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"God doesn't want us to be shy with his gifts,
but bold and loving and sensible."

2 Timothy 1:7

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Author Mary Sheehan Warren in her book It's So You! Fitting Fashion to Your Life writes:

[Modesty] is a positive paradigm for fashion choices; not a strain of fashion removed from the mainstream. It blends. It's real and works for real women and promotes our material well-being as well as (and even more importantly) our dignity. It can be fashion-forward and will work in anyone's personal style --- even the trendiest.

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Ninety percent of teenage girls think they are overweight today, compared to 24% in 1995, according to a recent ELLEgirl survey. So what gives? Is it our celebrity-obsessed, extreme makeover culture? Is it the newest version of the age-old story of dysfunctional family relationships? Is it peer pressure—mean girls critiquing one another's every lunchtime indiscretion? Is it the $30 billion a year diet industry? It is, in truth, all of the above. But there is also another profoundly important—yet little noticed—dynamic at work in the anxious, achievement-oriented lives of America's perfect girls: They have a sometimes deadly, often destructive, lack of faith. So many perfect girls were raised entirely without organized religion. ... Overlay our dearth of spiritual exploration with our excess of training in ambition ... and you have a generation of godless girls. We were raised largely without a fundamental sense of divinity. In fact our worth in the world has always been tied to our looks, grades and gifts—not the amazing miracle of mere existence. —Courtney E. Martin, author of Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body [csmonitor.com, 4/24/07 stats]

Quote from Isaac Mizrahi

"Style is 75% confidence
... and 25% accessories."

Photo credited to: designer Isaac Mizrahi.

From Plugged In Online

QUOTE: "What is expected and accepted from idols in our culture has changed. ... A wide range of unhealthy, dangerous choices are promoted in the media, and when a young girl's idol lowers the bar for standards, she's more likely to feel OK about lowering hers too. I think most teenage girls strive to emulate the culture that surrounds them. The actions of celebrities simply reflect the culture they live in too. ... [Shocking] behaviors we see all over the Internet are not unlike other generations' rites of passage with one important distinction. Today we seem to be a culture addicted to sensationalism. Because we have grown desensitized to so much already, behaviors keep pushing new limits to gain the attention and publicity intended. It takes more to shock us, so like any addict, we crave behaviors that keep growing more and more extreme. In the '60s we heard, 'If it feels good, do it.' Today the message might be, 'Anything goes.' And I think many parents are now realizing how far 'Anything goes' has actually gone." —Debra Whiting Alexander, author of Loving Your Teenage Daughter (Whether She Likes It or Not) [mtv.com, 3/12/07]

Modesty Quote

"Either we must speak as we dress, or dress as we speak. Why do we profess one thing and display another? The tongue talks of chastity, but the whole body reveals impurity."
-St. Jerome