Mary, Queen of Style: Catholic Modest Fashion in Midcentury America

Abstract

In the middle of the twentieth century tensions arose in American Catholicism surrounding clothing and modest femininity. As more revealing garments made their way into popular culture, Catholics began to both emphasize and question the importance of modest clothing. Two groups emerged to promote the modesty cause. Supply the Demand for the Supply was a youth-led activist group and the Marilyke Crusade was a priest-led purity initiative. Both groups were influenced by the rise in popular devotion to Our Lady of Fatima, rooted in Marian symbolism, and emphasized the importance of full coverage fashion as it related to Catholic values. Despite their similarities, the two groups functioned separately from one another and under distinctly different identities. This article compares the history and activities of the two groups while analyzing lived religion through Catholic material culture.