Mod and modest on the runway

Thigh-high skirts, low-slung pants, tops with spaghetti straps and

hemlines above the navel -- they are today’s unrivaled staples in

popular fashion for teen girls.

So it may come as a surprise for some clothing retailers and

manufacturers that some girls don’t want to wear them -- and they are

hungry for off-the-rack alternatives.

Hundreds of local high school girls, some with their mothers and

fathers, have showed up at Nordstrom South Coast Plaza for

standing-room-only fashion shows held in its Brass Plum fashion

department to offer them more modest, yet still stylish, clothing.

“Modesty gives a girl a sense of self-worth and value. You don’t

have to flaunt your body to be popular or to fit in,” said

18-year-old Newport Coast teen Jana Crandal, who has attended and

modeled in the shows.

The goal of the shows is to provide teen girls with fashion

clothing -- casual, school, vacation, prom and party wear -- that is

modest and “chic, not geek.” The outfits are trendy, sassy and fun

without showing a lot of skin.

The shows were born out of the frustration of two Mormon moms,

Karen Baker and Carol Starr, whose own teenage daughters constantly

struggled to find suitable clothes, especially prom and evening

dresses, to wear.

For years, while raising their daughters, Baker and Starr spent

untold hours on clothing makeovers, adding sleeves, cleavage-

coverage or hem length. Sometimes prom dresses had to be custom made.

Last year, when the two mothers decided they were going to try to

change things, they called Nordstrom. Amy Jones, spokesperson for

Nordstrom, says the store is delighted they did.

Jones says Nordstrom tries hard to listen to its customers, to

offer something for everyone, and these fashion shows are just one

example of how Nordstrom does that.

Local teens such as Crandal are fitted and coached to be models

for the shows. In March, 18-year-old Valerie Day and Michelle

Deverich modeled in a show with Crandal.

They sashayed down the runway in playful, casual wear and in

formal wear that ranged from sophisticated, diva-chic to ingenue,

princess-chic.

“It was a blast,” Day said. “It was fun to show you can look good

and keep up with current [fashion] trends even though you are

dressing modestly.”

Deverich prefers to wear modest clothing partly because it is what

her church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, counsels

young women to do, but also because she has found it influences how

others treat her. She thinks the word modesty has taken on an unfair

connotation.

“It doesn’t mean I have to cover my ankles or not show my arm

above the elbow or wear turtlenecks every day,” she said. “For me, it

is not wearing clothing that’s skin-tight or short shorts, skirts

above the knee or sleeveless clothing.”

The shows preview a wide range of seasonal looks from select

manufacturers such as Eternity and Sabrina Nicole, including

cargo-utilitarian, Asian-inspired, ‘80s day-glo, sports-athleisure,

romantic-feminine, surf, punk-inspired and menswear-influenced -- all

fashion-forward, yet not too skin-baring.

Robin Deverich, Michelle’s mother, believes bare, sexually

provocative clothing can create an image and send a message that is

sometimes unintended.

“As a mom, I’m extremely grateful for the shows,” said Robin

Deverich, Michelle’s mother. “There are lots of other mothers out

there who share my frustration that there aren’t enough modest,

trendy clothes in the stores for our teenage daughters.”

There are fathers, too. A few days before a spring fashion show in

March, W. Bruce Cameron, the father of two teenager daughters,

expressed his preferences for teenage fashion in six words: “More

cloth. Less metal. No ink.”

Cameron, Santa Monica-based author of the book “8 Simple Rules for

Dating My Teenage Daughter,” which became the inspiration for the hit

TV sitcom of the same name, added, only slightly tongue-in-cheek,

“The purpose of clothing is to retain body heat -- not cause it in

boys.”

Information on future fashion shows, as well as information on how

to organize a fashion show that features trendy and modest clothing,

is available from Baker and Starr on the Internet at

www.smallandsimple.net.

*

Well, Ecclesiastes 3 says, “To every thing there is a season.” As

of today, my season writing feature stories for this page has come to

an end. Next Saturday will be the start of something new.

For me, it has been a wonderful season, and it’s been wonderful

because of the people I’ve come to know and work with throughout

these seven years: the religious leaders in this community and many

of the faithful in their congregations, my readers and my several

editors who have taught me so much.

Thank you all. I will miss you.

* MICHELE MARR is a freelance writer and graphic designer.