There has never been one woman in my life that I have known personally that wears only dresses. My Journey To Only Wearing Dresses generated many interesting comments. After pondering it for awhile, I think it matters a lot in what part of the world you live in.
I have lived in Southern California my whole life. No one that I know wears only dresses. Many Christian women feel very comfortable in a bikini and short shorts. Our pastors wear jeans and t-shirts when they preach! Very few women even wear dresses to church. Most of them wear jeans. (I am not afraid of standing out in my area by being the only one who wears dresses. This wouldn't bother me at all! I always try to live by my convictions, not by how others are living. I just am not convicted about it at this point, neither is Ken. However, I do think dresses and skirts are much more feminine than anything else women wear which is the reason many of you only wear dresses, along with feeling more modest in them.)
From reading other blogs and the comments on this topic, I think a lot of the women who only wear dresses live in the Midwest (or Southern middle states) and/or on a homestead. I know the Midwest is much more conservative than the east and west coasts. They vote way more conservative, more people attend church, conservative values are more accepted, people still dress up for church (I think), etc.
So for me to not wear a bikini (I wear a tankini top with board shorts) and to wear dresses to church is rare around my part of the country. California is much more casual (and liberal) than most states and that may be a reason I have never known anyone who only wears dresses. I have known many very godly women. They dress modestly, but just not in dresses only.
I definitely believe you can dress modestly without only wearing dresses. I think it all depends on what your husband, the leader of the family, decides is modest. As you know, I love the Pearls and the Duggers. All the women in these families wear dresses, they live in the Midwest, and live in wide open areas. If I were to bet, I would bet Jim Bob and Michael wanted the women to wear dresses since they are the definite leaders of the home. I am sure they discussed it with their wives and maybe, even the wives thought of it first, but it was something the husbands probably decided was best.
Therefore, I think it should depend on how each husband defines modesty. Ken doesn't care if I wear dresses, pants, or shorts. He thinks that I am always modest. In the past, he has told me things he didn't want me to wear so I never wore them again. We, as wives, need to respect and obey our husbands in this area.
Most Christian men in America probably wouldn't want their wives to only wear dresses. I am not sure about this but I don't think most men think that a women in pants and shorts that aren't too tight fitting are immodest.
If you are wondering if you should only wear dresses, discuss it with your husband and get his opinion. This, I believe, is how to best handle this whole wearing dresses only decision! Then stand firm in your convictions but don't become legalistic about it (thinking all women should only wear dresses to be godly). All I know is this topic should NEVER cause conflict between believers. Usually, women will quote me a verse from Deuteronomy about a woman never wearing something pertaining to a man. As women, we do need to be careful to dress as women and be easily distinguished from the men around us so our clothing needs to be feminine and modest always.
Likewise also that women should adorn
themselves in respectable apparel,
with modesty and self-control,
not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire.
I Timothy 2:9
