Thursday, March 11, 2010

Dresses

Every year growing up my sisters and I got new Easter dresses. I loved getting a new dress in the spring and I loved the tradition. My mom even continued it on into my college years and I have a sorority sister that still remembers that and thought it was the neatest tradition. I just thought it was what everyone did, but apparently that isn’t so.

Because I loved it so much it’s a tradition I’ve kept up with my girls. Often they are beautiful dresses made by Grandma (my mom). My 11 year old is growing up though and she’s not so into dresses to begin with. She is starting to be able to wear clothes from the Jrs. Sections and that is her preferred area to shop since she is 11 going on 17. And I have to admit that the dresses in the kids section do seem to be a little on the juvenile side for her. My issue is that as I’ve looked around online (we don’t have any department stores in my city) I’m very disillusioned with what I’m able to find:







Don't get me wrong, some of these dresses are "cute" but definitely not appropriate.

Either it’s too short, too low cut, sleeveless or pretty much looks like the wearer should be working a corner somewhere. Most of which I wouldn’t even let a 17 year old wear let alone an 11 year old. Ari is also very picky. She’s pretty much a tomboy and prefers jeans and t-shirts and preferably in black, so finding any dress or skirt that she’s willing to wear in the first place is pretty difficult without all the challenges of modesty.

We recently had parent teacher conferences and all the 6th graders had to bring home, sign and have their parents sign a behavioral contract because there have been so many issues this year, and if they didn’t follow these rules they would miss one or more of the end of the year activities including 6th grade graduation. One of the bullet point items on the list was that the students follow the school dress code. I’ve long thought that the school was way too lenient on what the kids could wear to school and it’s sometimes a challenge for Ari to understand why she can’t wear some of the things her friends are wearing. But during this conference we asked the teacher about the contract and if Ari was an offender in any of the category. She went over the list with us point by point and said that she didn’t feel Ari was having issues with any of the items on the list, but she did mention that they were having a lot of problems with girls showing too much cleavage…but that Ari had never been one of them (to which DH replied…”nor will she be”), but seriously, showing cleavage in the 6th grade? What is wrong with parents these days?

So, anyone have any good ideas as to where I could look for a not too dressy, yet not too casual (it will be for church) dress that’s not too immature, but doesn’t make my daughter look like she’s trying to be a street walker?

11 comments:

Mother of the Wild Boys said...

No advice on dresses...just a pat on the back for being aware and not letting your daughter dress like a street walker. :)

Heather said...

Not looking forward to this problem. Here are a few web sites I found.

http://mikarose.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=3

http://www.shabbyapple.com/

http://www.christa-taylor.com/

http://sweetinnocencedresses.com/shop/

http://www.jenclothing.com/church-dresses.html

Desi said...

Thanks for the sites Heather...I'll have to have Ari look at them!

Corri said...

I'm sorry; wish I could help! Even though my girls are little, the Easter dresses are already frustrating me! Why don't any of them have sleeves? It's still cold at Easter, so I don't understand why everything is a tank-top style!

One site I found has these neat little "mini-molly" tops that look like they'd be much better than a tee shirt under dresses:

http://www.mollysclothing.com/details.php?prodId=51&category=5

Good luck! (I can't believe that Ari's almost done with elementary school!)

Tina said...

Good for you! I have no idea where to shop for dresses, but I have an issue with what some girls are allowed to wear. Maybe you could google modest clothing and something will pop up?

Chandana said...

Hi,

Nice blog.

Here is a blog that serves for your spiritual needs...
It has messages from the Holy Scriptures that teach us how to have GOD in all the aspects of our lives, and allow GOD's rule in every matter.

http://www.holyoneofisrael-reconciliation.blogspot.com

Have a blessed reading.

God bless you.

Deborah said...

Ahh yes, I remember when my daughters, now 16 and 20, went through the transition stage of wearing Grandma produced clothes and the Jr. Section of JC Penny's. Wow - sort of scary. Nice blog.

Anonymous said...

delias.com might be a good option for dresses-- i'm 18 and buy quite a few of my clothes there, i think most of it is quite tasteful and very cute.

Anonymous said...

Once i had a dress just like the first yellow one (it was green though). What my mom did to fix the problem was sew on a black peice of fabric to the top so it wasn't so low down. It looked fine because it mached the black belt like thing. I would sugest going out somewhere with her and let her see wich ones she likes and bolth of you deciding on wich one will work. Good luck!!

Lady Orchid said...

There are some very concealing dresses for tomboys at places like Hot topic. I was Tomboy myself and I loved black or blue so I always wore nice black dress slacks and very comfortable dress shirt. I didn't look like a boy, I wasn't wearing a dress, and I was very comfortable.

Amy Hagerup said...

I really applaud your stance. Good for you. My youngest daughters are 16 and 17 and it is very hard to find stylish clothes that are modest. Keep up the good work.