LEHI — At a fashion show Tuesday night, there was plenty of satin, swirl and shimmer.
What there wasn't: plunging necklines, see-through fabrics, spaghetti straps and cut-outs.
And most of the audience didn't mind.
"With my daughters, we couldn't find anything when we shopped for prom," said Leanora Mann, who saw the show at Thanksgiving Point with a group of young women from her LDS Church in American Fork. "We bought a lot of cover-ups."
Pam Taylor added, "We both have teenage daughters. It's hard to find prom gowns that have some shoulders but are still elegant."
Eddie and Heather Gist, owners of the Midvale shop called Modest by Design, which sponsored the fashion show, say they're doing what they can in a skin-is-in fashion world.
"It's hard. We try really hard to find as many as we can," said Eddie Gist.
The Gists are catering to the market of teenagers who want to make a splash at homecoming — but whose parents frown on barely there dresses seen on Hollywood starlets.
Each year, the Gists hold a nationwide contest for a new, original design, and they add that dress to the collection.
The store has original designs and ready-made gowns, priced from $109 to $230 and in all sizes.
Most of the gowns are simple with long skirts and cap sleeves, usually a fitted bodice. Some are tea length, just below the knee. A few are sheath gowns with long sleeves and beaded tops.
Several feature overskirts and flowing trains and silk roses or rhinestones either at the waist or back.
Colors available include plum, burgundy, cream, scarlet, black, silver, pink, lavender, coral, green and dark blue.
"You don't have to wear a black tent dress to be modest," said Heather Gist as the models gathered for their turn on the ramps.
At the show, Kayla Hewitt, 14, said she thinks dresses in stores are too revealing. "It's like, 'Cleavage, hello!' "
Gretchen Latimer, 17, said the dresses usually have to be altered to make them more modest. "Most of them you can't wear any underwear with them or it'll show."
"We came here to see something modest," Latimer said. "I think I would consider some of these, but then some were kind of overdone."
"I liked the green and purple one," Hewlett said. "One of the others, I called the Mickey Mouse dress because it was all red and black together."
Modest by Design has a Web site www.modestbydesign.com and a showroom in Midvale at 7127 S. 400 West, Suite 6.
E-mail: haddoc@desnews.com