Henry Van Til once observed that culture is religion externalized.

By this he meant that the culture of a nation reflects the true faith of that people.

The way a people live their lives, the way they communicate, their philosophy of work, and their

approach to aesthetics all reflect the standards and priorities of the

people, and those priorities are dictated by their true faith. This is why we must recognize that even dress is religion

externalized. Cultures that worship nature and treasure sensuality tend to

dress immodiously. Those which make an idolatry out of material possessions

often fall prey to a foppish enslavement to high fashion. On the other hand

cultures which embrace true Christian piety will seek to make personal holiness the driving

standard for their dress code. They will develop clothing which emphasizes biblical principles

like distinction, functionality, and modesty. In short, dress is not neutral.

Furthermore, dress standards and dress codes are inescapable and inevitable.

Whether you realize it or not, you and everyone else have a dress code.

You will either have a dress code by design,

meaning that you thought through the moral and philosophical implications of your

dress code, or you will have a dress code by default because you have let others do the thinking

for you and have de facto accepted their conclusions, but you

will have a dress code.

Until the 20th century, most Christians understood that dress standards were inescapable, but with the rise of

antinomianism, the rejection of God as lawgiver, the resurgence of Gnosticism, the belief that

God is not concerned with physical things,

and the widespread acceptance of the neutrality postulate,

...