Many of us are familiar with a Bible passage found in Isaiah chapter 3, which speaks of the utter vanity and even disgrace of various items of worldly fashion. We may not all, however, be aware of a warning made through the Spirit of Prophecy pertaining to the Laodicean era: “The prophecy of Isaiah 3 was presented before me as applying to these last days, and the reproofs are given to the daughters of Zion who have thought only of appearance and display. Read verse 25: ‘Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.’ I was shown that this scripture will be strictly fulfilled.” 1

From the early days of the Advent movement, the people professing godliness were to be tested, and a reformation in dress was clearly in order. At the time of the vision on health reform given to Sister White in 1863, the changes in dress which were called for seemed somewhat radical in those days. One major point was the condemnation of tight corsets and hoops worn by the ladies. The corsets which compressed the body were shutting off vital oxygen for physical health; the hoops were solely for vanity’s sake and were so impractical and cumbersome that the wearer often had to lift her dress immodestly just to be able to move freely. These items of dress were basic staples in the wardrobe of fashionable women, and for some to put them aside required a cross indeed. But those who were faithful were richly rewarded by increased vitality, comfort, and spiritual health.

It was not long before the Western Health Reform Institute established in Battle Creek became a leader in promoting the style of dress deemed most healthful, appropriate, and closest in harmony with what Sister White had been shown by God in vision. To ensure adequate clothing of the limbs, matching trousers had been recommended under the dress. This style, though immensely practical, was not readily accepted by the people. A concession was granted by replacing it with a dress of modest length which averaged about nine inches from the floor, a length which nicely met the top of the gaiter boots generally worn by women in that time.

Sister White describes the style as “free from needless trimmings, free from the looped-up, tied back overskirts. It consists of a plain sack or loose-fitting basque, and skirt, the latter short enough to avoid the mud and filth of the streets. The material should be free from large plaids and figures, and plain in color.” 2

This modest yet attractive, and pleasantly comfortable style of apparel depicted above would certainly seem to have been a simple solution to the dress question. However, it was not long before “much unhappy feeling was created by those who were constantly urging the reform dress upon their sisters. With extremists, this reform seemed to constitute the sum and substance of their religion. It was the theme of conversation and the burden of their hearts; and their minds were thus diverted from God and the truth. They failed to cherish the spirit of Christ and manifested a great lack of true courtesy. Instead of prizing the dress for its real advantages, they seemed to be proud of its singularity. Perhaps no question has ever come up among us which has caused such development of character as has the dress reform.” 3

Sister White was compelled to write: “Some were greatly troubled because I did not make the dress a test question, and still others because I advised those who had unbelieving husbands or children not to adopt the reform dress, as it might lead to unhappiness that would counteract all the good to be derived from its use. For years I carried the burden of this work and labor to establish uniformity of dress among our sisters.” 4

In 1889, a message of caution was issued: “There are many who try to correct the life of others by attacking what they consider are wrong habits. They go to those whom they think are in error, and point out their defects. They say, ‘You don’t dress as you should.’ They try to pick off the ornaments, or whatever seems offensive, but they do not seek to fasten the mind to the truth. Those who seek to correct others should present the attractions of Jesus. They should talk of His love and compassion, present His example and sacrifice, reveal His Spirit, and they need not touch the subject of dress at all. There is no need to make the dress question the main point of your religion. There is something richer to speak of. Talk of Christ, and when the heart is converted, everything that is out of harmony with the Word of God will drop off. It is only labor in vain to pick leaves off a living tree. The leaves will reappear. The ax must be laid at the root of the tree, and then the leaves will fall off, never to return.” 5

Here is confirmed wherein lies the real question at stake in the dress issue. It is the heart—and it is the heart which must be addressed whenever pride and vanity are flagrantly being displayed. Firm warnings were given as to the solemn duty of the church to reprove wrong practices in this area:

“Do not, my sisters, trifle longer with your own souls and with God. I have been shown that the main cause of your backsliding is your love of dress. This leads to the neglect of grave responsibilities, and you find yourselves with scarcely a spark of the love of God in your hearts. Without delay, renounce the cause of your backsliding, because it is sin against your own soul and against God. Be not hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Fashion is deteriorating the intellect and eating out the spirituality of our people. Obedience to fashion is pervading our Seventh-day Adventist churches and is doing more than any other power to separate our people from God. I have been shown that our church rules are very deficient. All exhibitions of pride in dress, which is forbidden in the word of God, should be sufficient reason for church discipline.” 6

In 1897, Sister White summarized the question with this appeal: “I beg of our people to walk carefully and circumspectly before God. Follow the customs in dress so far as they conform to health principles. Let our sisters dress plainly, as many do, having the dress of good, durable material, appropriate for this age, and let not the dress question fill the mind. Our sisters should dress with simplicity. They should clothe themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety. Give to the world a living illustration of the inward adorning of the grace of God.” 7

“True dress reform regulates every article of dress worn upon the person. In order to equalize the circulation of the blood, the clothing should be equally distributed upon the person, that equal warmth may be preserved in all parts of the body. The limbs, being remote from the vital organs, should have special attention. The extremities should be guarded from cold and chilliness by a bountiful amount of clothing. It is impossible for women or children to have health when their limbs and feet are habitually cold. If there is too little blood in the limbs, there will be a superabundance of blood in other portions of the body. There are usually worn over the chest, where there is naturally the greatest amount of heat, from four to six coverings. Over the lower part of the waist there are, in addition to these coverings, bands, plaits, overskirts lapped and puffed. All these extra coverings induce heat. The lower limbs are only furnished with two thicknesses of light material, while the feet are covered with thin flannel stockings, and cloth shoes. With the present style of woman’s dress it is impossible to preserve an equal circulation of the blood. The limbs being insufficiently clad, the blood is not induced to the extremities. Our Creator has formed the limbs with large veins and vessels to contain a large proportion of blood, that the limbs may be sufficiently nourished and proportionately warm with other portions of the body. But fashion robs the limbs of coverings, and the life current is chilled from its natural channel and thrown back upon its internal organs. The many coverings over the chest and lungs induce the blood to these parts, and the animal heat thus retained weakens and debilitates these delicate organs, causing congestion and inflammation. The head, lungs, heart, liver, and kidneys have too much blood, while the limbs have not enough for warmth and proper development. The result is, the blood vessels in the limbs contract because they are not filled and cannot contain the due proportion of blood which nature designed they should, and they are always chilly. Because this chilliness is habitual, it is not noticed by children who are thus unhealthfully dressed. These children, who are disciplined to conform to fashion, are not well proportioned. Their slender, fleshless limbs testify to the abuse they have suffered. Fashion has robbed their limbs of their natural plumpness.” 8

“I appeal to you mothers, do you not feel alarmed at seeing your children pale and dwarfed, suffering with catarrh, influenza, croup, scrofula swellings appearing upon the face and neck, inflammation and congestion of lungs and brain? Have you studied from cause to effect? Have you provided for them a simple nutritious diet, free from grease and spices? Have you not been dictated by fashion in clothing your children? Leaving their arms and limbs insufficiently protected has been the cause of a vast amount of disease and premature deaths. There is no reason why the feet and limbs of your girls, should not be in every way as warmly clad as those of your boys. Boys, accustomed to exercise out of doors, become inured to cold and exposure, and are actually less liable to colds when thinly clad than the girls, because the open air seems to be their natural element. Delicate girls, accustom themselves to live indoors, and in a heated atmosphere, and yet they go from the heated room out of doors with their limbs and feet seldom better protected from the cold than while remaining in a close warm room. The air soon chills their limbs and feet, and prepares the way for disease.” 9

“Another great cause of mortality among infants and youth, is the custom of leaving their arms and shoulders naked. This fashion cannot be too severely censured. It has cost the life of thousands. The air, bathing the arms and limbs, and circulating about the armpits, chills these sensitive portions of the body, so near the vitals, and hinders the healthy circulation of the blood, and induces disease, especially of the lungs and brain. Those who regard the health of their children of more value than the foolish flattery of visitors, or the admiration of strangers, will ever clothe the shoulders and arms of their tender infants. The mother’s attention has been frequently called to the purple arms and hands of her child, and she has been cautioned in regard to this health and the life-destroying practice; and the answer has often been, ‘I always dress my children in this manner. They get used to it. I cannot endure to see the arms of infants covered. It looks old-fashioned.’ These mothers dress their delicate infants as they would not venture to dress themselves. They know that if their own arms were exposed without a covering, they would shiver with chilliness. Can infants of a tender age endure this process of hardening without receiving injury? Some children may have at birth so strong constitutions that they can endure such abuse without its costing them life; yet thousands are sacrificed, and tens of thousands have the foundation laid for a short, invalid life, by the custom of bandaging and surfeiting the body with much clothing, while the arms—which are at such distance from the seat of life, and for that cause need even more clothing than the chest and lungs—are left naked. Can mothers expect to have quiet and healthy infants, who thus treat them?” 10

Ever since God chose to clothe Adam and Eve with coats of skin rather than skimpy fig-leaves, He has always called for appropriate covering of nakedness among His children. The Bible refers to this principle throughout the Old Testament, and the apostle Paul declares, “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works” (1 Timothy 2:9, 10). The principle of being covered is used symbolically to represent Christ’s righteousness in His message to Laodicea, “I counsel thee to buy of me . . . white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear” (Revelation 3:18).

As we have mentioned in reference to the age of Adventism, the insidious pervasion of worldly fashion in Sister White’s time manifested itself in needless extensive trimmings, hoops, and so forth. Those specific items do not seem to be a problem in our generation today. On the other hand, there are certain practices which exist now that did not pose a problem back then. For example, the Bible makes one point clear: “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God” (Deuteronomy 22:5). Today it is not uncommon to see even professed believers sporting the style of clothing which pertains to the opposite sex. The idea of women wearing trousers as men do—with no dress over them—is a concept that would never even have been dreamed of in Sister White’s day. If she rebuked the incidents when those who wore hoops needed to bend over—thus revealing the female form—what would she have said of its continuous exposure? Back then, the servant of the Lord wrote: “While traveling in the cars and stages, I have often been led to exclaim: O Modesty, where is thy blush! I have seen large companies crowding into the cars, and in order to make any headway, the hoops had to be raised and placed in a shape which was indecent. And the exposure of the form was tenfold more with those who wore hoops, than with those who did not. Were it not for fashion, those who thus immodestly expose themselves would be hissed at; but modesty and decency must be sacrificed to the god of fashion. May the Lord deliver His people from this grievous sin! God will not pity those who will be slaves to fashion.” 11 But in all honesty, today the prevailing fashion is far more immodest and inappropriate than those old hoops ever were!

And what about the tight-fitting garments worn today? How often do we see young people whose clothing is so extremely tight as to look like a second skin, or sometimes designed to expose provocatively just a bit more flesh than necessary? Are such practices really in harmony with God’s plan for wholesome thoughts? Does God really want His children to appear as naked as they dare?

The angels veil their faces in the presence of God. The prophet Isaiah describes: “I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:1–3). As a people whose minds must be focused on the heavenly sanctuary, where our High Priest is making the final atonement for our sins, what should characterize our apparel? “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31, 32).

Jesus explained how a tree is revealed by its fruits—by that outer part of the tree which shows. And as John the Baptist mentioned in Luke 3:9, the real strength of the tree is founded in its inner roots. In these last days, God’s people are called upon to purify their souls in obedience to the truth. This is a work of the inner heart in its pure, unsullied devotion to Jesus. And the fruit of such a heart will likewise be revealed by the outer part which shows.

“The test of discipleship is not brought to bear as closely as it should be upon those who present themselves for baptism. It should be understood whether they are simply taking the name of Seventh-day Adventists, or whether they are taking their stand on the Lord’s side, to come out from the world and be separate, and touch not the unclean thing. Before baptism there should be a thorough inquiry as to the experience of the candidates. Let this inquiry be made, not in a cold and distant way, but kindly, tenderly, pointing the new converts to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Bring the requirements of the gospel to bear upon the candidates for baptism.

“One of the points upon which those newly come to the faith will need instruction is the subject of dress. Let the new converts be faithfully dealt with. Are they vain in dress? Do they cherish pride of heart? The idolatry of dress is a moral disease. It must not be taken over into the new life. In most cases, submission to the gospel requirements will demand a decided change in the dress.” 12