dress modestly

...when I was feeling very self-concious. Granted, I’m 5’9”, blond, and gray-eyed, so I was bound to get looks there. But I didn’t like the way too many of the men were looking; worse, I didn’t like the way they started heckling me.
So, starting around the time I got on the plane to Jakarta, I decided I was going to cover up more.
Note: Deciding to wear long sleeves when you’re three degrees below the Equator is not as bad an idea as you might think.
I still get stared at. But then, the closest most people here have ever been to a blond woman is watching the television.
It isn’t the kind of attention that makes me uneasy, though, and I feel better.
I think I’m going to take this home with me.

that I dress modestly enough for a 21 year old woman. Sometimes I want to wear spaghetti straps. Somedays I want to wear tight jeans. I don’t wear the two at the same time, but if I wanted to I would. I think this goal is more about finding flattering clothing for me to wear and ditching things that make me feel frumpy or too, uh, constrained.

Right now I think I’m going to enjoy my youth and wear my vintage basketball t’s and jeans and converse’s whenever I feel like it. I feel comfortable in those when I feel good about my body, and I think I look darn cute too. I don’t show my midriff, I don’t wear huge push-up bras, and I don’t wear teeny-tiny shorts. I see no reason to go all the way (e.g. twinsets and pantyhose) just yet.

to an event for a horse race. a lot of young women, leggy young women who look like gazelles, go to these events and wear very short skirts and their cleavage is pushed up to their chins and they have feathers sticking out of their hair. they also totter around on 4’ stilettos.

i wore a skirt, a polo, some flats and almost no makeup. i felt really self conscious and horribly underdressed. modesty =/= underdressed. i have to make my wardrobe a bit more mature.

i like to wear modest skirts and cardigans/shells. unfortunately, i live in a beach clime where the “uniform” is pretty much exclusively shorts and a singlet. i feel naked and self-conscious when i wear one or the other, but i feel awkward and slutty when i wear both. i think that it’s fine and cute when other women wear them, it’s just not for me. it has more to do with how i feel about being stared at. i used to love male attention but now i don’t, and i’m not sure if it’s because i now respect my body or if i just don’t want people to judge me on the basis of my sexuality.

it’s probably a little of both. even though it can get unbearably hot, i think i’d like to invest in some more cotton skirts and perhaps some sleeveless shells. ideally i’d like to get the skirts made for me at the local tailor. seeing as they’d be simple designs (i already have the patterns) i may do this sooner rather than later.

i have to find some modest tops that are weather appropriate.

this doesn’t necessarily mean covering everything up all at once. I don’t mind showing off body parts, but I try not to show them all off at the same time.

For example, I’ll wear a strapless top with jeans and boots. Or a short skirt with a long sleeved button-down blouse. But I definitely wouldn’t wear a strapless top with a miniskirt.

It’s all about balance.