As pants get lower and shirts get higher I shudder to think what clothes will be like when my own daughters are teenagers. As a mother I want my girls to dress modestly. I like John Bytheway’s analogy. He said a person is their face not their body. So we shouldn’t dress to call attention away from our faces to our bodies. We want people to look at who we are and that is found in our face and reflected in our eyes. Dressing modestly ensures that people keep their focus on your face, on you.
As my husband and I have seen young girls walking around in short shorts and halter-tops he shudders and often comments, “If they only knew what guys were thinking when they looked at them. They have only one thing on their mind, and it’s not how pretty they look.” Dressing immodestly sends a certain message; that girls often don’t realize is being sent. I had a friend, who dressed immodestly. She wondered why the “good” guys never asked her out. She wasn’t sending the right message.
There are a number of web sites that have recognized the need for modest clothing, ranging from prom dresses to longer shorts. My favorite item is a long cami (no sleeves) or T-shirt (with sleeves) that teens (and moms, I have a couple) can either tuck in or layer under their favorite shirt. This way when they bend over or lift up their arms they don’t expose their midriff. Since layering is “in” this is an easy solution to helping girls dress more modestly.
The Modest Clothing Directory is a great place to start. They have divided the different types of clothing into categories such as: Islamic, Asian, African, Western (which doesn’t mean cowboy but Western part of the world), LDS, Catholic, Jewish, and others. Their site contains links to sites that sell modest clothing. Many sites also sell clothing for girls as well as teens and women.