Modesty Returning to Fashion?

[kamikat]

What woman in her right mind would want to wear full sleeves, a full dress and pantyhose when it was 110 degrees outside?

Clearly, you've never worn a dress. While I don't live in Texas, I do live in the Mid-Atlantic where it usually hovers in the 95 degree F range with occasional bumps past 100 for most of July and August, not to mention the major humidity. A nice, short sleeved linen dress with an ankle length full skirt (if it's ankle length, no need for pantyhose) is MUCH cooler than shorts. There's no fabric sticking to your legs and getting sweaty. I prefer dresses to shorts in the summer.
kamikat

 

[MoodyBlue]

OK, this may be the happiest news I've heard in a long time...

http://www.fashiongates.com/magazine/Modesty-Is-Back-in-Fashion-24-06-05-93041.html



Of course the grain of salt points out that this claim was made going into last year, so it remains to be seen if this carries over. Count me among those crossing my fingers.

I believe this article falls under the category of "wishful thinking".

 

[nahtanojmal]

good its about time

 

[NothingButTheBlood]

Fashion pet peeves:

Low pants, high shirt to show thong underware/back tatoo and belly button ring.
Words on 14 year old girls butts.

I dislike provacative clothing more than skimpy bathing suits. I guess I expect some skin at the pool. I would also agree with the light dress, full lenght in summer is way cooler than shorts.

 

[UberLutheran]

Oh, and I wanted to say I'm really sorry to see the fires raging in Texas and Oklahoma, with so many lives and homes lost. Our thoughts and prayers here in the Northwest are with everyone down there.

Yes, there are burning bans, and those include fireworks bans -- but the people seem to think they're entitled to ignore those things and so I distributed a flyer to everyone in our neighborhood asking them to water their lawns thoroughly before New Year's Eve so we don't end up with an urban wildfire.

Unfortunately, the forecasts from the NWS indicate things aren't going to improve much before October, 2006.

 

[BarbB]

...
I dislike provacative clothing more than skimpy bathing suits. I guess I expect some skin at the pool. I would also agree with the light dress, full lenght in summer is way cooler than shorts.

I agree - and have worn dresses in the summer since the 1980's. It's way cooler!

 

[katautumn]

I am not one to make a stink about skirts that fall above the knee, women wearing fitted pants, or shrits that cling a little or expose some cleavage; however, I have seen a drastic shift in fashion for young women even in the short seven years since I was in high school. I see some of these girls who couldn't possibly be a day over thirteen walking around the mall in skirts no bigger than a napkin and I have to wonder, do their parents not know what they're leaving the house in? It's not flattering at all. I would like to see some more classy styles offered up to young women that send a message that there is an attractive, happy medium somewhere between Granny's mumu and street walker.

 

[loriersea]

I am not one to make a stink about skirts that fall above the knee, women wearing fitted pants, or shrits that cling a little or expose some cleavage; however, I have seen a drastic shift in fashion for young women even in the short seven years since I was in high school.

I have to agree with that. I am not easily offended, and I'm not easily bothered by most fashion trends, but what many American teenagers are wearing today is just highly disturbing. For me, the issue has less to do with what it says about modesty and more to do with what it must say about their self-image. There is nothing empowering about walking around with your stomach, breasts, AND butt hanging out as you go to school. The way girls dress, you'd think their only purpose in life was to turn on guys, not to get an education, set goals, and make friends.

I was teaching high school students this summer, in a class that had students from the US, Turkey, France, Italy, and Puerto Rico, and the way the American female students dressed just floored me. My students, who were 15 and 16, came in wearing shorts that were so short you could see the bottom of their butt, and so low if they went down another 1/4 inch you would have seen public hair. They had their entire stomach hanging out, and then had on tank tops made of material so thin you could see their entire bra. I was shocked. What on earth would make girls feel like that is an appropriate way for them to dress? I should say, my female students from other countries did NOT dress that way. They weren't wearing sacks, but they were dressed in ways that were trendy without revealing more than a bathing suit would.

If I had a daughter who dressed that way, I'd wonder what was going on in her life that made her think she should be doing so. I find it very disturbing that so much emphasis is put on what a girl's body looks like. If you wear those kinds of clothes, then you bet you are going to have to spend countless hours thinking about what you should and shouldn't eat, and how much you need to exercise, rather than about things that are actually productive or empowering. I honestly think that these kinds of fashion trends are nothing more than a ploy to keep girls in bondage to worries about their bodies, and I would be very glad to see a turn to trends that are not so skimpy.

 

[ChrisB803]

I believe this article falls under the category of "wishful thinking".

Well, I kind of thought so too, but then I saw that and one other article, and the mention that more modest clothing is outselling the "skanky" stuff pretty well right now. Plus, just out of curiosity I did a little snooping at a Target store around here last night, and I did notice that most of the clothes they were advertising covered much better than I've seen in the past. Granted it's Winter, so that's not probably that unexpected around here, but word is that those trends will continue. Light, loose fabrics that allow the skin to breathe, as well as the men around you.

 

[katautumn]

Perhaps it's a sign that teenage girls are no longer aspiring to be like Paris Hilton (hallelujah!) LOL

 

[ChrisB803]

Perhaps it's a sign that teenage girls are no longer aspiring to be like Paris Hilton (hallelujah!) LOL

If anyone could help push fashion in the more modest direction it's Paris Hilton. She's helped to make a connection between ****** clothes and being a moron, and I don't think any girl really wants to be thought of as stupid. I don't think any guy sees a girl wearing almost nothing and thinks, "Wow, she must be a genius!". We look at her and think she must not have much else to base her self worth on, and really the only guys who like that are shallow anyway.

 

[ChrisB803]

ooops, apparently I used a naughty word. Sorry.

 

[Donkeytron]

ooops, apparently I used a naughty word. Sorry.

heh, I had to think about that one for a few seconds. Let me guess. It starts with a "sl" and ends with an "-utty"?

 

[ChrisB803]

heh, I had to think about that one for a few seconds. Let me guess. It starts with a "sl" and ends with an "-utty"?

Yep. Hope I didn't offend anyone... I mean, skanky is so much more approptiate than sl and utty.

 

[JPPT1974]

Yep. Hope I didn't offend anyone... I mean, skanky is so much more approptiate than sl and utty.

Hey you didn't offend me at all.
I know what you mean.

 

[419gam]

I say leave the skanky clothes to the skanks. I am sick of all the false advertising going on.

 

[Mr.Pious]

It was 86 degrees today (and yes, it IS winter!) and we're in the midst of (yet another) historic heat wave with near 90 predicted next week.

But dressing skimpily in Madison, WI at the end of December??? Brrrrrrrr...

(I saw some people swimming in Barton Springs and in the Blanco River this afternoon; and no, it is not supposed to be warm enough to swim at this time of year!)

It was 86 this afternoon, but it is 46 now.

 

[kamikat]

I find it very disturbing that so much emphasis is put on what a girl's body looks like. If you wear those kinds of clothes, then you bet you are going to have to spend countless hours thinking about what you should and shouldn't eat, and how much you need to exercise, rather than about things that are actually productive or empowering.

I don't see this happening too much. Part of the skimpy clothing issue is that it's now in every store. I hate to slam the big gals, being a big gal myself, but you see even big gals wearing the skimpy clothing. When you go to the big gal stores, you find nothing but low rise jeans and tops that barely hit the waist. The only other option for larger women is a few catalog that sell old lady big clothes. No teen wants that. When I was in high school, you could get stylish plus clothes that didn't reveal. Now, if I want stylish clothes that doesn't show what I know nobody wants to see, I have to sew it myself.
kamikat