Many moons ago, the Older Ladies of the Church began noticing that some of the Younger Ladies, mostly visitors, were coming to liturgy less than modestly dressed. Their solution was to place a little basket of shawls and scarves near the entrance of the church for the Younger Ladies to cover their excessively exposed flesh. For ages, the shawls in the basket went for the most part unused. Younger Ladies who were parishoners or regular attendees simply began wearing more covering clothing when they entered The Lord’s House. Thus it was only the occasional visitor who would need to avail herself of a shawl from the basket. On a rare occasion, one of the Older Ladies would have to fetch a shawl and cast it about the uncovered shoulders of some brazen hussy who felt that she absolutely must have her shoulders bare, and show a generous amount of cleavage as well.
But, it seems that in the past few months, some of the Younger Ladies have decided that the shawls are cool. They will come to liturgy in their little spaghetti-strapped dresses and raid the shawl basket. Even some of the more modest- they come in wearing dresses that cover the upper trapezius, but don’t quite make it to the deltoids, which is a technical modesty violation that doesn’t really bother anyone- will snatch a basket shawl and wrap herself in it. It’s like, they’re being edgy somehow. It doesn’t even seem to be a “its warm out thing and I don’t want to wear all of that fabric but I have respect for God’s house and will observe the rules of modest dress” thing. The trend started in the very early Spring when it was still chilly out. Also, surely, they could, at minimal expense, purchase a shawl or scarf of their own, perhaps one in a color that matches the outfit they desire to wear, or a really cool lacy one with fringes on it (the basket shawls being essentially a plain rectangle of cloth) carry it with them while they are out in the heat and toss it on as they walk into the building.
The basket shawl have become a fashion statement among the Younger Ladies of the Church.
What denomination do you belong to? Did they announce the purpose of the shawl basket at some point or was it word of mouth?
My church is into knitting in a big way, and one of the groups knits prayer shawls (another knits scarves, which were our church fashion item for the past few months). Maybe your Older Ladies could start a knitted prayer shawl fashion and teach the Young Ladies the fine points (ooops, bad knitting joke!) of knitting. Then they could all bond over balls of yarn, and soon everyone in the church will be draped in a prayer shawl!
At my (public, non-religious) high school, knitting has begun to gain popularity for some reason. A friend of mine finds that it keeps her quiet during class (not when she’s being talked to, of course, but while other things are happening and there can’t be noise in the classroom). But other than that, I can find no rational cause for this little trend. It is not cold at all here, especially these last few weeks, as we approach summer. Very strange.
Yes, shawls are back in style. If you walk through your basic mall type of place, past one of the a-lot-younger-than-I’ve-been-in-years stores, you’ll find them right out in front. Saw a couple of ten-year-olds sporting them cause they were “cool”.
I remember crocheting those things in junior high school cause they were cool. Actually I remember my sister crocheting them. I was busy knitting a seventeen foot scarf in shades of orange and yellow.
There’s a scholarly article in this Thea Logica. I suspect that what’s going on is that the shawls are in the process of changing from being something that practically prepares one for attending church appropriately modestly to a symbolic preparation. I ope you keep an eye on this. It’s very cool.
I pass by a store called Wet Seal when I get my coffee in the mornings. Wet Seal, from what I can gather, is where you go when you want to look like a whore but not like a Whore[sup]TM[/sup]. They have a few ensembles with shawls in the storefront.
I hate them because my mom used to try to make me wear them to church when I was little. Thanks, mom.
Except that these aren’t the cool, fringy shawls I’m starting to see at various store, and draped over girls’ shoulders (or, more often, tied around waists- hip scarves are coming in in a big way, which actually I am sort of grateful for, as well. Anything so that these girls are actually wearing something that covers something that covers more than just pubes and nipples.)
The basket shawls are basically oversized scarves, plain black or white squares or rectangles of cloth.