The Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church movement is known for having lots of rules and regulations, especially when it comes to matters of dress. Women, in particular, face the brunt of the clothing rules and regulations. After all, IFB men are helpless, ravenous, and prone to lust. If an IFB man gives in to lust…….it is the woman’s fault. She should have dressed modestly, modestly meaning: no slacks, dresses only, covering everything that can be covered. Breasts and legs must be covered lest a a poor, hapless IFB man gazing upon them falls into the awful sin of lust.
My youngest daughter is a fashion design and marketing major at Bowling Green State University. In her assembly and fit class today the professor had numerous pictures of clothing with captions underneath them.
Under the picture of culottes, the one true article of clothing that distinguishes an IFB woman from all other women it said:
Skirt divided into pants
Not flattering to anyone
I know when my wife finally began wearing pants the culottes were quickly relegated to the back of the closet, only worn when painting or working in the yard. She doesn’t miss them and neither do our daughters.
I am not knocking what people freely choose to wear. Each to their own. However, IFB women wearing culottes is a required article of faith. I doubt, if given the choice, most IFB women would wear culottes.
As an IFB pastor I was a strong proponent of proper dress for women. No pants. Dresses, skirts or culottes only….No exposed flesh. I preached about it like any good IFB pastor would. The Bible was 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
One Saturday we took a large group of teenagers to go to canoeing. The teen girls all had their Baptist shorts, err, I mean culottes on. They had a great time and most of the teens looked liked drowned rats by the time they reached the end of the trip.
Once everyone safely reached the end of the trip I had them all sit on the ground so I could preach to them for a bit. (can’t have fun without preaching) As I looked at everyone sitting on the ground I saw, much to my horror, dozens of girls with legs up, bottoms or underwear exposed. I learned right then and there that culottes were not as modest as I thought they were and from that time forward girls were permitted to wear slacks to outings like the canoe trip. (and things like roller skating, YMCA lock-ins, etc) I don’t think any of the girls complained. I suspect, for the most part, they hated wearing culottes.
How about you? Do you have any IFB or other sect clothing stories to tell? Please share.
You can check out the latest, greatest culottes styles here.
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