Plain Clothing

I got an email yesterday from Bill Coleman’s archivist asking about an unusual photo found in his collection. He described it as “one of Bill’s earliest Amish photographs” and that he had not seen anything similar in any of Bill’s other photos. This photo “was taken in the early 1980’s…”[women in] scoop hats” is the […]

Continue Reading What do these Amish women have on their heads?

Stephen B writes: While I certainly understand the idea behind Plain-ness, of not calling undue attention to one’s self out of modesty and of not wanting to be too much of this world, it seems to me that as times and fashions change, the Amish haven’t really updated their fashions enough to actually *stay* plain. […]

Continue Reading Is Amish clothing really “Plain”?

Amish Workshops has posted a great look at the process Amish women go through to pin up their hair.  The article features over 2 dozen photos illustrating the procedure. Amish women don’t display their hair for Biblically-based reasons.  They also do not cut their hair, pinning it all up underneath a kapp, or prayer covering. […]

Continue Reading How do Amish women put up their hair?

Interest in the beard is growing.  How do I know?  I just learned about a contest called the Beard and Moustache National Championships. Prize categories include “best mustache, best partial beard, best full beard and best freestyle”. The Championships will be held this fall in the beard mecca that is Lancaster County.  Read about it […]

Continue Reading Battle of the beards in Lancaster County

Amish women let their hair grow, so they have a lot of it.  Hair pins keep all those locks in place, up underneath a prayer covering. I thought I’d give you a look at some plain hair pins.  I picked these up at an Amish dry goods shop (not for personal use, demonstration purposes only, […]

Continue Reading Amish hair pins

Back in January, I shared a few slides of Lancaster County, circa 1963.  Here are a few more: Would today’s Lancaster Amish women consider this overdressed? Lancaster County has the second-most covered bridges of any county in America.  The #1 county? Parke County, Indiana, where a group of Lancaster Amish moved in the 1990s.  Here’s […]

Continue Reading Lancaster County, 50 years ago (part 2)

I’m away from the computer for a couple of days, but have auto-posted some hat shop photos. The first is from the Nappanee, Indiana Amish community.  Nappanee is the 3rd-largest Amish community in Indiana, and 6th-largest in the nation.  There is also a small Old Order Mennonite community near Nappanee: You can see a few […]

Continue Reading Amish hat shops

A few items of interest for your Friday: Amish winter headwear Reader Slightly-handled-Order-man recently asked:  Could you write an article on Amish winter clothing? Well, I don’t know about a whole article, but why don’t we start with the head?  The Amish straw hat is an icon, and comes in a wide range of styles. […]

Continue Reading Amish winter headwear, PA farm fire, and how to take a photo out the back of a buggy

One distinguishing characteristic of the Pinecraft Amish community in Florida is that it attracts Amish from a range of backgrounds, many of whom are seasonal visitors. Because of this, Amish at Pinecraft are likely to follow differing guidelines for daily living (or at least do so while in their home communities). These guidelines, which take […]

Continue Reading The Amish Ordnung

An Amish friend, whom we’ll call “Aaron Miller”, recently discussed aspects of Amish society with a college class. Aaron later wrote a follow-up letter to the class, in which he addressed a few issues raised during the discussion.  Aaron has kindly shared the letter, from which we’ll post a few excerpts on the blog.  You […]

Continue Reading “Aaron Miller” on the beard, cell phone, and Ordnung