WORK IN PROGRESS

Hello everyone! Apologies for the loss of some our lists. We're going through some site changes, as you can see by the broken links on the header and the loss of the followers (the widget was lost and I lost all the original followers), along with the shopping lists, etc. Please be assured that all of this in the next few weeks will be replaced and the accessibility to everything will be improved. Also, you will find there will be a lot more items to peruse while you visit down the road, so please be patient. It'll be worth the wait! Look forward to: links and reviews for where to go for current sales and even view some of them from this site, a page on the latest modest fashion trend tips, accessories, and more.

Stay tuned...

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10 Reasons to Be Modest

One of the very best articles I've ever read on reasons for modesty was recently republished online here.

Here is an excerpt:

“I love vulgarity. Good taste is death, vulgarity is life." These words by English fashion designer Mary Quant, who took credit for inventing the miniskirt and hot pants, reveal one of the most important, though rarely pointed out, aspects of the “fashion revolution” that started in the sixties: vulgarity.Indeed, fashions have increasingly tended toward vulgarity. It is a vulgarity that tramples upon not only good taste and decorum but which reflects a mentality opposed to all order and discipline and to every kind of restraint, be it esthetic, moral or social, and which ultimately suggests a completely “liberated” standard of behavior.

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Fair Trade, Organic Skirt

Here is an interesting skirt that I purchased a while back from a consignment shop. It is a funky, long, draw-string skirt with adorable detailing on the about a foot and a half of the hem. The color was an unsual peachy-beige. The style was both casual and pretty enough to look like I cared about what I put on that day, so I picked it up for about $10. The tag was 'still' (*or put back) on it.

The backside of the tag reads:

Global Girlfriend specializes in style and human rights with our fairly traded line of apparel and accessories hand-made by women and communities in need. We work with over 20 women's non-profit organizations globally to design products that not only fit your unique style but really make a difference!

Below that there was a clear sticker which reads:

This Global Girlfriend item was made for you by:
A women's non-profit in India run by an order of Franciscan nuns who employ and care for 120 disadvantaged and handicapp women. Our garments are made from 100% organic cotton, which is farmed locally by a group of 300 oranic cotton farmers in Maharashtar India. Each garment is lovingly produced from seed to sewing machine.

How COOL is that?
My friends like the skirt and have asked me about it. When I told them the story from the tag they swooned. The best news? The skirt is still for sale, in even prettier colors. The site has a number of different items, and I am NOT recommending all their apparel. But this skirt does get my vote for both MODESTY and STYLE. (I don't know about those nuns making the above-the-kness, low-cut dresses -- eventhough I realize that the designers are from Global Girlfriend in Littleton, Colorado.) The only thing is the skirt needs a good, solid, long slip. The fabric is a fairly light cotton, and even with a good slip you won't be too hot even in the hottest of days. It looks a bit longer on me (perhaps because I am only just barely 5'3") than on the model in the inset pic. The details are also a bit hard to see in the pic: it has a few, sewed-in ribbing contrasting the mini ruffles along the bottom of the skirt. It's very cute with flats. I washed it in cold water and let it hang-dry, and I didn't notice any shrinking.

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Fashion Industry: Is Modesty Truly a Threat?

There is no way that the fashion industry would ever suffer from diversity, rather, it would suffer more from too less diversity, if anything. In fact, diversity is what drives the industry, and the reason why new trends come up every year, for every season. Modesty is NOT a threat to the fashion industry, only perhaps to the consciences of those within the industry who promote immodest clothing. If the fashion world decided that burqini's were the way to go, many of the fashionable women of the world would be wearing them. The alleged necessity of being sexually provocative in order for fashion to be more popular and more lucrative is a lie, because there are many more driving and prominent reasons for fashion. The shock value of nudism is wearing off because it hardly has no where to grow (we're a culture that sees it all every day -- at the beaches, pools, streets, markets, etc.). The direction fashion has to go now is towards virtue.

I saw a clip from the movie where a fashion editor, played by Stanley Tucci says sarcastically, "Fashion is all about inner beauty." His character here means to point out, via irony, that fashion is 'all about outer beauty.' Well guess what? That's absolutely true, fashion is, in large part, about inner beauty. Fashion designers are very much trying to express a mindset of the woman who wears their clothing. It is not just about the outer beauty to those running the show. One of the first thing that is asked of a designer when he/she presents a new line is, "for what kind of woman is this line intended?" In other words, what is the wearer of these clothes seeking to convey about herself to the world? It is not all about how the clothes fit, but what the woman says about who she is. The trouble is that most designers are more followers than they are leaders. Much of their artistry is restricted by norms more than by invention, because they are always concerned with the direction of fashion.

What designers are not concerned about, however, is the direction of a society in terms of morality. That's why, for now, it's up to you, the individual.

Anyone who thinks that dressing in the fashions that exploit ones sexual person is a way of expressing one's freedom hasn't really thought this argument out very far. We are more than sexual creatures; we are creatures made with feelings that go to more than just the sensual appetites -- we have thoughts and feelings that inarguably penetrate the soul. When an individual expresses this fact in their decorum, they are stating that the core of who they are is significant, and should be regarded as such.

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Communism and Immodesty: What's Behind Banning the Burquini

By now most everyone has read the news about the muslim woman who was banned from a public pool in France for having donned a burqini. This is quite ironic, since France is very friendly to tolerating muslim extremists, yet bringing a burqini to a public pool? Now THAT'S (apparently) crossing the line! Originally, the woman was just given a hard time back in June, but when the pool officials were reminded that the nations National Assembly was appointing a commission on the very issue of burquas and similiar religious garb, they had to make a point. The next time the woman came to swim in the public pool she was denied access on the grounds that the burqini was a health risk, allegedly containing a large amount of human bacteria from the sweat that comes from wearing more clothing as opposed to hardly any (you know, because we always hear about other people dying from other people's sweat --- j/k).

I, myself, am a Roman Catholic and against pluralism, but more insidious than any formally pronounced religion, is the religion of secularism. It tries to make itself appear to be for the general public, under the false pretense of "the norm" and "tolerance" but instead it set the norm by making laws against cultural traditions whose ideals counter its political objectives. Why is this relative to a discussion on modesty? Secularism is the religion which supports the errors of Communism, which have infiltrated western culture* (Catholic note: just as the prediction by Our Lady of Fatima). Sounds like a crazy, chumped up conspiracy theory, does it? Well, think again.

Let's look more closely at this one example of the burqini ban in France.

Who's Behind the Ban:
"The National Assembly Burqa Commission".

The French National Assembly appointed 32 lawmakers on a fact-finding mission to look at ways of restricting the use of the burqa. The commission is led by Communist MP Andre Gerin. Gerin called the "burqini" ridiculous and said pool administrators were right.

"We can't allow this. This is proof that there is a political agenda behind such dress," Gerin told Le Parisien.
In other words, modesty is a political agenda, according to a prominent communist in France. Hmmm... maybe so, for one or two people, but what do we know about communism, and its little sister, socialism? Communism was supported by immodest dress --- consciously, when Wilhelm Reich** (**one of the most emotionally dysfuncional personalities in the past few hundred years) first coined the phrase, "sexual revolution", and communism adopted the term. Reich explained that in order for a political revolution to occur, the regime must target the minds of women. Women tend to be harder to persuade than men, but most especially the religious-minded woman who feared God. Reich did experiments on how to persuade these such women, and he found that if you put a strong-minded, religious woman with a group of people with loose morality, that eventually the strong, moral women will eventually begin to losen their morality bit by bit. The same thing is accomplished in a society when you establish a norm that is immoral. This allowed for the lessening of the idea of the traditional homemaker, who also rears and educates their children and instills within them a sense of morality based on God as the Higher Authority. This is contrary to communism, who wishes to determine the morality of its people by controlling what is taught and how, and then steering it towards only philosophies that are supportive of its political agenda. Introduce the exploitation of human sexuality via fashion trends and you ultimately do away with the traditional roles of women by slowly convincing society that such a role of the homemaker is oppressive and unsatisfying to the average, intelligent woman. Marriage is no longer sacred, but a man-made institution hardly necessary for the family unit, when the government can take care of families. Consuming everything in sight, relying more and more on the governement, and introducing secularism as the intelligent religion is the way to promote communism. The irreplaceable role of the mother and homemaker takes a second seat (to put it lightly) to the ideas of feminism --- women equal in everything to men --- and license in sexuality is the new rule to govern the ideas of what should constitute family, not what has been tried and true to form strong, healthy families.

It doesn't surprise me that Andre Gerin of the French National Assembly would see a mere modest swimsuit as a threat to his political agenda. He's done his history homework.

Unfortunately for him and Sarchozy, if the French wish to call him on this, it will be all too easy. His ideas apparently threaten the French scuba diving industry, since almost all beginning classes take place in pools, with students in wet suits (a burqini is just like a wet suit with a skirt and hood, only lighter in material that a wet suit).

I phoned the world's largest scuba diving course provider, PADI* (*PADI certifies about as many students as all other scuba diving instructions in the world combined), PADI Scuba Diving and spoke with an instructor. Beginner classes are done in a swimming pool, with full gear (that includest the wet suit). When I asked the instructor if there is a hygiene issue, she replied, "there is absolutely no hygiene risk for a person wearing a (scuba diving) suit" and also said, "...(the average pool) as enough enough chlorine to kill an elephant."

So, what is the real issue? The issue is a political agenda towards secularism. Sarchozy preached "tolerance" before he came into power, but it was just talk. The only tolerance he is for is that the French people (those who are not supportive of communism, and who have at the very least, a filial fear of God) must tolerate his agenda, and worship the state.

Fashion isn't merely about making an individual statement, but it is a social statement. Most people might not wish to ante up to that fact, perhaps it's too deep for those who idolize designers, but it is still a fact. Fashion forms (and deforms) society, and we contribute to this by how we present ourselves more strongly than most any vote we may ever cast. While an American, for example, might argue that she lives in a free country and should therefore be able to decide for herself what is best for her to where, I agree, but choose wisely. Immodesty lessens your freedom in the end, both as an individual, and even then contributes to that loss of freedom as a society. License is not the same as freedom, as it actually opposes freedom.

When Gerin told Le Parisien,"We can't allow this. This is proof that there is a political agenda behind such dress," he's essentially saying that 'we (the government of France) will tolerate your religion, but NOT the values that are inheritant to that religion'. In other words, secularism is, infact, the values to which one must ascribe to be a law-abiding citizen. Sounds threatening? It should, because secularism IS a threat to the citizen's freedom. Values come from a person's most fundamental beliefs, whether or not they are recognized formally as a religion. This is why secularism is infact a religion being increasingly imposed by many governments today. It is a political agenda, and while most don't even recognize this it, in continues to grow right under their noses.

This is a major FAIL on the part of Gerin, the commission he has been permitted to lead, and the entire National Assembly. They've caused a black mark on the eye of France to the world, and they have Nicholas Sarchozy to thank.

“In our country, we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity." OK, so in other words, it is impossible to have a social life with people who share your values if those values are religious? Or does the fact that a woman refuses to expose herself in public a relinquishing of her identity? Is Sarkozy saying that the more modest a woman is the less identity she has? That's NONSENSE. Utter nonsense. This is just about communist and communist sympathizers (socialists) having something in common: the threat of the strong, modest woman.

What Sarchozy and the rest of the communists and communist sympathizers are saying is: We don't think you should be 'oppressed' by your religion, unless it is secularism.' Sorry, Sarchozy, but another, major FAIL. Fashion is NOT a virtue. While the fashion industry might be a tremendous industry, this isn't even about the worship of money, but of a government that oppresses people all while ironically purporting to support greater cultural and religious "tolerance".

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Clothes Do Not MAKE the Man (or Woman)

Further protest to my penultimate post:

Celebrities are never good examples of modesty. The virtue of modesty is not displayed merely when it coincides with a certain fashion, or individual taste. Virtue, itself, transcends the disordered fallen inclinations to only self and is evident by consistency of its exercise, as virtue is a habit. Habits have consistency, and tastes change.

There is probably not a single pop celebrity that is an example of this virtue of modesty. Since the virtue is what should be celebrated and not merely the coincidental choice of something that is somewhat modest garb, I made a mistake by emphasizing the clothing style of a pop artist in comparison to the "norm" of pop artists. I protest: Clothes do NOT make the man (or woman). We should be celebrating the elevation of the human condition, not the degradation by suggesting the human spirit is to be celebrated when it glorifies its self inclinations and whims. The practice of virtue is at the root of what elevates the human condition, both on the level of the individual and of the society.

While I may point to a few specific clothing styles or items, the point then would be to encourage and inspire those who wish to grow in the virtue of modesty. Fashion, itself, is not a virtue, although it is frequently hailed throughout the ages as if it is something to be vyed and longed for even to the obscurity of virtue. Fashion, when sought for its own sake, quickly denigrades to promoting the vice of lust, predominately fallen into by men, and vanity, predominately fallen into by women. Even when one of these vices are subtly employed through ones presentation the inevitable result is, at best, a miscommunication, at worse it presents a lie. This lie is either on the level of what is received, or by the cheapening of the human dignity by the presenter. As a final result, vice is considered on par with virtue: inciting lust or advertising vanity are seen often as a display of one's personal power, when actually, such a lie comes from the Father of Lies, where disorder all began.

I have, therefore, decided to refine my approach with this blog, and make it more of a resource to women (and later on, perhaps also men) who are wanting to know where to find affordable, modest clothing. Also, I will continue to include editorial comments on current matters relating to the virtue of modesty.

Also, modesty can be used to mean a reasonable, or even small quantity, such as "she owns a modest amount of clothing". Please note, that by no means am I meaning to imply that people should be so interested in modest clothing that they should own a different outfit for each day of the month, or even of the week. My intent is not to promote clothing gluttony. Actually, even my caption for the blog title is meant to be taken tongue in cheek, as with the purpose of the blog being "(to change the world) one outfit at a time." What has been my own experience, however, is that most of the clothing being sold nowadays is of cheap fabric and quality in general, and therefore does not last more than a year or two at best (I guess that depends, too, on how often a piece is worn).

That brings us also to the issue of the exploitation of laborers in the predominate countries where most clothing fabrics now originate. Countries like China especially fall into this category, as they do not pay their workers enough to even support themselves let alone a family. (Please read: Quadragesimo Anno and Rerum Novarum.) I will try to also consider this in my posts, since the promotion of one virtue cannot be valid if it acts as an end to itself, as the true execution of virtue promotes all the other virtues. Here, the social concsious cannot be ignored in the areas of justice and charity. Therefore, I will include specific alternatives and other suggestions which will also take this concern into account as well.

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Apologies

I want to make a disclaimer for my last post.

It's probably not a good idea to put any celebrity person on a pedestal nowadays as being modest, even for a moment. Celebrities tend to be fickle. I'm not sure if it's narcissism that brings them to their fame, or if it's the fame that gets to their head in the end. Either way, morality ends up always as a relative concept to them.

There is only one woman I know that has been steadfastly modest but can also be used as a role model. I've never seen her myself, but I know she's a role model for modesty because of what I do know about her. She's the woman that gave her "fiat" about 2000 years ago to God. And when you think about it, 2000 years ago wasn't really that long ago, in the big scheme of things. We should figure ourselves lucky to know such a figure in history.

See what I did? I let the cat out of the bag. I wasn't planning on making this blog about me on a personal level, or about religion, but something happened. I was supposed to give a talk to a bunch of different schools, where parents would be there as well as the young students. I was asked to only talk about modesty and not bring up religion. But see, that's the problem. No one thinks modesty is something that is determined by objective standards unless they have a sense within them that they have accountability to God, and to their neighbor for the sake of their accountability to God. People don't think that they are their brother's keeper anymore, unless you're talking about socialism* (*for some reason socialism is cool in this country all of the sudden).

Our society has gone too far in licensiousness, that it won't return to civility and the values that protect true freedom. Sex sells, violence sells, and shock-value sells. All one has to do is look at the clothes that are consider high fashion today, especially the women's clothes, and they aren't beautiful at all. They distort and degrade, and shock. They aim to seduce and do so by novelty, with the underlining premise that what is really beautiful is inevitably dull. It's all a lie, but no one stops to think about it, they just keep going on from one tv show to the next, from one shocking celebrity tabloid scandal to the next. Ugly is "in" so much that beauty is obscured and forgotten.

In the final analysis, fashion trends are not the way to go. We who are interested in modesty must create our own image, and our own way of expression. There's nothing that the major designers or celebrities can really offer us. They've drawn the line, and we will remain true to ourselves and move on. What's really boring is the same old cheapening of the feminine person by the trends, manifesting itself in a paganistic culture. It is nothing new and it has nothing to offer, and it is boring. The new, modest woman sees through it all and stands apart from this in her dignified dress. She represents her own future, apart from the predictable consequences of immorality, licensiousness and disorder. She demonstrates true strenght, and in this day and age, true courage and beauty.

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Finally: Pop Star with Some Class

Few pop artists are into modesty, but I couldn't help but notice that there's at least one that stands out, by not trying to. Afterall, she's a musician and if a musician is any good, it's really about the music, right?
I don't know a whole lot about this artist, but I looked her up when I heard one of her songs in the store and couldn't help but enjoy it. She reminds me of a female Elvis Costello, but smarter, with more accessible melodies, themes and lyrics. Anyway, I'm not really into pop, but she's still my favorite pop artist, especially after listening to this song and watching this video, "Laughing With". The skirt would have been prettier and modest with a mid-calf hem and a bit more coverage on the top, but compared to the norm in pop culture, this is a radical leap in the right direction:

I hope and pray that more artists come out dressing more dignfied, taking some *(albeit small cues) from Miss Spektor.

It's funny, but it seems that all that hype with the shocking outfits seems a little gimmicky and pretentious, and in that way alienates in the very people their acts should be building up, not taking down and exploiting to sexual objects.

And you're right, no one's laughing...
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The Church: "NO" to Degradation, "YES!" to Purity

St. Maria Goretti is keeping busy in Heaven.

It was no accident that I began this blog on this dear saint's feast. However, I had not been aware of the fact that it was her feast until some time later that day, after I had already published my first post.

On the vigil of her feast, the secretary general of the Italian Bishops’ Conference in Rome, Italy, Bishop Mariano Crociata (see above pic), said that the Church does not have any kind of contempt for the human body and sexuality, but that she does say “no to moral degradation and to contempt for modesty, sobriety and self-control.” One quote that really hits home was, "we act and speak of things that ought to embarrass us, and we end up embarrassed of what is true, noble, just, pure, kind and honorable, of what is virtuous and merits praise.”

This article is simply a must read.

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And Yet, More Reasons Why Little Girls Should Not Wear Makeup

Bella, a 3-year old girl, steals away into her big sister's room to play with her makeup. There she finds the video camera set up with a laptop. Bella tries to use her image on the screen as a 'mirror'. Unbenownst to Bella, her mom and older sister are spying on her behind the door to see what she's up to. (Make sure you click on the little 'x" on the bottom right banner of the video when the ads come up.)

Bella's Makeup Video

On a serious note, it's a bit sad that even little, tiny girls are thinking that makeup will make them more beautiful than the already are.

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Superstar Unconstructed Skirt

Sometimes a piece of clothing is so cool, it needs to be billed as a supporting character.

This is an a-line, decontructed, "cargo"* (*but sans pockets) skirt off of Monarch of the Glen (a BBC show that ended a few years ago). The skirt is casual-dressy --- appropriate for an outdoor, social, not-too-formal social event. It's main features are that it is from that "unconstructed" phase, that never got it's just due. Designers did it too much for shock value than for tasteful fun, and could have done more to make accessibly modest designs for the younger (or young at heart) crowd. I'm not letting go of the destructured look as it still has its place when the cut is right, it has the right top and is applied for a semi-formal, outdoor event.

The details are marvelous. There is a zipper in the front, which is appropriate for a casual skirt. There is a sweeping of pieces of fabric from one hip towards the front, which contribute to the flowing movement, giving it an assymetical look which doesn't detract from the generously, flowing a-line. The fabric, which seems to be a basic twill, is smart: heavy enough to make it a parody of a work skirt, and soft enough to keep a feminine look. And, of course, the finish on the hem is purposely unfinished. The wardrobe designers did an excellent job in matching this with the right footware and understated jacket, with dark bands to match the boots.

Smart and funky: it's a rare thing!

My friend and I are dying to co-op one or two other patterns to try to get recreate this look. If anyone has any pattern suggestions, please feel free to comment!

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Bonjour! Wilkommen! Hola! Bemvinda! Konnichiha!

Welcome to my MODESTY RULES fashion blog. We're all about modesty here, and having fun with it and staying true to ourselves. The principle here is that no woman should buy into the idea that "being fashionable" means selling out one's sexual dignity. We're women because WE ARE, not because we have to convince anyone else of the fact. We are CONFIDENT women who aren't ashamed about being feminine (occurs naturally with being female), and are not about to permit the rag ads (you know, the one's in those overtly degrading magazines that are supposed to be for us) tell us we need to advertise our wares to be attractive.

Modest clothing can be cool. Right at this very moment, there is a trend towards more dignified women's wear, and my goal is to help further inspire women of all ages to be creative in their clothing, while remaining dignified in true modesty.

There are even a few Rules that are recommended. Some of the recommended standards can be found on Colleen Hammond's blog. The main thing is to come here, relax, read and be inspired.

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