What pertainiths to a man?

I often wonder what God sees as pertaining to a man...wardrobe wise.  We are instructed that a woman should not wear anything which pertains to a man and a man should not wear anything pertaining to a woman in Deuteronomy.  This scripture is one that I am most often told as an explanation/reason for why women should wear skirts or cape dresses. 

I wonder if women should wear button-up dress shirts, or t-shirts because both of those were worn by a man first. 

I wonder if it is okay to wear clothing as long as it is bought from the women's department.

I was told by another woman that we should not wear anything that splits the legs, even under our skirts.  She gave shorts as an example saying that God can see under our skirts and He doesn't like when we wear something pertaining to a man even under skirts.  I started wondering then if tights/nylons would be included in that.  Tights are something that I definately wear during the winter, otherwise I would freeze!!  In the summer, I wear shorts under my skirts.  But I do not have a problem with it because I'm not showing that to the world for all to see. 

I think there is a balance there.  I am not convinced that as women we should not wear shorts, leggings, tights, etc, when it is concealed by a skirt.  I personally feel it is okay as long as that item is not visible to the world.  But I am still unsure about the button-up shirts and t-shirts.  Those are both things that I wear a decent number of, because they are easily made modest.  But I wonder if God sees those as pertaining to a man...  So far I don't have a conviction either way on that, but I do wonder...

Blessings in Christ,

 

Colors -- Are they immodest?

Is there such a thing as a "wrong" color to wear? One that we should consider immodest or not appropriate to wear? In my humble opinion, I do not think so. God created every color we have, He created the rainbow, the robin's eggs, the sunset, the sunrise, the flowers, all of which use various colors. I am a colorful person and love to wear colors. I feel drab when I wear dark colors, but I do understand their purpose. There are some circumstances which do not call for bright colors, but on an everyday basis, I love to wear the colors which He created for us!

God did not just create blues, purples, greens, black and white, He also created reds, oranges, pinks, yellows and the various shades of each of these. If we allow only certain colors to be permissible for wearing, what are we saying? My closet has always looked like a rainbow, some colors more numerous than others :), but I have felt that if God created the colors, then why should I not wear them? I do not feel that a color will make a person's clothing immodest, I believe it is more the size/fit of the clothing which makes it modest or immodest.

Just a small random post, but this has been on my mind lately :)

Blessings in Christ,

The purpose of an apron

My roommate and I have been discussing clothing a lot, hence my posts trending that way for the time being :)

She is an absolute fan of aprons, one that is a full apron like below.



She wears these over dresses that do not have capes on them and feels "more covered" as she says :) Another reason she gave is that it makes her look not Amish and not Mennonite (but really people just look at the kapp she wears and think that she's Amish without looking at her clothes, just like they look at my kapp and think I am Beachy Amish). Last night we were talking about how she would rather wear an apron to church than a cape dress but she wants a black dress without a cape to wear the apron with (it's a nice teal color). I told her I don't feel aprons are appropriate for church because the purpose of an apron is to protect your clothing while you work. At church, we are not working so why do we need an apron? I do not wear aprons, even when I am working or cleaning. If I get something on my dress I just clean it, but I was not raised in a family that wore aprons for anything -- not even while cooking or baking.

I know many groups do wear aprons to church and I am not criticizing them as I am sure they have "reasonings" for wearing an apron :) But I do wonder why it would be worn to church if the purpose is to keep clothing nice while working. Maybe someone who knows could share with me :)

Blessings in Christ,

Separate Dress

One thing I have become to wonder about is the dress of Conservative Mennonites, more so of the men. The church wants the women to dress differently than the world everyday of the week, which I understand and agree with wearing a dress or modest skirt and shirt as that is how the Bible teaches a woman should dress. This makes her stand out against others in her community as a Mennonite (or some may think an Amish especially when wearing a cape dress), but either way she is known to be different. During the week, I can look at a group of men, mixed with Amish, Conservative Mennonites, German Baptist, and "English" men, and I can pick the Amish and German Baptist men out. The Conservative Mennonite and the "English" men appear the same. I wonder, how is this okay? A Mennonite man would not be known as Mennonite if he is out alone without his wife, she is what makes them look different. He typically would wear a pair of jeans and a t-shirt during the week (unless his work specified otherwise).

I think this is one thing that I definitely appreciated at the Beachy Amish church that I attended for a while. The men expected the women to dress differently than the world, but they also dressed differently every day of the week. Not just on Sundays. Even some Mennonite men are going away from wearing the Plain dress coats on Sundays and even away from the white shirts. I really am curious as to how they feel it is okay when the Bible directs all Christians to be separate of the world. But for now I will most likely keep my wonderings to myself :)

Blessings in Christ,