FAITH AND FASHION.
FINDING MY STYLE..
Fashion, as I like to explain it, is a way a person expresses himself/herself using clothes and accessories. Now I’ve had quite a lot of trouble in this area of my life because not only am I not fashion-inclined but I also almost always have problems deciding exactly what I’m trying to express. “Who am I?”, “Is that who people see when they look at me?” are but a few of the questions that come to play before and after I choose my clothes.
Back home in Ghana I never really had an issue with style etc. mostly because most of my time was spent in the boarding house where we wore uniforms and were restricted to what kind of shoes and accessories we could wear .
The vacations weren’t much different for me either because the only time we (my family and I) went out was when we went to church on Saturdays. My other outings would be going to the market with my mum or running an errand at home, none of which required much dressing. Thus, my wardrobe was mainly made up of church clothes and anything comfortable for the house.
Moving to China was quite a sudden change because I now had to get clothes for lectures ( uniforms are under-appreciated y’all ) and the fact that I lost my luggage upon arrival ( another story for another day) didn’t make the transition any easier because then I had absolutely nothing to start with. So there I was, a girl whose need for style had always been about getting clothes for church, in a new environment where she needed different clothes for class, church, social outings and oh… don’t forget they had to be season-appropriate too…… Seeing other people dress well and look good in their own style kind of made me also develop an interest in creating my style too. I loved the challenge of finding and creating my own style although that did not come without setbacks.
Naturally, I love clothes that make me feel free and comfortable. Talk of long dresses/skirts that sweep the ground and flow with the wind, bola t-shirts and pullovers, leggings, long tops, shorts, shirts, jumpsuits and sometimes overcoats/jackets when necessary. I love rings and I’m crazy about heels….. I don’t like tight clothes or body fits mainly because they make me uncomfortable and I just don’t have the tummy needed to rock them. Until recently, I didn’t do jeans either, because they just didn’t look as good on me as they did on my girlfriends. The challenge then became choosing what complemented my figure and also reflected who I am as a person i.e an outward rep of the person within.
Knowing that I’m not the most fashionable person in the room, I always go for clothes that are beautiful enough, elegant enough, comfortable and sexy. There have, however, been a few occasions where my insecurities set in and comfort wasn’t just enough so I chose clothes that weren’t exactly comfortable in order to compensate for my insecurities.
I remember an instance where in my attempt to not appear boring or be over-looked, I chose an outfit that although was very beautiful, and complementing of my figure, was also rather quite revealing of my cleavage. I still went with it anyway and I sure did get comments and stares but deep down, I was uncomfortable. In my quest to be seen and recognized by a certain someone or people, I sacrificed my comfort. A few months back we held a ball and by the end of the evening, I couldn’t share most of the pictures because my cleavage was all over. Honestly, I didn’t set out to look like that and I was mortified when my pictures came out like that. I just couldn’t post them in good faith because I didn’t want the wrong attention. Although the most harm had probably already been done.
One of the things I’ve had to consider in this journey of finding my style is my faith. Fashion for me is all about expressing myself and since my faith is basically the foundation of who I am, finding my style is also about choosing clothes and accessories that not only make me feel and look good but also allow me to properly represent who I am and whose I am. My fashion journey is based off on choosing clothes or styles that make me confident as a 21st-century Christian girl and also allow me to comfortably honor God.
It is thru this journey that I came up with the topic for discussion Faith and Fashion. Fashion is ever-changing, trends come and go and in this virtual world, our outward representation matters a lot. That being said, I’m not lost on the fact that the topic of faith and fashion, if not approached carefully, could come off as being biased and judgmental. I hereby state that this topic/ mini-series isn’t to dictate how anyone should or shouldn’t dress. I am, however, hoping that we’ll be able to have an open conversation about our personal styles, share a few tips and encourage one another. To a few, adding faith to style equals “boring”, but I beg to differ. I think that Christians shouldn’t be restricted from pursuing fashion either as a career or lifestyle interest. I also do believe that a person’s faith does/should have a degree of influence on his/her style.
I, therefore, come to you again today, my honorable and learned readers, with another topic and a few questions for us to dissect and discuss. I believe that the issue of faith and fashion although very broad and dicey can be very simple. Below are some questions I have and I look forward to reading your thoughts and answers:
1. Do you think faith and fashion can be related in any way?
2. Does your personal style have anything to do with your faith?
3. Do you think a person’s faith should influence his/her style? Does yours?
Do share your thoughts and answers in the “reply” section. Don’t be a stranger.
Firstly I think faith and fashion is related is soo many ways and it does affect ma personal style. This is because the kinda environment we grew up in or find out impact in our fashion sense…The things that u learn abt ur what is right and wrong in ur faith will always determine why you would like to wear to express urself as u said…
I gotta say that “social media” is a very huge agent in determining some of the fashion sense of our 21st century in ma opinion tho.
This was a very great read, can’t wait for the next post.
thank you for sharing your thoughts… and rightly so with the social media aspect…. hopefully we get to discuss that in future posts too..
Ohhh fashen . Yeah fashion and faith are definitely related.However I feel with the “diversity” of faith means a different understanding or perspective of the two. For instance,more traditional churches or at least the Methodist Church(which I was baptized in) don’t allow pants. Sleeveless or tight above the knee skirts and dresses. Where as Most Pentecostal or charismatic churches have more of a broader scope in terms of dressing for WOMEN. Sometimes men but mostly the focus in most religions is women. Sooo again the perspective issue comes into play becomes someone from a more conservative/traditional church might think a tight dress to church isn’t modest enough whereas as for these more morden churches it’s pretty acceptable.So that dictates how most people choose to dress. Personally I think your faith should dictate every aspect of your life (As hard as that is) and because of the diversity again of what faith means to different people,ultimately you have to decide what that looks like.And an important question to ask yourself is the Why behind what you do. Do you wear “revealing” clothes for attention or do you wear “modestly” to point out the “faults” in how others choose to dress. I think if you’re honest enough you’ll do what’s best for you and your journey
That was sooo long . Sorry this became a mini blog ♀️
Interesting peace.
Xoxoxo
Thank you so much for passing thru and sharing your thoughts .rightly said with all the points shared here . It really isn’t so black n white when it comes to the issue of modesty because then we gotta ask which shade of ‘black’ …. I’m hopeful that in future posts we’ll be able to cover as much grounds on this broad topic as possible … ❤️❤️❤️
Interesting…
Thank you Brandy
Wow great
Thanks Thad ❤️❤️
Interesting piece Dear
thank you
This piece
i know u gat sth to share …spiillll gurlllll
Thank U dear for sharing. I really enjoyed going through this part of ur Journal.
If Fashion and Faith are related? Yes my dear! They do a lot. I also went through a similar process… Grownup in an environment where uniforms were making choices easier for me or else my mum would choose anything 4me.”That time when my Faith was based on my parents faith”buh was enjoying though… Then came the time I had to choose myself ,create my own fashion. My 1st alternative was to copy what was done in my environment. I would choose to wear almost similar with my friends for the sake of not appearing different or being sooo obvious. More than feeling confortable with what I was wearing I use to prefer not being seen. That was my way of leaving and was finding it easy… At the same time was personally growing in my christian faith, reading related books and got to know a lot that was hidden by my”follow the crowd “ habit. I came to know How unique I was and the need of not dressing necessarily as others buh being confortable, confident and pleasing do God. I won’t say I went with the no pants for ladies, no earings ,covered head…. buh it all changed. My faith has totally changed my way of thinking and dressing and M even finding pleasure being creative in it. Sometimes wonder how I went through some style I will never go back too. So, yes ur faith influences ur style. Eish! hope that wasn’t too long….
aww Falila thank you so much….. it wasn’t too long babes… worth sharing.. thanks for taking time to read and sharing your thoughts as well…. God bless you.. love love
As someone already stated in the comments our faith should have an impact on everything that concerns us which includes our fashion,personally when growing up I stayed away from certain clothes or “trends”cause I wasn’t just comfortable wearing them and I grow up with brothers so mostly wore guy-ish looking clothes cause of it comfortablity and during pubertal stage I was really insecure and wanted to be treated as one of the guys so wearing baggy clothes helped in a way,After high school I got interested in fashion but I would always go for stuff that was comfortable for me (not too revealing)And not necessarily cause of my faith but now I try to be as conscious as possible about the way I dress and my intentions,cause sometimes we might want to dress a certain type of way cause we are insecure and not confident or to be noticed for the wrong reasons but we need to allow God to deliver us from that cause it becomes a form of bondage.lastly the Bible says in whatsoever you do,do it for the Glory of God.
Very well noted . Thanks for sharing girl ❤️❤️
Bravo, keep it up dear!
thank you very much
Yes
Yes
Yes
I think faith guides us, that we find ourselves in the crowd of others. When our style is in tune with our faith, it builds our confidence. Fashion is constant and thatsee the joy of it. It’s true is difficult to find your style always, it can be time consuming, challenging and sometimes costly but once you get a hold of it, it gives you confidence than no other.
true. thanks for sharing Kristen.
Great write up! Oh yes! Faith and Fashion are inseparable. I wrote a 10-day devotional on Fashion and the Bible sometime back, writing it exposed me to how much the Bible has to say about Fashion.
thank you.