Frugal fashion colored with caring

I’ve never been fashion savvy. I blame it on my Mennonite upbringing, where frugal fashion ruled. Home­made dresses, hand-me-downs and out-of-style garage sale finds filled my childhood closet. Trying to connect fashion with biblical understandings was customary. Gone are the days of sleeve-length guides and jewelry limitations. It seems faith and fashion have become disconnected.

Yoder-Short

I’ve been reconsidering fashion, frugality and faith since Rana Plaza in Bangladesh collapsed killing more than 1,000 and injuring 2,500 workers. Garment factory managers ignored warnings to stop using the cracked building. The pressure was on for workers to keep turning out cheap garments for Western markets. The falling building shook the clothes in my closet.

Jesus lived before the industrialization of garment making. He didn’t make a lot of fashion statements, but he did remind people that the beauty of lilies outshone Solomon’s splendor. Was Jesus admonishing those in his audience who were wearing flashy linen tunics?

In Luke we find Jesus’ lily proclamation coming after the barn-builder story (12:13-28). The barn builder was a “my” person. Life was about my grain, my goods, my stuff, my party time. The barn builder sounds like the garment factory owners and managers who keep piling up more worker hours, more clothing and more profits. Jesus reminds us that piling up is foolish.

John the Baptist prepared us for the coming Jesus fashion. Beyond his not-so-trendy camel hair clothing and leather belt, he was into limiting garments. When the crowds asked him how to prepare for salvation, he told them those with two coats must share with anyone who has none (Luke 3:10).

Our world depends on people wanting more than two coats. In Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, Elizabeth Cline writes that the average person in the United States buys 64 pieces of clothing a year.

How many shirts do we need — and of which brand? Are we responsible to know whether our garments were made in just working conditions?

A Haitian student who lived among the Walmarts of Iowa encouraged people to buy clothes made in Haiti. Working conditions were corrupt, but at least people had jobs. Are we left with a choice between supporting injustice and awful jobs, or no jobs at all?

The maze of consumption takes more twists and turns. Our overshopping benefits Mennonite Central Committee resale shops, but before we feel too justified, we turn a corner and see a mountain of castoffs. NPR reported an estimated 80 percent of donated clothes are carted away by textile recyclers. Some of these are turned into rags, but about 45 percent are exported. What effect do our discarded clothes have on local markets around the world?

I uneasily tug at the tag in my jeans and envy my Amish neighbors without fashion struggles. Or is there competition on how bright a cape dress can be?

As new styles and good deals tempt us, we might benefit from remembering the lily guideline. We and the lilies are beautiful because God cares. God cares about the garment workers in Bangladesh. God cares about those whose closets are too full.

Whatever our fashion inclinations happen to be, may we strive to color our style with caring — caring that reaches beyond ourselves, caring that somehow reaches our global neighbors.

Jane Yoder-Short attends West Union Mennonite Church in Parnell, Iowa.

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