Ask
what the latest fashion trends are for young Mormon women across the
United States, and the girls might surprise you by not mentioning
articles of clothing or high-end designers.
Instead, they might mention modest proms and fashion shows.
From
a secular perspective, proms and fashion shows are two places where,
typically, you will find clothes on the low-end of the morality scale —
sometimes you will barely find enough fabric to pass as pillowcases,
let alone dresses.In Rancho Santa
Margarita, Calif., young LDS women and their leaders came together for
the \"My Style, Modest Fashions for 2010\" fashion show.
They
felt it was time to show how being fashionable doesn't require
compromised standards. They even garnered the support of professional
stylists and local vendors who helped with the clothes, hair and makeup.
__IMAGE1__Karen
Lake, assistant director of media relations for the Santa Margarita
California Stake, pointed out that the girls are setting a great
example: A nonmember reporter purposely brought her daughter to the
event so she could learn \"how she could be both fashionable and modest.\"
Modesty-themed
fashion shows have been put on in other places in the past year as
well, such as in Ogden, Utah, and Salt Lake City.
In Dallas, Texas, a collection of stakes has put modest couture into action for the past five years.
They
started the tradition of holding an \"LDS Prom\" where the goal is to
provide young people with a fun, safe atmosphere where they don't have
to worry about inappropriate behavior or dress.
Joanne
Poulsen of the Richardson Texas Stake, chairwoman of last year's LDS
Prom, expressed that she was troubled by the lack of standards at local
high school dances, but all 1,013 of the LDS youths at their dance were
\"well groomed, dressed appropriately, dancing to music with clean
lyrics and having so much fun.\"
Other
stakes, like five in Grand Blanc, Mich., have teamed up to create proms
for LDS youths as well. The young women got creative, finding modest
dresses online, going vintage, or pairing up with Relief Society
sisters familiar with sewing machines.
The
most important thing, however, that the LDS proms and fashion shows
accomplish is showing teens that there are others just like them who
have the same values.
As Poulsen said: \"It is nice to see that you are not alone.\"
E-mail: eschmuhl@desnews.com