2 layers of fabric to cover the breasts. (Gotta admit, I've done the cami/tank and no bra under some dresses, and it is a lot more comfortable, but I don't have a whole lot there to need holding up). In my experience, most cape dresses actually make it look like I have bigger boobs because of the way the cape lays.

Does that mean that the women who do not find the support they need w/ just a slip are the only ones wearing a bra?

[SamuraiKatz]

Were you raised SDA, then? What branch of Adventism is pushing for keeping sweet and wearing dresses? I saw one or two families who only wore skirts/dresses but at least in my neck of the woods it was quite far from the norm.

I was unchurched as a child and found mainstream SDAism in my early twenties. I truly did not know what I was getting into with regard to the fringe SDA movement. This was in the late 80's and early 90's. The movers and shakers in this movement were Les Balsiger, A. Jan Marcusson, John and Marshall Grosball, Collin and Russell Standish, Bob Trefz, Vance Ferrell, John Osborne, Danny Vierra, Ralph Larsen, and other lesser knowns.

These folks were to the mainline Seventh Day Adventist Church what Gothardism/Independant Fundamentalist Baptists are to other mainline protestant churches. They advocate family integrated churches, home churches and such. Their M.O. is much much like the Gothardites/Vision forum crowd. Historic SDA converts like to go into mainline churches and recruit from among the church members. If you don't completely understand your own theology it's very easy to get taken in by these types. It all looks so good and so perfect from the outside. It's not until you are in the system that you realize that you may be in your own personal hell. Oh and like the Gothardite/Vision forum crowd they are mostly King James Bible only. With all of Historical Adventism's fundie craziness, they never ever tried to push head covering and anabaptist dress for the ladies and girls. Things might have changed in the years since I left though.

I was already on the fence with doubt when I was informed that one of my twins had autism due to some defect in my character or that of my then husband. I've been out for fifteen years. I miss some of the people, but I don't miss the rigidity and the legalism. Only one person from those days keeps in contact with me. Some of my other regular contacts have passed from old age. But most avoided me like the plague like some demons might leak out and taint them somehow. ;)

Some links for further info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historic_Adventism

http://www.stepstolife.org/

http://www.hartland.edu/

http://www.hopeint.org/

http://modernmanna.org/

Sorry this is so long....it's hard to be concise and explain all this stuff.

[Trynn]

I was unchurched as a child and found mainstream SDAism in my early twenties. I truly did not know what I was getting into with regard to the fringe SDA movement. This was in the late 80's and early 90's. The movers and shakers in this movement were Les Balsiger, A. Jan Marcusson, John and Marshall Grosball, Collin and Russell Standish, Bob Trefz, Vance Ferrell, John Osborne, Danny Vierra, Ralph Larsen, and other lesser knowns.

These folks were to the mainline Seventh Day Adventist Church what Gothardism/Independant Fundamentalist Baptists are to other mainline protestant churches. They advocate family integrated churches, home churches and such. Their M.O. is much much like the Gothardites/Vision forum crowd. Historic SDA converts like to go into mainline churches and recruit from among the church members. If you don't completely understand your own theology it's very easy to get taken in by these types. It all looks so good and so perfect from the outside. It's not until you are in the system that you realize that you may be in your own personal hell. Oh and like the Gothardite/Vision forum crowd they are mostly King James Bible only. With all of Historical Adventism's fundie craziness, they never ever tried to push head covering and anabaptist dress for the ladies and girls. Things might have changed in the years since I left though.

I was already on the fence with doubt when I was informed that one of my twins had autism due to some defect in my character or that of my then husband. I've been out for fifteen years. I miss some of the people, but I don't miss the rigidity and the legalism. Only one person from those days keeps in contact with me. Some of my other regular contacts have passed from old age. But most avoided me like the plague like some demons might leak out and taint them somehow. ;)

Some links for further info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historic_Adventism

http://www.stepstolife.org/

http://www.hartland.edu/

http://www.hopeint.org/

http://modernmanna.org/

Sorry this is so long....it's hard to be concise and explain all this stuff.

Ok, that makes sense. I was raised mainstream SDA, so I didn't know there was a huge fundy movement.

[bananacat]

Does that mean that the women who do not find the support they need w/ just a slip are the only ones wearing a bra?

Breasts don't really need support unless you want them to look a certain way. If you're fine with sagging and don't wear a bra from a young age, your muscles will be able to support the tissue unless they are very large. I am a cup size H or I, and wear a bra as little as possible (although I always wear one in public) and I am much more comfortable without one. They don't "need" support unless you want them to look a specific way.

[doe]

Ugh, I want a cape dress so bad! I want to wear it for Halloween. :P

There are some Ebay shops that sell very inexpensive cape dresses. In the search you can type "Amish dress," "mennonite dress," or "cape dress." Plenty of listings should come up.

ETA: I see Raine suggested it already! :)

[ChunkyBarbie]

I totally forgot about the fundy SDAs in my neck of the woods! I even used to work with one. Militant vegans for Christ. The gal I used to work with volunteered a TON of time (legal slavery) to Danny Vierra at their home church, Bella Vita, etc. She was always cleansing, and so unhealthy and miserable to be around. Sheesh!

[fundifugee]

wow, the Vogue photoshoot section of that website is really strange.

http://www.plainlydressed.com/cart/vogue.php

And the men's customer photos "Amish Outlaws" is almost ?snarky??

http://www.plainlydressed.com/cart/amishoutlaws.php

[SheWoreLemon]

I find those clothes so pretty and simple, I would like to be able to wear them all the time. I get so tired of trying to come up with clothes that fit and are flattering and are in style. I'm sure a large part of this is being depressed and plus size and living in a rural area, so I have to mail order all my clothes--it is a tremendous hassle and discouraging.

It just would be nice to have a few dress patterns I could make on my own, no one would expect me to come up with anything more--put on a cute hat to cover my hair (and only one type of hat, so I don't have to deal with that). Goodbye, stress!

Obviously, if you had to wear these all the time and wanted to wear different things, it would be oppressive and I would never want that for anyone.

So my problem is that I want to dress like I'm fundy without ever, ever, ever being mistaken for a fundy (a big problem in my town).

[Kaylee]

Does that mean that the women who do not find the support they need w/ just a slip are the only ones wearing a bra?

No, it has to do with the group they're in. The ones that ban bras altogether wouldn't make an acceptation based on comfort or cup size. Part of the dress is that everyone is expected to wear the exact same thing, right down to patterns used, width of hem, and limits on colors or patterns.

I know the Schwartzentrubers and some of the Lancaster, PA Amish do not allow bras at all, but I am not sure if that is all of them. A friend of mine was part of a more liberal Amish-Mennonite group that had a split a few years back. She stayed with the original group, which wore no bras, and was asking me what it was like to buy lingerie and if I wasn't embarrassed to be seen shopping for it. I asked her if they made everything, and she explained that they didn't allow bras, made their own underwear which were long & lose and not allowed to have elastic waists, and that the slip underneath and cape & apron over top the dress were enough to cover everything that needed covering.

[clibbyjo]

No, it has to do with the group they're in. The ones that ban bras altogether wouldn't make an acceptation based on comfort or cup size. Part of the dress is that everyone is expected to wear the exact same thing, right down to patterns used, width of hem, and limits on colors or patterns.

I know the Schwartzentrubers and some of the Lancaster, PA Amish do not allow bras at all, but I am not sure if that is all of them. A friend of mine was part of a more liberal Amish-Mennonite group that had a split a few years back. She stayed with the original group, which wore no bras, and was asking me what it was like to buy lingerie and if I wasn't embarrassed to be seen shopping for it. I asked her if they made everything, and she explained that they didn't allow bras, made their own underwear which were long & lose and not allowed to have elastic waists, and that the slip underneath and cape & apron over top the dress were enough to cover everything that needed covering.

TMI,but my thoughts go straight to how messy that would be during"that time of the month".(trying not to offend our interns lol)Wearing long and loose homemade undies with no elastic? No thanks.

[AmeliaM]

I always thought the Amish idea of modesty had less to do with sexuality and more to do with the traditional meaning of modesty of not being prideful or trying to draw attention with your clothing. So I don't know if the cape dress is meant to hide curves better, especially since most of those dresses are fitted in the waist and actually give the models a nice shape, IMO. The jumper is the least fitted style, and even that looks better than the frumpers a lot of fundies wear. I think the cape dress was just the fashion a long time ago and they've stuck with it out of tradition.

I'm unsure what the reason is behind the cape dress for the Amish - it may very well be due just to tradition. I was just giving an explanation from my knowledge since I used to belong to another group who wears cape dresses and such and the reason I gave was the reason *we* wore that style of dress.

[AmeliaM]

I know the Schwartzentrubers and some of the Lancaster, PA Amish do not allow bras at all, but I am not sure if that is all of them. A friend of mine was part of a more liberal Amish-Mennonite group that had a split a few years back. She stayed with the original group, which wore no bras, and was asking me what it was like to buy lingerie and if I wasn't embarrassed to be seen shopping for it. I asked her if they made everything, and she explained that they didn't allow bras, made their own underwear which were long & lose and not allowed to have elastic waists, and that the slip underneath and cape & apron over top the dress were enough to cover everything that needed covering.

Very true. Swartzentruber Amish are *really* strict - the strictest Amish sect you can get, I believe. These are perfectly suitable for work despite the descriptions! :)

Swartzentruber Amish woman getting dressed:

Swartzentruber Amish woman showing their panties:

[oscar]

I asked one of my Amish friends - they live in Lancaster - and she says that women in their community who suffer from severe back pain due to the size of their breasts can wear bras, but nobody else does. Their community allows this under their interpretation of a rule covering use of technology for necessary medical treatment.

This kind of raised more questions for me than it answered, since I know other people with medical conditions that go untreated and it seems to me, as an outsider, that correcting these issues would also be an appropriate use of medical technology.

And I know what women in this community use for menstrual products, since I had to borrow a rag from a friend. It is an absorbent cloth kind of like a cloth diaper, and you fold it and pin it to your undergarments. If you are wearing loose undergarments, you can pin the rag near the waist so it sits close to your body, rather than down at the crotch of your underwear. As someone who uses cloth pads, this seemed like a pretty good system, only apparently you have to be very careful how you pin it in at night so the pins don't poke you.

[longskirtlotsakids]

Ugh... that doesn't seem like a good system at all. Give me my Tampax Pearl tampons, thankyouvery much. A "rag" sounds great for stinking and pulling off half your pubic hairs when you change it.

The Plainly Dressed men's photoshoot is HILARIOUS. No way those guys are Amish. The Amish I have seen here have the joy of life go out of their eyes by the time they are 10. Those guys look like they are having fun and enjoy life. The Amish I know are walking sad drones.