Unpretentious Dress

I wanted to take this Fashion Friday to discuss something pretty important to me: dressing modestly.

I'm not going to lecture anyone reading this. If you were ever a teenage girl (which applies to maybe, I don't know, half of my readers), you've probably been lectured to, at least once in your life, by your mom/grandma/other authority figure about modesty.*

Instead, I want to help you make modest dressing a reality.**

Today, I want to discuss--naturally--the clothes. Too often, I don't know where to look for the modest pieces I have in mind. Too often, I've walked into a store, found a great piece (say, a navy, V-neck, cotton, seemingly-knee-length cocktail dress--just for example) and discovered when putting it on that it would be appropriate only when swimming. And, too often I've looked for modest clothing, but the retailers have only supplied "dumpy" or "tent-like" clothing.

You ladies know this struggle.

So, I wanted to help you find garb you won't have to second guess, and won't make you self conscious.

I know I've already linked to Shabby Apple, the modesty-focused women's online dress retailer, but here are some other online retailers to cover your basic modest fashion needs.

Shade Clothing

DownEast Basics

Sweet Innocence Dresses

Christa Taylor

I seriously have dozens of thoughts and resources on modest fashion, and it will be a topic I revisit often. In the meantime, do you have any go-to modest retailers? Or, thoughts about modesty in general?


I do not receive compensation from any of these retailers.

*If you were ever a teenage boy, and this was a prime issue of discontent for you, let me know. I'm curious about guy's struggles with modesty, or how they feel about "modesty."

**To me, there's a lot more to modesty than selecting the right clothes versus the wrong clothes. It's really a mindset. Modesty is about understanding your worth. It's about helping people see you, and not getting distracted by the clothes you've halfway wrapped yourself in. It's really a topic that I enjoy discussing from many practical perspectives. (A couple resources discussing modesty that I found helpful/interesting are here and here.)