Embracing Modesty, No. 1
I have been really looking forward to the start of our new series, Embracing Modesty for Women of All Ages. My four daughters and I are careful to be modest and feminine, but we don’t sacrifice style and fun. My post on dressing appropriately will fill you in on our standards of dress.
One of the myths about wearing dresses only is that you look frumpy and tired. While it can be a challenge to look fashionable in a longer dress or skirt, it is possible. And we’re going to show you how we do it. We are constantly on the lookout to try new things and use our creativity to add to our wardrobe.
This week I’m focusing on my teens. My girls love to play around with their clothes and do fun things with their accessories. Here are a few pictures to inspire you to be creative. My daughter Faith:
We love Cato for long denim skirts. This black one is her go-to-skirt since it goes with almost everything.
Black skirt-Cato, Scarf-Target, Gray Shirt-Cato, Necklace-dog tag chain, Earrings-she made them out of egg cartons
This next little outfit is such a cute combination of colors.
The skirt is one we got as a hand me down. It is as short as we will go, but since it covers the knees, I’m fine with it.
Skirt-hand me down, White Top-Forever 21, Pink Sweater-Target, Shoes-flea market, the jewelry she made herself with yellow beads for the earrings and a ribbon for the necklace.
I love when my girls wear hats. They look so cute in them…like this one she got at Target.
I really wanted to show you this little vest. She cut up a skirt none of us wore anymore and made a rough vest with it. She laid it over a vest she owned and cut it out then hand stitched it together. It’s not perfect, which is one of the things she loves about it. The front is laced with twine….so cute!
She also cut up a white shirt that had a stain on it and made this hip top. It only goes to her waist, and gives her the look of a long shirt that covers her hips. Then she is wearing a shorter long sleeved top with it. Clever.
The skirt and boots are the same ones she is wearing above. The pink shirt is from Coldwater Creek (on sale of course!). The lower necklace is her promise necklace that her Dad gave her on her 16th birthday (more on that another time).
The last picture is another daughter, Patience. She has a simpler style. We love the shape of theses little dresses, but they are too short to wear alone so the girls put long skirts under them.
The floral top was a one of a kind thing we found on clearance somewhere (don’t remember), Skirt-Cato, White t-shirt-JCPenney, Shoes-Target.
Check out the rest of this series in our Embracing Modesty Gallery!
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Very fun and cute stuff Lisa! I have really been convicted to work with my girls on femininity. I grew up with only brothers, and was always very active playing with them and rarely wore dresses and skirts…to this day I don’t :/ My girls love to climb our trees and play in the dirt here 🙂 However, when they are not doing that, I want them to learn more to dress and act like little ladies. My oldest just pulled a stained shirt of her daddy’s out of the trash and asked if she could cut it up and make a dress for her doll…I think this post may inspire her to try to make something for herself as well. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to more!
Great, fashionable looks while being modest!
This is going to be a fun series!
So excited about this series. I loved your posts for plus sized women. It really encouraged me. I came to wearing skirts later in life and your series really helped me realize I could do it in a practical way and still look stylish. Thank you so much. Really looking forward to the rest of this series!
I’ve been wanting to get a long denim skirt or two. I’ll have to check Cato out! Thanks for sharing this!
Your daughters are all so lovely and creative, I love seeing what they are up to. I can’t believe Faith made that vest!! That is awesome, love their style. Can’t wait to read Part 2
Lisa,
Thank you for sharing this wonderful series! It is definitely an inspiration and I know it will touch many hearts. I, for one, have needed this encouragement to start wearing more dresses and skirts again. Thank you!
Looking forward to this series – it’s a subject I’m quite passionate about!
Love these ideas!! I know one of my daughters (who has her own creative style) will enjoy seeing how your daughters make their outfits stylish and unique.
Lisa, I admire you for thinking carefully about your standards for dress and then sticking to them, but not requiring yourself or your daughters to be dull or dowdy in the process. I don’t have daughters, but one of my sons once made a comment that really struck me as important. He was asking me why a girl at his school went so far out of her way to be modest that it was a big issue. This girl’s parents had their hearts in the right place, I think, but they practically shrouded their daughter. Will said, “It’s odd because it just seems like she’s constantly thinking about herself.” I like the idea of thinking about glorifying God and being kind to others with our conduct, including the way we dress.
This is a great series and your daughters are beautiful, just like their mother!!
Blessings,
Cyndi
This held my interest and it is a good idea for a blog site. Your girls are great models!! Keep it coming!
Great combo of outfits and thanks for the ideas! My oldest is 11 but wears 16 girls clothes so we are shopping for womens smalls since juniors just aren’t appropriate. It took awhile at the thrift store today to put together some modest, age-appropriate outfits. I love the combination of short dress (which are abundant) and long skirt!
Thanks for the inspirations.
I can tell already I’m going to love this series. I have gradually worn skirts more and more over the years until now that’s all I wear. It took me awhile to get used to wearing a skirt all the time and also figuring out what skirts I like and don’t like. Most importantly, I had to come to an understanding of what the Bible said about women and modesty and what I was going to do with that in my life. My daughter is 8 and I can see that she is going to have a flair for style so I can’t wait to show her this post. Blessings!
I am SO looking forward to this series!! I have worn skirts all my life and I am now teaching my daughter about modesty and I sometimes struggle with the old worn out, tired look that people talk about. I have been working on getting different shirts and layers and such but I am not the greatest with fashion! Lol.
The biggest thing I have people tell me about wearing skirts all the time and nothing else is that I can’t do things in a skirt!! I can do almost anything in a skirt or culottes while still being modest and if I can’t then I don’t care to do it! 🙂 Thanks so much for this series I am looking to learn something!!!
Love and shared! You’re girls are beautiful!
Since I once left a church because of the immodest dress of some of the women, I admire your efforts. I don’t want to seem negative, but do you realize that 3 of the 4 outfits pictured draw attention to the breasts? The skin does not show, but that may not be all that is needed for modesty.
With appreciation and love
Patti, thanks for your very thoughtful comment. I am so glad you mentioned that about modesty being about more than just not showing skin. I agree!! I think this will be a great thing to discuss as the series goes along. I think we all have things to learn from each other.
I am not sure which if the outfits you are saying because I can see that in all of them if I am looking for it. There’s room for improvement to be sure!
It’s funny, this particular daughter is very curvy and has an extremely tiny waist. It is a big challenge to find anything that doesn’t draw attention to her chest because of her shape. Even a sweatshirt doesn’t do it! I will share more in the series about how we avoid form fitting clothes, but we always have room to grow! I am glad to hear what you think.
Thanks so much! Lisa~
Lisa, I love your heart for modesty! I read the comments above and think that maybe what Patti is referring to may just be the camera angle. I think your girls look very appropriate. And, more than that, they seem so exude joy, which is what it’s all about! Thanks for another candid, and encouraging post.
Great blog! It is so rare today to find anything written about modesty. I teach in a Christian school where the girls must wear skirts or dresses (that come below the knee) every day. Teaching them why this is necessary is challenging but so important. Thank you for your great ideas!
Debbie
I love seeing pictures of your girls! They help give me idea for what I can combine that looks good with skirts. I’ve only started wearing skirts every day since August, so I’m still trying to figure out how I can change things up and make it all look cohesive. (which is an adventure in of itself, let alone while on the floor constantly with a baby!) So, so, SO glad you’re doing this series!
Don’t you just LOVE it when your daughters take an item of clothing and make something else out of it??? I am constantly amazed at what my 3 at home do. I just KNOW that that gene doesn’t come from me!!! I also like that they help one another and share things. More and more, the 2 that are more my height will ask to look in my closet and armoire! It’s too funny!! It also helps that those 2 and I have the same color palette. THAT, knowing which colors look good on us, has been a wonderful tool, especially at thrift stores, where sometimes the colors are all jumbled up. Were you ever on the Color Me Beautiful bandwagon??
Pam, knowing your best colors is one of the things we will be talking about during the series. My girls love sharing too….it triples their wardrobe! Lisa~
I appreciate this blog post. Way too often I see young ladies either looking like an “old lady” or way too immodest. I don’t have girls (many times I’m so thankful when I hear of others talking about the difficulty of finding clothes), but do appreciate your suggestions. Just an opinion here, but I don’t care for the vest look. With the cut of it I actually think it draws attention to the chest.
I love all of these outfits – so lovely, feminine, and creative! And God must have had fun creating that beautiful, long dark hair, too! Very sweet.
Gorgeous girls and awesome outfits. I have a budding 10-yr-old fashion designer I’m going to share this post with.
love! they are beautifully modest and trendy! perfection!
Love this series.
Love your blogs on modest dressing. Each of your girls have their unique style that comes through, they are feminine. Thanks for sharing!
I just want to say after reading the comments, I went back to check the photos….I loved the girls outfits and being that everything was layered three times, it seems to me the last thing they were doing to drawing attention to the chest area….Beautiful Godly girls….My opinion.
I am completely new to this, like literally just read this & started looking in the Bible, even though I was brought up in Church. I am very confused!!! Men wear shirts so why are skirts & shirts ok rather than only dresses? Men wear vests but your daughter wears vests. So, what I’m gathering is that this type of modesty isn’t directly from the Bible but rather a more modern/updated take on it?? I really want to understand this! Thanks for any help!
I absolutely love Faith’s self made little vest!!!
Do you think she could manage to put up a little tutorial about the way she made it?
I think that with a skirt and a matching vest, it’s really easy to look classy whatever you’ re wearing underneath…
Thank you so much for your attention!!
Hey I am 15 I love skirts dresses and all that but my sisters don’t I think you can inspire them to think its fab (do people say fab?) thank you!!
wow you have given me such wonderful ideas for my new modest teen fashion blog. thank you.