The Story of our Health Message

Deplorable Physical Effects

The deplorable physical effects of the fashionable dress of that period began to receive attention about this time. Under the heading “Talks About Health” two articles appeared, both selected from the writings of Dr. Dio Lewis of Boston. In the first (November 25, 1862) he pointed out the evil effects of insufficient clothing for the limbs, and in the second (May 25, 1863) he condemned the corset and recommended a “full and loose” dresswaist to be supported from the shoulders instead of the hips. The “dress reformers” who advocated the “American costume” exerted but little influence, however, upon Seventh-day Adventists, and only a few of them adopted it. SHM 123.1

The fact that many spiritualists had adopted the Bloomer, or “American costume,” and wore it at their meetings gave it an unsavory reputation in the eyes of many sincere Christians. The costume as modified was now very much shorter than when first introduced, coming barely to the knee or even higher than that, and this tended to bring it into discredit as being immodest. SHM 123.2

It was from the standpoint of modesty and propriety that the “American costume” was first discussed by Mrs. Ellen G. White. In 1863, in writing of the “cause in the East,” where some had taken extreme positions and others had run into fanaticism, she stated: SHM 123.3

“God would not have His people adopt the so-called reform dress. It is immodest apparel, wholly unfitted for the modest, humble followers of Christ.”—Testimonies for the Church 1:421. SHM 123.4

In presenting Scriptural arguments against this extreme style, she also wrote: SHM 123.5

“I saw that God’s order has been reversed, and His special directions disregarded, by those who adopt the ‘American costume.’ I was referred to Deuteronomy 22:5: ‘The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.’”—Ibid. SHM 123.6