Reconciling "fashionable" and "modesty"

Marc Jacobs, 2008

Google "dress" (under Google image search) and you get all sorts of dresses--prom dresses, summer dresses, casual dresses, formal dresses... mostly strapless or plunging or too short dresses. It always seems to mean "fashionable" (and the results get even more fashionable if you stick a popular clothing brand before the word "dress"). But google "modest dress" and there's suddenly something a bit less fashionable among the search results. And most of them have nuances of one religion or another.

It's so easy to dismiss any dress that is called "modest" as unfashionable or fit only for those old women who don't care for fashion anymore. (Must point out that many mature women are very fashionable, in fact more fashionable than women my age, so this previous statement is probably oozing with common bias. Forgive me.) But I really do think that a modest dress is not something one who doesn't care for what she wears will pick up.

Why? Because it's so much harder to find a modest, fashionable dress! Anyone can simply get herself a dress--but to get a dress that covers you well and makes you look elegant (drawing the eye to your pretty face!), well that's something more of a challenge isn't it?

Can anyone give tips on choosing better dresses? I have one: think elegant.

Fashionable is not always flattering--and honestly, following trends all the time? That gets tiring. It seems that modesty, especially when it comes to dresses, is quite non-conformist!

And who says nonconformity is not fashionable?