Althouse: "I never wanted to stick out for looking different in a bad way. I didn’t mind being modest, but I wanted to mesh in and look great."

December 1, 2015

"I never wanted to stick out for looking different in a bad way. I didn’t mind being modest, but I wanted to mesh in and look great."

"I think we’ve pioneered an understanding of modesty that’s not necessarily in the black-and-white rules. Five years ago, women only wore dresses and skirts... We’re teaching people who are interested in modesty in general that there’s no one way to be modest. There are so many ways you can play with it... It’s 2015, it’s about time the world woke up and saw that an Orthodox woman can be beautiful and stylish and sexy and fashionable and carry herself with pride and dignity.... You can do sexy in a modest way. Sexy doesn’t have to mean provocative. Sexy can also mean confident."

From "How Two Sisters Brought a Hasidic Vibe to High Fashion."

10 comments:

rhhardin said...: Sexy can also mean confident.

That's a tampax ad.; 12/1/15, 6:45 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: Looking at their site, I think the clothes ARE sexy.

Probably because it isn't trying hard to BE sexy, and the clothes are flattering.

Good for them.

But then I like Catholic Schoolgirl Skirts, too.

I am Laslo.; 12/1/15, 7:04 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: Two posts in a row involving women's clothing.

I bet the next post is about Amy Schumer not wearing any clothing for Annie Liebowitz.

Just a hunch.

I am Laslo.; 12/1/15, 7:06 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: My prediction is that women's dress here in the US will swing to a bit more modesty. For one thing, guys instinctively and automatically objectify human females dressed scantily or just looking like a slut. Visible bra straps, too much cleavage, too short of skirts, too tight the pants, a tramp stamp tattoo, etc all say the girl is loose and would be easy to have sex with. When a female's dress says"look at me, I look like a slut", they shouldn't be surprised when guys treat them the way that they appear to be wanting to be treated.

Dressing this way is good, if what a female wants from guys is sex. But not nearly as good when what they want is a long term relationship, and, in particular, marriage to a hard working, accomplished, moral guy. Guys are more interested, long run, with women who appear more selective in their couplings, and don't appear to be giving it away on street corners. I suspect that some of this is in male wiring that is instinctively worried about the paternity of their children. And also more interested long term in women who appear to know their own wirth.

I think that I am seeing a bit more modesty in the store windows as we walk the neighborhood mall (need to wrap this up, so we can head there). And I definitely see it in the dress of the young women I know in grad school, who coincidentally almost all tend to have steady boyfriends. Still, I don't expect young women, or even a bit older ones, to go full Hasidic, or, worse, fundamental Muslim. Esp not Muslim. Or even the Amish/Mennonite look we seem to see around our part of NW MT. But maybe a hint of some of these (not the Muslim, as long as we have more fundamentalist Christians in this country, and we don't have another Islamophile as President).; 12/1/15, 7:26 AM
Etienne said...: Hmm, I think there is an error on that link, because all I saw were two skanks crossing the road. Oops, maybe they were men, I can't keep up...; 12/1/15, 7:42 AM
Hagar said...: But dressing up in early 19th century Polish urban fashions makes a statement - like the turban and hijab for Moslems.; 12/1/15, 8:01 AM
Just asking questions (Jaq) said...: They are pretty. Guys will notice them wherever they go. Good for them. God gave them that power and their rabbis try to deny it to them. Same as imams do to the pretty young girls, wrap them in burkas so that they can hand them out as prizes. Life and nature rebel against religions like this.; 12/1/15, 8:13 AM
mikee said...: Kamal Attaturk rid the Turks of the fez, and instituted secular government in the post-WW I remnants of the Ottoman Empire.

Who will do the same for the Turks, and the rest of the Muslim world, today?; 12/1/15, 9:00 AM
rehajm said...: Their clothes are feminine and flattering. The Annie Hall modesty thing waxes and wanes. They add a unique twist with the biker jackets and leather leggings.; 12/1/15, 9:25 AM
ken in tx said...: I once shared a hymn book with a traditionally dressed Mennonite teenage girl, at a singing. She was quite breathtaking.; 12/1/15, 2:24 PM