Thoughts on Clothes

Reading through my blog subscriptions, I came across this post (http://amaidenswreath.blogspot.com/2009/07/be-beautiful.html) by my friend Clare.   Read it.   You'll get something out of it.

I hope you've read it now - my post was sparked by it.

I've experienced something of the same thing Clare did... when I went to college two years ago (a small, conservative, Baptist college, let me add) I was a little nervous about "fitting in".   So I wore all my jeans and little knit tops and things for the first couple weeks, leaving all my homemade skirts and Regency dresses buried in the back of the closet.   A little ashamed of them perhaps.

And then one day I said "Ah, who cares.   I want to wear a dress today."   So I pulled out one I'd made, pink and flowery, full-skirted, using a vintage 1950's pattern, and wore that.

And I got the same reaction as Clare and her friend did.   *Everyone* looked at me.   People I'd never spoken to in my life stopped me to say how they loved the dress, how great I looked.   I hadn't worn it to get compliments, certainly - in fact I'd expected strange looks and ridicule.   But the day I work a cute, modest dress was the first day anyone at school told me I looked good.

That made me think.   I'd worn jeans, and some tops that maybe didn't quite fit my standards of modest, so that I could "fit in" and look like everyone else and not be called a freak.   And I was invisible - I fit in so well that no one noticed.   I was sacrificing my ideals essentially for nothing.   But when I dressed as I wanted to, I brought smile to others' faces and happiness to my own heart.    People thought it was "cool" that I still wore skirts and dresses.   People said "wow, I wish I had something like that."

I didn't enjoy that day because I got attention.   I enjoyed it, and remember it still, because it showed me that I can make a difference.   Not by following modern fashion and dressing to the norm, but by following my standards, and God's, and showing girls that it really is possible to be cute and attractive without sacrificing modesty.