Some thoughts on Clothing

As I mentioned months (yes, months - you know how summers  go!), I wanted to talk about clothing and modesty.  I've spent the summer thinking about this a lot, whenever I found myself a few moments for a mind wonder (while doing dishes for example).  I view modesty as a way to exhibit your self-respect.  I don't do it because the Bible says it the right thing to do, but because I do.  By specifically setting a goal to dress modestly, despite the latest fashions, I feel more purposeful.  By dressing with modesty in mind, I feel more confident in myself and my appearance.

Additionally, another of my goals in modest dressing is to feel more feminine.  This is new for me, and a complete surprise!  The media is full of over-sexed goddesses wearing barely there clothing and they have everyone thinking that is femininity.  I've discovered that by wearing skirts, modest shirts and my hair in a feminine way, I feel more feminine.  Not girly, I mean a more grown up, beautiful, capable woman.  Who'd a thunk?

Here are few of the parameters I've set for myself.  Keep in mind that they are not hard and fast rules, merely guide lines.  One thing about setting absolute rules that I don't like is once you've set the bar, it's easier to look down on those who fall below it.  So here's what I've come up with during my summer time musings:

-Avoid tank tops, especially those with spaghetti straps.  I don't like seeing other people's underwear, I don't like showing mine off.  I do have a few of these still in my drawer, but I mostly confine myself to wearing them around home or with a sweater.
-No shorts.  I don't like shorts anyhow, so this wasn't really an issue for me.  One of the reasons I don't really like them is that if they're not super short, they seem so masculine.  I mean, long board shorts come down to the knee, but most of them, put on a man, wouldn't seem all that out of place.  So no shorts.
-Lots of skirts.  I'm not going to say that pants are off limits, but I'd like to wear skirts more days of the week than not.  With cold weather coming, I'm not sure I'll be able to keep this up especially as my budget is still limited and I mostly have light summer skirts.  But it is something to strive for.
-Modest pants.  Today this seems like an oxymoron, doesn't it?  I wear mid-rise jeans that aren't too tight around the seat and legs, that fit well and are in good repair.  I'm not interested in gaps around the middle!
-Shirt bottoms need to go well past the top of my pants and skirts.  Additionally, I'm only buying crew-neck shirts, or very modest v-necks.  Cleavage is not cool.   I'm slowly building up an inventory of these types of shirts, but I must say that long ones are much easier to find than crew neck styles!

I admit, I've made exceptions when it comes to weddings.  Mostly because I bought a pretty dress and a couple of dressy tank tops at the beginning of the season, just before I began to consider modest dressing and I just can't afford to buy new things whenever it pleases me.  To compensate, I wore them with a light wrap.  In the future I'll look to buy dressy clothes that fit in with my new guidelines.

As for nightwear, anything goes.  That's between me and my husband.  When I leave my room, I throw on an ankle length house coat and feel perfectly within my limits. For swimming I've not really put a ton of thought into this.  I don't swim much, and I don't wear bikinis.  I may, in the future sometime, buy a suit that is higher up in the front, but for now will make do with my one peice.  I usually have a sundress on over top when I'm not actually swimming anyhow.

It's also important for me to note that I've also been more lenient at home.  I have town clothes and at home clothes, I always have.  That's the only way I can make my clothing budget work.  Some things that I've deemed to short or too revealing have been relegated to home wear, and that works so far.  As more time goes by, I'll will probably lean toward making my entire wardrobe more modest.

Sot that's kind of how this whole thing has been working for me.  It's a bit of work in progress, I'm sure I'll be tweaking this as time passes.  I've been so surprised at how dressing intentionally has made me feel.  I walk taller, I'm more composed, I make an effort to keep my hair tidy and put make up on every day.  I never would have guessed that it would have that effect!  And I like it!  It's made me a better mom, and a better wife.  Everyone's happy!