A long time ago, michelle duggar he made the executive decision that his daughters would grow up wearing only skirts and dresses. In recent years, however, the wayward daughter jinger duggar she decided she was ready to live by her own rules. Not long after they were married, she began wearing pants, and now her sisters are following her example. These days, Jill Duggar regularly wears ripped jeans, and even Jana Duggar has been seen in shorts.
But how did all this skirts and dresses thing start? The girls explained in their 2014 book, growing up duggar, why her parents proposed such strict rules when it comes to her dress code, and it has to do with her traditional religious values. “We do not dress modestly because we are ashamed of the body that God has given us; quite the opposite. We realize that our body is a special gift from God and that He intends it to be shared only with our future husband.”
“We avoid low-cut, cleavage-baring, open, or off-the-shoulder tops and, when necessary, wear a T-shirt. We try to get used to always covering the top of our shirt with our hand when we bend over. We don’t want to play hide and seek with our cleavage,” they said. They also explained how the TLC stars use a “safe word” when coming into contact with an ~inappropriately~ dressed woman to signal the rest of the family to look down and keep moving. When they see someone in less than modest attire, they say the word “Nike,” and the kids turn their eyes to their sneakers instead of looking straight ahead.
The move is used to prevent any of the men in the family from being “let down” while away from home. And it turns out that being careful not to let anyone down is also where the whole skirts and dresses thing comes into play. “We really wanted to see what the Scriptures said about [modesty]”Michelle wrote in a 2013 blog for TLC. “Our interpretation was that from the neck to the knee it should be covered.” But it was also important to her that she do it in a feminine way. “I should really be defining who I am as a woman by choosing to wear dresses and skirts,” she said.
Jinger opened up about why she felt compelled to only wear dresses and skirts during her childhood. “I thought that she had to wear only skirts and dresses to please God,” she said. People in January 2023. “And if I go outside of what I think is expected of me, I think God is going to be so upset with me and could hurt me.”
Two months later, younger sister, Joy Anna Duggar opened up about her decision to wear pants during a March 2023 YouTube video.
“[We] I felt like there was nothing in scripture that was black and white in the dress,” the mother of two explained during the clip. “I think biblically, we just went through the scriptures for a long time and we feel like this is okay for our family.”
Joy-Anna revealed that she and her husband, austin forsythHe began having conversations about clothing “within the first year of marriage” and it was something the couple talked about “off and on for the last three or four years.”
“I had always worn skirts my whole life and for me, like I don’t know, I just wasn’t in a rush,” the former TLC personality continued. “I feel like you can be modest and wear pants and that’s where we got to. I try to be modest in my pants, like wearing pants, and not things that are too tight or too short.”
But now that the girls are old enough to start making that decision for themselves, who follows in their mother’s footsteps? More importantly, who is branching out? Take a look at the gallery below to see which of the Duggar Girls has rocked a pair of pants.
