…courtesy.
I found an article on the American Thinker that is well worth a read. The authors explore a personal theory of mine, 
namely the reduction of formality, style and modesty in our society is inversely proportionate to the amount of selfishness that surrounds us.
For example, adult men wearing baseball caps backwards and indoors, failure to comb their hair properly, and wearing dress shirts outside of their trousers. Adult women showing inappropriate bare skin, undergarments, tattoos in an office setting or in public. And we will politely dance around those with enormous (as the British would say) “sit-upons” crammed into tight jeans. In the United States, there is a general lack of respect and civility for other people. We convey that by how we dress.
We are a selfish people therefore we refuse to dress for others.
Take a moment to read “Why is Dressing Down the New Dressing Up?”
HT: The Aesthetic Traditionalist – for link and image
This does make me think… thanks for sharing it. Have a blessed day Kim and family
Interesting article Kim. Definitely something to think about.
That’s an interesting theory. I had a college professor who wished that someone would write a thesis on the disappearance of hats in society; namely, that hats used to be worn to denote social class, but that an abhorrence of class led to bare-headedness in America.
Ok, so I have recently been convicted about this.
I used to wear only dresses/skirts. Then I began wearing pants again. Slowly, wearing pants turned into staying in my pj’s all day around the house.” Who (besides my impressionable children!) is going to see me?”I rationalized.
Needless to say,I’ve stopped that habit.
Interesting….we have been doing The Love Dare book as a couple, and have found that most every problem in our marriage is DIRECTLY related to our own levels of selfishness. I can also see the correlation in this situation as well.
Thanks for sharing~
Lori
Interesting and something to ponder.
I do think that modesty and formality are two separate (albeit sometimes related) issues, however. Standards of formality do change, and I think we have to be careful not to become pharisaical about them. There is a difference between wearing jeans to church because you don’t care and don’t think church is important enough to look well for, and wearing jeans to church because it is acceptable at your church during the evening service and it allows you to be authentically yourself and focus on worshipping God rather than being distracted by uncomfortable clothing.
Modesty, however, is a bit more non-negotiable… there is no excuse for wearing something that causes a brother (or sister) to sin.
I think that these two issues get confused too often, and then when teens see their elders’ demands for formality – a cultural standard – as an unreasonable emphasis on outward things (which for some, it is) they see modesty – a Biblical, moral standard – in that same category.
Let us not say, “Thank you, Lord, that we are not like those people who wear dress shirts outside of their trousers.”
/soapbox
i loved the article and could not agree more. I have been doing more pants as I am pregnant again and have a hard time finding maternity dresses that do not look like a moo moo
i thought it funny the advertisements on the side bar of the article, “Metro style” dress sexy…
I am sure they had no idea this would go there at this time.
Thanks for the link. That was a good, interesting article.