.

Very Audrey Hepburn, no?

Sherel’s is a family-owned women’s hats and hair accessories company specializing in vintage-inspired and couture pieces. Many of the products are handmade, and all of them are manufactured with the finest European materials. (Nothing from China.)

I have had the pleasure of speaking with one of the owners of Sherel’s on a few occasions and hope to do a sponsored give-a-way contest with them at some point in the future. Sherel’s products can be found online, and in other high end stores and boutiques like Bergdorf Goordman.

A few weeks ago, I checked out two of Forever 21’s new lines, Faith 21 and Love 21 while I was down in the OC.

I wrote about Faith 21—aka Forever 21’s attempt at attracting plus size customers—a few months ago with little to no enthusiasm, and as it turns out, I was quite right to reserve any excitement until I actually saw the garments.

It was immediately clear to me that the design team did not contain any plus-sized women, and if it did, they don’t know how to dress themselves. I don’t mean to be harsh, but at least half of the line was not designed with curves in mind.

Most of the tops were fine, but 95% of the skirts and dresses were waaaaaaaay too short.

For example, this garment is being sold as a “dress.”

This might be a dress on a petite girl who is 4′10, but this isn’t a dress on the average-height plus sized woman like the model it is being shown on. (She doesn’t even look comfortable, does she? I mean with one cool breeze…)

I give the Faith 21 line kudos for manufacturing affordable skinny jeans, but that’s about it. The line is supposed to be “plus sized” but the sizes only go up to 3x. I tested the sizing by trying on garments from 1x-3x without feeling too much difference between them. In other words, anyone over a size 16 is probably not going to be able to wear a lot of the pieces. I have the luxury of having a body type that allows me to shop in both average sized and plus sized stores, but most girls are not like me. Where’s the love Faith 21?

I’m giving the line a solid D. Anyone disagree with me?

The Love 21 Contemporary line is a whole other story. I tried on 7 or 8 pieces and loved every one of them. Most of the line is very work appropriate, and many of the looks can be turned into cocktail attire, brunch, or any other “Sunday morning” type of event.

Rev. Andrew O’Conner is a priest from the Bronx with a social justice mission: unite workers in the Bronx with workers in Guatemala to make eco-friendly clothes from organic cotton.

His line has done very well thus far, with some shorts from his line having been featured in Vogue not too long ago.

Rev. O’Conner modeling menswear with his nieces in pieces from his collection.

You can view more of the collections and purchase items at Goods of Conscience.

Jena just made a great post on this topic that I would also like to address:

“We recently went on a vacation to visit family out to sunny Southern CA, aka, birthplace of the bikini…Seriously, I realized that EVERYONE who is under the age of 60 wears a bikini out there….

And it did two things to me, made me self-righteous AND alternately JEALOUS…

Does it REALLY matter if I wear a bikini, I mean we don’t know anyone out here, and seriously I look halfway decent in a bikini, especially a cute one with a skirt, and even more seriously, shouldn’t I be giving my husband something to compete with all the other skin he is seeing and having to look away from?”

Obviously Jena, came to the right conclusion, that public modesty DOES MATTER. But I think she most certainly has a point…

I went to the beach last Friday for a BBQ with a mixed group of male and female friends including that one friend of mine who designs cute modest swimwear, two girlfriends who are on the Decent Exposure core team, and…a Franciscan friar.

I did not bring my swimsuit precisely because I knew I was not going to put it on with a friar in my presence, LOL, and my girlfriends did not get completely down to their full (modest) swimsuits either. However, also with us was a visiting group of girls from Croatia, who despite being professing Catholics apparently did not adhere to the gospel of modesty.

Honestly, it was one of the weirdest beach trips ever. I usually don’t really notice girls in bikinis, but it was almost as if a line had been drawn between my “modest friends” and our bikini-clad Croatian visitors.

That being said, the Croatian girls did not take off their cover-ups until they were well away from our group and in the water. Some of them didn’t take off their cover-ups at all. All around us of course, every girl was wearing a bikini.  Our friar was not in his habit (the grey/brown robe friars wear with a rosary around their waists) beacuse he took it off to play volleyball, but I would have been so curious to see how other girls on the beach would have reacted to our presence.  Walking anywhere in Los Angeles with a bunch of grey-robed bearded men is a sure way to grab attention and random conversation.  But I digress…

I’m not married, but if I was and my husband was there at the beach with me, I’d probably feel a littl twinge of jealousy too. You know what they say—most of the time we women are not dressing to impress guys, but to compete with other women. We talked about this with the girls enrolled in Decent Exposure, and I quoted an old mentor of mind that really was the one who planted the seeds of modesty in me:

“A demure woman does not have to show what she has. She is what she is.”

Seriously, I heard that while I was in high school, and I still remember it word for word unto this day. It’s true. We are Christian women. We are dynamic, educated, funny, smart, MODEST, Christian women. Our confidence comes from within from a source that burns eternally. And with that eternal fire comes love, an active decision to do what is best for the other.

Married women are able to love their husbands in a physical way, but more often than not, an individual woman’s husband is not going to be the only man at the beach. Just like he’s not going to be the only man at the mall or at church. We dress appropriately for any occassion because we LOVE. We love ourselves, the men in our lives, AND the men that are not in our lives because they are our brothers too.

 To quote speaker Christopher West, “Lust can’t wait to take. Love can’t wait to give.”  When being modest doesn’t feel so hottest, remember that modesty is about love, and love is an action verb girls.

No joke.

I was bored one day and decided to watch the latest episode of MTV’s new series 16 & Pregnant, a reality series about you guessed—teen pregnancy. I’ve been thoroughly annoyed with the series thus far—my cousin pretty much summed up my sentiment with, “Why are they showing 17-year-olds moving in together like life is just going to be peaches and cream?” However, the last episode shocked me to tears.

16-year-old Catelynn and her boyfriend Tyler are in a predicament: keep their unborn baby girl or consider adoption? Despite pressure from their parents, Catelynn and Tyler look into adoption. The episode follows their journey through the adoption process from agency to hospital birthing room signing the legal consent. I was completely amazed by their maturity and discernment process, despite the nasty fights with their parents (who wanted them to keep the baby.)

I know people who are adopted, and I know people who had babies while they were in high school, but never have I seen either process so up close and personal.

You can watch the full Catelynn and Tyler episode here. I highly suggest you have a tissue box ready.

Looklet is a fashion website that allows you to be the stylist. Pick a model, pick a set, and pick any combination of designer clothes for her to wear!

I “discovered” Looklet yesterday while at work, came straight home, and then created a page. I apparently spent about three hours making outfits when I noticed it was dark out, and my stomach was hurting because I was hungry, LOL.

The site is in its beta version, so there are a few kinks here and there (ex: swimwear is listed as underwear), but overall, it’s a lot of fun.  It’s definitely a great tool for girls that may be new to modesty, or are still a little afraid to experiment.

Some looks I made last night:

Gossip Girl circa ‘85

Early Fall Day

Drinks With the Girls

Hippy Picnic

You can check out my page of looks here. I’m not done yet!

I’m thinking about doing some sort of giveaway contest with the site. Cutest look wins? What do you think?

It really, truly, is.

An update on my friend—

The individual who shot my friend has been arrested and is now in jail. The police are still looking for the other two people that were in the car. My friend’s family asks that we pray for the shooter, that no harm comes to her while in jail, and that she have a conversion while awaiting trial.

I was able to see my hurt friend twice this weekend, once at Catholic Underground and again at mass the next day. She’s walking on her own, though very slowly, but her recovery is on track and she should be back to normal within a few months.

I hadn’t seen her in about two weeks, and just watching her walk made me cry. Life is beautiful. Please don’t forget it.

In other news, the father of a certain blogging friend of mine has passed away. She knows she has my support, and your prayers for her and her family would be appreciated.

Demand Your Dignity is a website “for women from the men who love them.”

Full of cool videos about modesty, body image, and what real love is, the site encourages us ladies not to pay attention to the media’s demand that we act like sexy Barbie Dolls. The site is very well made, and features some talks by one of my favorite speakers Jason Evert. I highly suggest you pop over for a visit.

Allow me to make a big, huge, public curtsy to the men that put together this site!

Thanks to Angela for the tip!

The show was split into three segments: Dressy, Casual, & School Uniforms.

A reader asks:

What do you need to wear to visit the vatican? I was hoping maybe you could give me a few hints as to what I should be looking for and what to avoid?

This question is actually quite timely because I have a few girlfriends that will be traveling to the Vatican on vacation in a few weeks.

It’s hot and humid in Rome, so stay away (and by away I mean far, far, away) from polyester fabrics. Cotton is your BFF in these summer months.

And of course, since it’s the Vatican, our heavenly city on earth, you want to look modest and adorable at all times—especially since you will be in churches and there will be wonderful Catholic men from around the world around you at all times. I’m just sayin…

If you are going to wear a tank top, I would highly recommend bringing some light wraps, vests, and jackets to throw on top of your outfits whenever you enter a house of worship. Some churches/establishments will not allow women to enter if their shoulders are uncovered. The same goes for skirts and shorts—it’s best not to go above your knees.

Some outfit ideas:

Basically, my recommendations are light tops, cotton skirts and dresses, bermuda shorts, sandals, and comfy flats.

For bags, I would recommend smaller cross-body bags with long straps that can carry the essentials. This Poquito Leather Pouch Purse from Lulu’s is right up my alley:

Hope that helps.  Have fun in Rome!

The Decent Exposure fashion show took place on Saturday and it was FABULOUS.

I’m still recovering, and am actually quite sick, but it was so very worth it, and the video clip below is why.  I’m going to post a full recap video at some point this week (I haven’t received the footage from the actual runway just yet) and a reflection on the program tomorrow. For now, suffice to say that this program wasn’t really about clothes.  The clothes, photoshoots, and relationships that were formed were great, don’t get me wrong, but that wasn’t the bottom line. This was:

Jessica was bawling off screen and I’ll admit I got a little misty behind the camera too. They got “it.”  They really, really got it.  And when you have parents come up to you and say, “I have seen a change in my daughter” and give you hugs and say thank you…well…that just confirms that the message was sent AND received AND applied.

I am so, so, proud of these girls.

Caitlin M. is the winner of the 2nd Modestia giveaway sponsored by AndreasBeau.com!

Caitlin chose this Laurel Jacquard Bow Headband in blue.

Congratulations Caitlin!

Happy 4th of July! 

Thank you so much for your prayers for my friend in the hospital.  She is doing MUCH better and considering her progress after such a traumatic event, I am convinced your storming heaven has helped her tremendously!

In other news…

The Decent Exposure fashion show is upon us! At this Thursday’s session, the girls will get tips on how to “modestize” (haha Jessica made that word up) their wardrobe and get a crash runway course from a member of Models for Christ, a fellowship  organization of Christian fashion models here in Los Angeles.

TV actor J. Skylar Testa has agreed to host the show. You may have seen him in Bones, CSI Miami, etc. Actress and singer Caitlin Crosby will be performing at the show AND serving as our keynote speaker.  Caitlin has an awesome website called Love Your Flawz.com where she ministers to young women about female body image.

BTW, People Magazine just did an article on Caitlin and her really amazing CD that is on sale now.

As you have already seen, posting will be extremely lacking this week as we make the final preparations for the show. All of the clothes have arrived, but we still have to go shopping tomorrow morning for shoes and more accessories.

If you are in the SoCal area, please do consider attending the show. Tickets can be purchased at our website.