Disciplined In Dress

(F)or which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting; in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works. (1 Timothy 2:7-10)

At the risk of sounding like a “clothesline preacher,” I see it necessary in our immodest world to talk about modesty. This is the command that should guide our choice of apparel and the amount of apparel worn. I realize that I am now swimming upstream in the river of popular culture. Modesty has become an archaic word and practice. Another problem facing this subject is the continual degrading of modesty standards. What is considered modest today was considered immodest 30 years ago. Is modesty then a relative concept?

For example, to the left is an 1868 diagram from Harper's Bazaar, showing a mid-Victorian idea of how the hemlines of girls’ skirts should descend toward the ankle as a girl got older.