Perhaps my only post ever on fashion.

Every now and then when I've been peeking around the news sites on the internet, that story of the FLDS Texas cult is in the headlines. And always with those pictures. What is up with these women? Why do they all have the same hairstyle? And those dresses that make them look like circus clowns without makeup?

I'm not passing any judgement on their desire to live in a separate society devoted to semi-free love (at least for the men) and communitarian child raising, but what gets me is the obsession with cast-off costumes from the set of Little House on the Prairie. Except even the wardrobe that made it to the cameras looked better than the ill-tailored 19th century clownsuits these women are wearing (the men for their part sometimes look like "cowboys" from a dude ranch and at other times look like assistant managers of shoe stores).

On the other hand, maybe they are huge fans of Little House. At any rate, I wondered a little about their anachronistic dressing style, and I realized they should take some tips from the Amish, by the way, who actually do the "old-timey-clothes" thing right:

It's actually hard to find good Amish photos online, mainly because the Amish aren't exactly volunteering to get their pictures taken. Most of the photos available are related to the school shooting a few years back, and I didn't feel like using any of them. Disturbingly enough, my search indicates there's a strange underground market for Amish porn [sorry, no photos].

But seriously, there are lots of inexplicable fashion choices out there (I for one have never understood the thankfully-now-dead trend of wearing jeans that appeared to have had the front thigh area dipped in bleach...gawd-awful ugly), and what might seem right at the time often ages most embarrassingly:

Look at Magic trying to pull those shorts down just a little bit to cover his thighs. Useless.