My Modesty Failure

In my first post I said that I would explore the facets of the prism of society that have gone down the crapper. Okay I didn't say it like that, but this sounds much more catchy. One of those facets that I would like discuss is modesty.

American author Laura Ingalls Wilder

I'm not saying that we should all dress like Laura Ingalls Wilder, but we've all seen those pictures of people at Walmart wearing nude leggings as pants. I'm only saying that there is an evolving sense of propriety in the world that would have been deemed inappropriate less than 100 years ago. I think that we should endeavor to dress with a sense of pride in order to avoid those, "OMG WHERE ARE HER PANTS!" moments. But even then, if a women chooses to wear flesh tone leggings as pants, well, it's still a free country.

My mom told me about a blog where a young women dressed in modest clothing for a year. I do not think that I could do that without investing in a whole new wardrobe, so I decided to dress up according to the modesty rules of the Bible for just a day. Being a person who loves bling, this was exceedingly difficult.

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. (NIV, 1 Peter 3:2-5)

I didn't take a picture of my outfit today,
 so here is a picture of me on Halloween.

I began to assemble my attire for the day:
No jewelry? Check. 

No braid or fancy hairdo? Check.

No expensive clothes? Check.

For good measure, I wore a thick faded black turtleneck and a long olive green skirt (because pants aren't allowed.) No makeup either. I was so excited to embark on my new dress code. It was something new and exciting! That morning I felt like a perfect little saintly angel... until I walked out of my dorm.

"Wow Elise, your outfit is so sleek and sexy," said a classmate of mine during breakfast.

That was certainly not the response I was expecting. I was expecting glares of disdain from my fashionable classmates, possibly a nod of approval from the pastor as I passed by the chapel. I am not sure why my modesty experiment failed, but I have four possible theories:

1.  My inner beauty was not being challenged by the frills of my clothes, thus it was able to radiate personality and that tricked onlookers into thinking my outfit was flattering.
2.  Sleek and sexy is actually code for old fashioned and outdated.
3.  The fact that this level of modesty isn't common in college made it seem that I was daring and trend setting.
4. Or the most likely answer: I really don't own anything modest enough.

And so concludes the most epic failure of a social experiment in the history of my life. I think I will go back to wearing pants now.