Jehovah's Witnesses code of dress. (page 2)

undercover

Sisters are not to wear pants to meetings, assemblies or field service. Their dresses/skirts should be modest, not too short, not too tight, etc. Tops/blouses should not be too low cut or too tight. Sleeveless is okay for summer but only if modest and not exposing too much cleavage.

There are no written rules. The WT magazines are referenced to determine what a "Christian" would wear but no hard, fast rules are laid out. In a lot of conservative areas, the elders or older sisters will wield a lot of influence on the younger and newer sisters on what is acceptable or not. That's why you hear of some areas requiring sisters to wear pantyhose while in other areas it is never been an issue.

The same thing happens to brothers. Brothers are to wear a tie at all meetings, assemblies and field service. If giving a talk or part on the platform, a suit jacket is required. Some areas have tighter rules about what brothers can and can't do. In one old hall I went to a brother had to wear a suit on the platform...dress slacks and sport jacket were not allowed. In another hall, brothers were not allowed to wear waist length jackets in service...they had to be three quarter or full length overcoats. Some brothers in the Western US were not allowed to wear cowboy boots with suits. Those rules are not written in WTS publications but were enforced by local elders. Just depends on how much power the local elders have over the followers.

Dragonlady76

some places strongly encourage pantyhose to be worn even in summer months.

I live in Florida and remember being made to wear pantyhose for everything from field service to all meetings. The awful memeoris of having to be out in field service with the searing summer heat and Florida's famous humidity did not make for a good mix walking around in your pantyhose. I always asked "why do I need to wear these anyways, I have very tanned legs?" (I'm Latin) The pantyhose were actually the same exact color as my legs anyways! Plus you had to wear a slip under your dress or skirt, even if it was not transparent material So I would be out in field service wearing a dress with sleeves,pantyhose and a slip in heat that felt like 100+ degrees. It's no wonder to this day I abhor being out in the direct sun and I hate wearing layers of any kind.

DL76

Dragonlady76

Anklets are worn by prostitutes

Skirts with slits are worn by prostitutes

You can only give a talk as a man if you wear matching suits and trousers

Men's dress shirts must be plain white
Lord knows there must be others; shall we make a list? LOL

Fishnet stockings

Denim anything

To much eyeliner

Thongs* panty lines can be visible through skirt or dress*

That's all I can thinkof right now. DL76

Elsewhere

There is no dress code. Anyone can wear anything they want so long as the elders approve of it.

Anyone want a car? You can get it in any color you want, so long as its black.

Mary

some places strongly encourage pantyhose to be worn even in summer months.

Yeah I remember one broiling summer evening when it was hotter than Hell and the humidex was off the chart, an elder half-jokingly telling me I shud have nylons on. You got three guesses what my reply was, and the first two don't count.

I'm surprised they don't try making the sisters wear those frigging burkas that Muslim women have to wear.............

hartstrings

I didn't want to go to Memorial this year, but did so for my dh's sake. I told him I refused to wear a dress or skirt though. It felt to liberating to walk into that KH in pants.

HS

kls

Hey KLS- The hall we both know about only allow dresses or skirts. At least that's what husband says. He thinks it's a stupid rule. Where we live it can get really cold! carla

Carla ,i never attended the hall where we live now ,this was in the Milwaukee area over 25 years ago where many including me would wear dresspants and was never called on it but after reading this post i guess that is not the norm.

Geez i had no idea they got so strict or maybe we had nicer elders.

itsallgoodnow

Hey, they even show women in dresses during the family bible study when the guys are in casual slacks, shirts, and shoes. What gives!

Yes, if they show the women doing housework, it's always in a modest skirt and blouse. Who in the world would do housework in a skirt? Although I still haven't seen them showing pictures of the brothers mowing the lawn or washing the car in their shirts and ties. I would love to see that.

I basically boils down to - how can they tell if you are truly kissing their ass if you don't dress like you are?

kittyeatzjdubs

I feel that it has a lot to do with who u know, and where u are. i grew up in mississippi and if u've ever been here in the summer...u know what i'm talking about. anything was fine as long as it was at the knee or below it and no cleavage. we could even wear sandals. i remember at one assembly in '94, my sister who had just moved out of the house to serve where the need was greater, wore fishnet stockings. keep in mind she was a PIONEER in very good standing. no one said anything to her about it. luckily, i took after my sister as far as being style conscious and never gave in to the floral patterned ankle length skirts. i wore whatever was in style at the time, except for miniskirts and got away with it. i think it was because my mom was best friends with all the elders wives, that we never caught any grief for the way we dressed.

when i would go to assemblies and walk around in high heels at the age of 16 and a hot little dress...i would thank my lucky stars everytime i saw some poor girl, same age as me, in u'r usual jdub garb, pantyhose, and flats. **whew!**

luv, kitty

Jahna

In Northern New Brunswick we could wear pants in the winter, in service only. It was -40c ! One thing though, had to be under a skirt. Nothing like a skirt with track pants under it! Though they did require panty hose in the summer.

I often wonder, if stocking and garters counted as panty hose.

Jahna

Jehovah's Witnesses code of dress.

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