Dressing modestly is important for a whole host of reasons, but it has to be done well. I think there is a lot of confusion when it comes to dressing modestly because often people confuse modesty with being frumpy and those are not the same thing. In today s video, I am going to talk about those common mistakes people make when they are trying to dress modestly.
00:00:00.000Hello Classic Crew and welcome to today's video where I'm going to be telling you how you can
00:00:04.400avoid these common modest pitfalls. If you are new to my channel, here we talk about classic
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00:00:21.800a ton of exclusive content including my book club, my movie club, as well as exclusive weekly
00:00:26.340articles, make sure to head over to classicallyabby.substack.com. Now in today's video, I want to talk about those common mistakes people make when they are trying to dress modestly. I am a huge proponent of modesty. If you have been following me for a while, you know that this is something I am a huge fan of. I think that dressing modestly is really important for a whole host of reasons, but it has to be done well and I think that there is a lot of confusion when it comes to dressing modestly because often people
00:00:56.180confuse modesty with being frumpy and those are not the same thing. I can attest. I think that a lot of the way that we dress can be expressive of our individuality and can also be a part of getting to know who you are, but I think people don't understand necessarily how to dress in a way where you look really attractive but are also not attracting bad attention.
00:01:19.020Also, what can we all look at Kate Middleton and recognize that is not a frumpy woman. That is a stunning, beautiful woman and if she's not modest, I don't know what is. Honestly, it's pretty impressive. So, I am really excited to get into today's video. So, let's just hop right in.
00:01:36.760Number one, avoid not balancing volume. This is a huge mistake that people make where they will just wear something incredibly voluminous from top to bottom thinking that that is modest because it covers their whole body. It covers their whole figure. But that is not modesty. That is just going to make you look bigger than you are.
00:01:57.620Wearing things that are baggy all over a la Billie Eilish. It just covers you completely and that's not the point of modesty. Modesty isn't about being totally hidden from view. Modesty is about showing that you have a figure, that it's very attractive, wearing flattering pieces, but not trying to draw attention to it in a sexual way.
00:02:18.680Look at my, you know, look at my, you know, great body. Look at all of these pieces of me. Look at my skin. It's not about that. It's about look at my figure. There it is. Okay, you see it. But what's really the focus here? Me, my personality and who I am. And maybe I'll even express that through my stylistic choices.
00:02:36.960So I think that dressing modestly is really not about trying to hide everything. It's about showing things in a strategic way. So wearing something that covers everything up is not the way to go about this. Wearing something really baggy on top, really baggy on bottom, and just covering up your natural waist is not going to look flattering, nor is it really going to be something you'll be happy with in the long run.
00:03:01.320But wearing something that shows off your figure in a beautiful, attractive way is a better path. So the way to avoid this is wearing baggy stuff all over. You want to balance volume. So you want to wear either tight on bottom and loose on top, or loose or flowier on bottom and tight on top. That is going to show off enough of what your body looks like without it being like everything is showing.
00:03:25.240So wear things that work with your body, that show off that natural figure that you have, that beautiful waistline. You know, sometimes you can wear something that is a little bit puffier on top and puffier on bottom if it's cinched in at the waist. That can, again, avoid that proportion being off and having too much volume on your body.
00:03:45.020So make sure that you balance that volume, and you will look absolutely stunning, even as you're modest.
00:03:50.900Number two is wearing skirts that hit at the wrong part of your leg with the wrong shoes.
00:03:56.320So if you wear things past the knee, T length, getting to the middle of your calf, then it very often can look very unflattering when you wear that with a flat shoe.
00:04:07.600You have to balance what the length of your skirt is with the shoe that you wear.
00:04:12.100So growing up, a lot of women that I knew wore straight skirts that came to their mid-calf and then wore flats.
00:04:17.920And it made them look very short and stumpy, and I will say it made them look frumpy.
00:04:22.340And that is just not a flattering, attractive look.
00:04:26.100What you want to go for are skirts, if they're going to be longer, things that are a little bit more flowy, maybe have more of a swoosh to them.
00:04:34.480And depending on the length, you need to assess whether or not it will look okay with a flat shoe or whether you need to wear a heel.
00:04:41.020Look in the mirror and assess whether it makes your leg look shorter than it is to wear a flat shoe.
00:04:46.620Now, I don't think that you have to wear heels all the time.
00:04:50.840But if you are going to wear a longer skirt, it needs to be balanced with the height of your shoe, and you just need to be aware of it.
00:04:57.120So if you're wearing a skirt that comes to mid-calf or longer, you may need to wear a slightly higher heel.
00:05:03.680Or depending on the outfit, it can look pretty with a flat.
00:05:07.900I tend to really like circle skirts that hit at mid-calf with a sandal.
00:05:12.960I think that that can look really, really pretty.
00:05:15.120But it just has to be worn and done well.
00:05:17.440But wearing the wrong shoe with the wrong length skirt is the first way to look pretty frumpy when you're trying to be modest.
00:05:24.700Number three is covering everything but really tightly.
00:05:28.440This is a mistake that people make when they're dressing modestly sort of for the wrong reasons.
00:05:33.860When they're dressing modestly because they've been told that they should, they don't really understand why it's important.
00:05:39.440And so what they'll do is they'll wear things that are really skin tight but technically cover all of those places that they should cover.
00:05:47.360So I have fallen into this pitfall before.
00:05:49.760I have worn dresses that were skin tight but covered my wrists, covered my collarbone, came down to the knee, but they showed everything because they were so tight.
00:05:58.060And the fact of the matter is that just isn't modest.
00:06:01.720It's not modest to show everything off.
00:06:04.900It's much better to wear things that are flattering without attention grabbing.
00:06:10.360So wearing a fitted top with a more flowy skirt is a much better option than wearing a dress that just sucks everything in.
00:06:19.020Like that just shows off every single lump and bump.
00:06:21.600It will make you look more attractive.
00:06:23.760It will make you feel less self-conscious and it will also just be more flattering.
00:06:29.760I mean, there are very few people who look good in everything being skin tight.
00:06:33.540And even if they do, what are you paying attention to?
00:06:38.680And that to me is the fundamental question you're asking every time you get dressed.
00:06:42.940And number four, which is the biggest problem I see in dressing modestly, is wearing clothing that looks frumpy, outdated, or old.
00:06:51.740When you search modest fashion on Google, on the internet, the first images that come up are always a girl in a jean skirt wearing a cardigan and an infinity scarf.
00:07:01.160And she looks like she's from the early 2000s.
00:07:03.560Like that is the typical picture of modesty.
00:07:06.560And the fact of the matter is that that is really outdated.
00:07:21.140It's just an idea that people have of what modesty looks like.
00:07:24.840But if you just stay true to being classic, or if you are someone who enjoys dabbling in the trends, I enjoy dabbling in the trends of each season, then incorporating some of that into your modest wardrobe.
00:07:39.660But wearing clothing that looks old, like it hasn't been taken care of, or wearing clothing that is clearly past its trendiness, or wearing clothing that just doesn't flatter you, all of that is going to make you look frumpy.
00:07:55.820Look for pieces that either are classic and will stay in your wardrobe for a long time, or are a little bit more up to date, and will spruce up your wardrobe for a few seasons.
00:08:05.880I love to wear clothing that you don't know that I am dressing modestly.
00:08:11.360You just notice I'm wearing a nice outfit.
00:08:13.600That is my goal with dressing modestly, is not to draw attention to it.
00:08:17.360I don't think that it is necessarily that modest to wear something that makes it obvious that you're trying to dress modest.
00:08:23.760To me, it's much more modest to wear clothing that is really pretty, and makes people think, wow, she's wearing a nice dress today, or something to that effect, without them going, oh, she must be trying to dress modestly.
00:08:36.220Now, something that might draw attention to the fact that I dress modestly is that I very often am wearing a cami underneath my dresses.
00:08:43.600I don't wear just a low-cut v-neck dress.
00:08:46.480But that's not like a crazy form of modesty.
00:08:51.880A lot of people choose to wear camis underneath dresses.
00:08:54.000So, okay, she doesn't want to show her cleavage, so she's covering it up.
00:08:57.160As opposed to wearing a long jean skirt that comes to the middle of my calf, that's really unflattering, that nobody in today's day and age really wears, and that makes me look less attractive than I really am.
00:09:10.480So, finding pieces that look great, that you can incorporate into your wardrobe, that don't make you look frumpy, that is a top-notch way to love dressing modestly.
00:09:20.860And it will also kind of go against the impression that so many people have about what modesty is.
00:09:29.600So, those are my ways to avoid modest pitfalls.
00:09:33.760I hope you guys enjoyed today's video.
00:09:35.220Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.