The Amish use buttons here where I live. It depends on whether or not their Bishop allows them to do so. There’s a huge split going on in their community rn where a lot of younger generations are leaving their churches for others that are more lenient towards certain technology/ farm equipment/ dress/ decor and that are overall less controlling over their personal lives.
Buttons came to be viewed by some Amish generations ago as too ornate and flashy, back in the Victorian age buttons were often a frivolous, aristocratic luxury on clothing. But as times have changed so have the views of some Amish. Plenty of the more conservative Amish do still eschew buttons, preferring straight pins instead. Ouch. In some cases the "hooks and eyes" are still used and those are a bit less hazardous that the straight pin route. There are also metal "snaps" on jackets and clothing that some Amish find acceptable and others view buttons as perfectly fine so long as they aren't overly ornate
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Good question. A lot of their rules seem made up just for the sake of having rules. I’ve asked some of my Amish friends why they aren’t allowed to do certain things and they just say “that’s how it’s always been”.
The younger woman appears to have toggle-type clasps, though the image uses an Amish-level of JPEG. It looks like generally with buttons the most conservative groups might not use them but others just limit them to functional use.
Mennonites also tend to have some color in their clothing. But you could be right, it's just complex and hard to tell from a low res image.
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u/WiglyWorm 4h ago
Mennonite. They're wearing buttons.