Blogroll Highlight: Modest is Hottest

Modestly Yours is a blog whose mission is as such:

A forum for people of all ages and backgrounds whose voices are not normally heard in the mainstream (or even non-mainstream) media. Here you will find fresh, intelligent, and sometimes surprising discussions from women who value modesty in its various forms.

I've really enjoyed a lot of the writing there, especially their views on how to be modest in ways aside from how you dress. It's really an overall attitude. Catholics call it chastity. ;)

Anyhow, here's a sampling of a more recent post from the Mod Squad:

It's So You!

I've been reading a book that I highly recommend. It's So You! Fitting Fashion to Your Life by Mary Sheehan Warren is a must-read for anyone who is interested in being both fashionable and modest. Trust me when I tell you that I have read many books on fashion (more than I care to admit!) but never have I read one that intelligently and seamlessly weaves a very cogent argument for modesty and an extremely helpful how-to that caters exactly to your body and your style. The whole book is excellent but I adored her sections on modesty.

Because your body is so much about life and love, it is closely tied to the love you give from your heart. True love is the gift of your self to another....Each relationship (professional, casual, friendly, familial, and intimate) provides its own level of give and take. So, in the most superficial of these you are barely affected because you give very little away. (You don't love what you don't know.) For the most part, you are unmarked and unchanged.

A sexual relationship affects you in a far more pervasive way because you give your most intimate self. So if you are still wired the way you began, you are given in a wholly emotional way in response to that kind of give and take.

She then goes on to explain how this effects the way you dress.

Dressing for success for your whole life means dressing with the confident knowledge of your true value. If we cannot take our sexuality for granted, our style shouldn't either. Our style is about who we are and the kinds of relationships we have. If we shouldn't give ourselves sexually to just anyone, our style must facilitate this. This quality, that is, the refinement that protects our sexuality from the eyes and minds of just anybody, is called modesty....

[Modesty] is a positive paradigm for fashion choices; not a strain of fashion removed from the mainstream. It blends. It's real and works for real women and promotes our material well being as well as (and even more importantly) our dignity. It can be fashion-forward and will work in anyone's personal style -- even the trendiest.

I love that part because I enjoy fashion but I am often dismayed to see that it has been co-opted by immodest styles -- to the point that I wonder if I should just shun all fashion out of hand. But I think our job as women is to nudge fashion in the modest direction. There will always be bad stuff out there, but our goal is to promote what is good and ignore what is bad in fashion.

There is, of course, more.

But the blog is excellent! Check them out!