If you are a Christian female, chances are you have this passage from 1 Timothy 2:9-10 highlighted, bookmarked and starred (if not completely committed to memory). This passage is the ultimate Biblical inspiration for modest dressing and the one that encouraged me to start this blog.
However it’s not an easy scripture to follow, especially when women and men have varying standards for modesty and our opinions are skewed by society’s standards (or lack thereof) for appropriate apparel. So many clothing items that seemed perfectly harmless to me — bikinis, one-shoulder dresses, etc. — I’ve learned are actually considerably immodest, especially to Christian men.
Learning that half my wardrobe was immodest blew my mind and caused me to re-think every item in my closet. But instead of agonizing for an embarrassing length of time over whether my peplum top was modest or not, I thought: Why not just ask my brothers?
Every month I will be doing just that. For this inaugural post, I chose to bug three brothers I respect for their opinions on popular clothing items, such as heels and skinny jeans.
The Panel
Caleb: A young preacher in New York, also a part of a group of men who recently started bilingual church in Harlem/Bronx.
Patrick: Another young preacher, currently working in Kentucky.
Anonymous: An older, New York-based preacher who requested anonymity because he didn’t want to seem creepy.
The Clothes & The Verdicts
(Photo sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
With the exception of off-the-shoulder shirts, which they unanimously decided were inappropriate, the guys were not able to make conclusive statements about whether the above clothing items were modest or immodest – it depends on whether the clothing items highlight, cling to, or expose the areas between a woman’s shoulders and knees. For my fellow curvy girls, this means we have to be very aware of our bodies and what kind of materials we can wear to cover them. A good rule of thumb, courtesy of Caleb, is this: When in doubt, leave it out…or throw it out!
The most encouraging part of this exercise is that each guy I interviewed expressed sincere gratitude for my interest in this topic. My fellow modest fashionistas, guys really appreciate your dedication to dressing decently – and they notice your efforts.
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The Comments
Philippe
Do not mix faith and fashion. Whatever you wear, as a man or as a woman, you can be a good person or a bad person. I’ve seen very positive, “christian in their behaviour” should I say people wearing only a thong on the beach and others “modestly dressed” that behaved as bad as they could.
Faith has to be kept in your soul and in your church / mosque / whatever.