Fldsdress.com. The new fashion line started because FLDS children taken into custody by Texas officials kept losing their clothes. Foster parents and group directors wanted the children to give up the long underwear and pioneer-style clothing in favor of panties and capris and lightweight blouses. So the prairie garb got lost or tossed. But FLDS moms insisted that their children be dressed the way they'd always dressed them. They made replacement clothing for their kids and sold it to the state of Texas.
Now they've piqued interest from a fashion industry always on the lookout for the new, the funky, the original. Recent issues of Marie Claire have run fashion pages of "Old West" dress for women, drawing on the style of characters in HBO's Deadwood and Big Love.
Many FLDS mothers have been advised by their attorneys to stay away from the YFZ Ranch and set up their own apartments until the hearings involving their children's custody have concluded. In need of funds, these women have engaged in this and other enterprises. (A line of FLDS crafts, recipes, books, and music is in the works.) Some FLDS women are practiced seamstresses and good businesswomen, having been involved in Barco, a company in the Utah/Arizona community that contracts to sew uniforms. According to Brooke Adams, reporter for The Salt Lake Tribune, the FLDS entrepreneurs are counting on the public's curiosity, charity, and interest in modest attire to support their venture. When it comes to business, these polygamists are not dummies.
I'm just not sure the FLDS fashion will take hold. What do you think?
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