Beards and other forms ofmodest fashion?

Hopefully Kevin will give a Quaker view.

But there are quite a few religions that require men to wear a beard, and some that require the Clergy to wear one with it being optional for the laity.

Some Christian denominations that require the Clergy to wear a beard and encourage the Laity to do the same:

Greek Orthodox
Russian Orthodox
Coptic

It think the reason some Christian denominations wear beards can be answered simply. They desire to emulate Jesus(as) and the Apostles.

Have you  ever seen any pictures of Jesus or the Apostles without a beard?

Neither has anyone else. We just have some early drawings of what some people think he looked like. I am fairly certain most people believe Jesus(as) and the Prophets  beards.

But nobody really knows. We can only assume that the early Christians believed Jesus(as) had a beard as most pictures drawings show him as such. Also Jews of the time did not shave or trim their beards and forelocks.

I am assuming that this is the reason several Christian denominations do not shave their beards.

That's not really what they are going for. They are going for the look of the Jewish Orthodox because they think it gets them some sort of credibility.

Probably Mennonite women.

I really don't remember the difference between Quakers and Mennonites.
I studied while back but forgot.

quakers value simplicity as a religious expectation, moose. in the past, one expression took the form of very plain clothing, without lace, braiding, fancy tailoring, or other ornamentation. eventually this developed into a religious uniform, by the 1650s consisting entirely of gray cloth for both men and women. since then the uniformity has been de-emphasized, but the simplicity remains.

personally, i prefer the older philosophical expressions of quaker plain, and given the choice i would wear nothing but uniformly plain gray trousers and shirts, identical in every way, with zero modification from a single pattern. but gray shirtcloth is literally impossible to find, as are gray heavier fabrics for trousers. and i don't have the time to sew my own clothing anyway, although i would like to.

regarding beards, some plain quakers wear them because they're associated with the anabaptist plain traditions, and identify the participant as someone who values a degree of separation from the dominant culture. but i've shaved my beard recently in order to wear a respirator in my current job fraccing gas wells. having a beard risks silicosis, and i'm not into that.

modesty is a tradition among all the anabaptists, but uniform clothing is typically applied only to women among the faster mennonites. dunno how they justify that.