Short Skirts and Pants

On page 129 Prophetess of Health speaks of the “short” skirts and pants of the reform dress. It should be remembered that the “short” skirts advocated by Mrs. White had a hemline about nine inches from the floor. The pants were a loose-fitting garment, visible only below the hemline of the skirt.CBPH 65.12

On page 134 Prophetess of Health says that Adventist women were not to wear the hoop skirt, for God’s people were to be “peculiar.” The word “peculiar” can mean more than one thing. It can mean “odd” or it can mean “unique.” The Bible, in Deuteronomy 14:2, 2618; 1 Peter 2:9; Titus 2:14, KJV, uses the word in the latter sense. (See the RSV and NEB on these texts.) Ellen White, probably drawing on the KJV usage, had the latter in mind when she opposed the wearing of hoops. Concerning the wearing of hoops she wrote:CBPH 65.13

While traveling in the cars and stages, I have often been led to exclaim: Oh 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.—Testimonies for the Church 1:277.CBPH 65.14

God’s people were to be “peculiar” or “unique” in the sense that they were to be modest, not in the sense that they were to be “odd.”CBPH 65.15