An essay on plainness as separation, its perseverence in conservative Quaker meetings, and its neglect amongst contemporary Quakerism
From the earliest days of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) its adherents found it needful to abstain from the ostentatious and to dress in a manner unaligned with the ways of the world. There were many periods in time during Quaker history where onlookers were able to tell who were Quakers just by seeing their outward expression. As time has gone on, the vast majority of Quakers have left plainness in dress citing various reasons they feel that it is not a worthwhile testimony to maintain in the face of the world. Yet there do exist Friends who dress plainly today and have found it to be a needful spiritual discipline for them to pursue.
The way in which most Friends practice plainness in dress today has changed significantly since its historical application. Quakers in the world currently tend to look almost indistinguishable from the average person, there is often no sign of broad brimmed hats or prayer coverings that once dominated the society. A primary reason often given regarding this change is the concern that a distinctly plain Quaker pattern, or manner of dressing, is no longer deemed in line with simplicity that many Friends seek to grow in through their faith. The Friends of today have become very skeptical of dressing in a way that may bring any attention to oneself, seeing it as antithetical to their testimony of simplicity found in the modern innovation of “SPICES” (Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, Stewardship) that many Friends feel guide their life as an informal list of Quaker ideals.
From Friends General Conference, “Although most people identifying as Quakers no longer wear traditional plain dress (dark or drab colored clothing, bonnets, and wide-brimmed hats), Friends still usually dress simply and modestly as a reflection of the simplicity testimony. What it means to dress simply is often shaped by the culture of the meeting, its community, and its region of the country. Simple dress could mean one thing in Manhattan and another thing in Peoria. Expectations of makeup and jewelry, too, could differ from meeting to meeting.” (https://fgcquaker.org/quakerism/dress/) While it is true that early Quakers did not institute a “Quaker uniform” they did tend to dress similarly due to opting for full cuts and muted colors. There are various other Liberal Quaker resources affiliated with FGC that stress plain dress as an adherence to ethical concerns such unfair labor or even the avoidance of luxury clothing out of observance for simplicity.
This way of thinking about plainness in dress strays from its historical application and a key spiritual reason for why plain dress was adopted. It is easy to think of the sole reason for Friends wearing plain dress in antiquity being to live simply and not draw any attention to themselves, but this is not the case. We have clear examples of Friends who struggled deeply in forgoing their prior clothing and instead adopting the Quaker plain pattern, this would hardly be a difficult decision if it were to simply mean dressing like everyone else. Instead, a Quaker was expected to opt for full cuts of clothing in muted colors. An outsider made this observation, “Both sexes are also particular in the choice of the colour of their clothes. All gay colours such as red, blue, green, and yellow, are exploded. Dressing in this manner, a Quaker is known by his apparel through the whole kingdom. This is not the case with any other individuals of the island, except the clergy” (Thomas Clarkson, a Portraiture of Quakerism, 1803) Surely the Friends who took up plainness in dress during this period were aware that they were distinguished from others, yet they still found it to be important testimony maintained in their lives.
When the modern Friend speaks on matters of plainness and insists that the time for plainness has died out they are rejecting a key reason for plainness being worldly separation. Abstinence from taking part in fashions of the world is found in many of the works of Friends, even recorded by George Fox himself in his 148th Epistle “all Friends, keep out of the vain fashions of the world in your apparel, and run not after every new fashion the world inventeth and setteth up; keep in your plain fashion, that ye may judge the world’s vanity and its spirit in its vain fashions, and show a constant spirit in the truth and plainness” In this quote from Fox, There is an explicit identification of the fashions of the world to be avoided and to not follow the example of the world, instead keeping in the plain fashion. This freezing of fashion into the manner of plainness and separation from the world would hardly make a Friend look like the rest of the world, as confirmed in Clarkson’s observation.
After the Orthodox and Hicksite schisms that faced Friends around the 1820s left with the more traditional in practice Friends opting to take the side of Elias Hicks a deterioration began to take place now that “the hedge” of theological orthodoxy left. More non-christians or heterodox beliefs were welcomed into the Hicksite meetings and the distinctly Quaker traditions that the Hicksites sought to keep in practice began to be thrown out, including the plainness of dress. On the other side of the schism, the “Orthodox” Friends began to come under the influence of Joseph John Gurney, adopting a more standard evangelical view of Christianity that looked closer to Methodism and other low-church protestant movements of the time, slowly dropping plainness in dress. No longer fitting into the neat boxes of Orthodox or Hicksite as both sides had deteriorated at this point, John Wilbur began to preach a return to the primitive doctrines of Quakers found in the works of George Fox, James Nayler, Robert Barclay, and William Penn among other prominent early Friends and the means in which they lived their lives relying on the cross of Christ.
John Wilbur and other leaders of the Wilburite movement have made many comments on plainness, specifically on its return to “The Hedge” that separates Quakers from worldly pursuits and customs. “for though it is not these peculiarities of plainness that cause us to be fruitful, yet by them as an enclosure, the fruit may be kept from being devoured.” (John Wilbur, Letter VI On Plainness and Self Denial, 1879) This particular quote echoes a theme on “The Hedge” that Elizabeth Fry, a Quaker prison reformer, speaks of “I used to think and do now how little dress matters. But I find it almost impossible to keep to the principles of Friends without altering my dress and speech. . . . They appear to me a sort of protector to the principles of Christianity in the present state of the world.”
As evident from earlier quotes mentioned regarding Fox and Clarkson’s observation of plainness, we see a plainness that seeks to establish the Quakers as a separate people. This is something that the early Hicksites aimed to preserve but had failed at sustaining likely due to their acceptance of heterodoxy. The Wilburites sought to pick up the pieces of the society and keep the primitive doctrines and plainness in a unified body. Nonconformity also contains a strong presence in scripture, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2 KJV) “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1st Peter 2:9 KJV)
Plainness in its traditional form continues to appear today, mostly in Ohio Yearly Meeting Conservative which has come from the wilburites, but also with scattered friends in other yearly meetings. There are still a number of holiness friends in Central Yearly Meeting, that is the holiness evangelical spin of Quakerism, who continue to observe traditional plain dress as well. In Ohio, plainness often comes in the form of a distinct pattern for men and women. The plain men often wear broad-brimmed hats with little or no crown styling, straw or felt, plain black pants, sometimes in an older style named “broadfalls” containing a front flap, in a traditional cut held up with suspenders. These pants may be paired with a collarless button up shirt with an optional vest. The plain women wear a prayer covering of some kind, often an Amish styled kapp or headscarf, paired with a simple ankle-cut skirt and simple blouse or a plain dress. Plain Quakers today tend to stick to muted colors although blue has crept in I speculate from our Amish and Mennonite plain brothers and sisters.
Plainness continues to be a choice made out of personal conviction in all of the Quaker bodies where the plain testimony exists. Ohio does not have the expectation that its members begin to observe traditional plainness despite having the highest concentration of plain Friends. Ohio does however exhort simplicity in dress to all, this simplicity being the simple modern clothing observed by other Quakers bodies that is not distinct from the world. The Friends who choose to take up the plain dress testimony today all have their individual observations that they have found to confirm that it is the proper choice for them, but essentially all of the plain Friends today understand that valid plainness comes as a leading from Christ, not as something to be taken up as pretend righteousness or instituted as a rule.
There is something to be said about the way in which dressing outwardly as an identifiable Christian imposes an added pressure from the outside world to keep behavior virtuous. Not only does one feel the condemnation from the Lord for straying, but they will now also understand that they are responsible for upholding good Christian behavior in the presence of those who have not embarked on the path of spiritual transformation in Christ. Thomas Clarkson writes again in his Portraiture of Quakerism, “An individual {Quaker} can not go out of doors but he is reminded of his own singularities, or of his difference in a variety of respects from his fellow-citizens, Now every custom, in which he is singular, whether it be that of dress, or of language, or of address, or any other, is founded in his own mind on moral principle, and in direct opposition to popular opinion and applause. He is therefore perpetually reminded in almost all his daily habits, of the two opposite systems of reasoning and is perpetually called upon, as it were, to refer to the principles which originally made the difference between him and another citizen of the world.” this again echoes Wilbur’s emphasis on separation in the same 4th letter to George Crossfield, “if conscientiously maintained, they would serve to exhibit this constant acknowledgment to the world, ‘I am the Lord’s!’ . . . it would be an enclosure round about the tender plants of a rising generation; for by observing these peculiarities in language, manners, and appearance, there would not be that inclination to mix familiarly with others; and this has proved to our beloved youth a great preservation from the corruptions and vanities of the world.”
Due to this innate separation given by plainness in dress, the Quaker who dons traditional distinct garb will be known to the outside world to be not just a Christian, but one of the peaceable Christians who holds a staunch aversion to warring. “We do not believe that religion consists in a garb of peculiar shape; but we do believe that the man of solid principles will not adopt that dress of the fop. He will dress in a plain and simple manner. But in addition to this, the style of Friends points them out as members of a body, believing as very few other Religious Societies do, in the peaceable nature of Christ’s Kingdom, and its incompatibility with every species of injustice and oppression; and thus the plain coat and plain speech become real though silent testimonies against oppression and war.” (1861 North Carolina Yearly Meeting Minute - Plain Dress and Plain Speech)
This identification of the individual as a member of the body of Christ comes with the constant reminder of whom one serves. Plainness does not allow one to act a Christian at some moments and then forsake the duty of active listening to the will of Christ at another. The failure to do so will not go unnoticed by the company with whom the Friend associates with which is an added pressure to remain upright. In addition to this identifiable garb, it is likely that those who are in need of service may approach us. There are many anecdotes of Friends who notice an increase in the homeless or stranger who understands that we are to obey the rules of God’s kingdom and assist them in observance of good-will, functioning as a beacon or city on the hill. This becomes a very real and visible application of Matthew 5:16 KJV “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Some anecdotes from plain Friends indicate that some feel they are “Wearing their baptism” or aligning the outward presentation to match their inward condition, glorifying the Lord. In a metaphorical sense, becoming sheep in sheep’s clothing.
Not only does this identifiable garb draw those in need of service to the Friend who dons it, the garb can often function as a conversation-starter. Not many are aware of Quakers anymore, and especially not plain Quakers that exist in the world today. Being approached by those curious about the clothing choice serves as a crucial opportunity to witness to another person our faith in Christ Jesus and to invite them to sit at the foot of Christ and to learn from Him.