Shoes and Modesty?
Modesty in shoe wear should be considered. Just because a shoe is cute, doesn’t mean we should wear it, you could be sending the wrong signals! Let’s dive into a quick rundown of some shoe styles!
Tennis shoes:
I cannot think of anything immodest about tennis shoes.
Flip Flops/Sandals:
In some cultures feet were considered an intimate part of the body and should be covered up. Some colleges and professional companies still require a dress code that doesn’t allow flip flops, sandals, or opened toed shoes. Flip flops and sandals are cute, but not always appropriate.
They are cute to wear, but don’t wear them just to attract attention!
High Heels:
Rebekah, one of our readers suggested this topic, concerning high heels she said, “Wearing heels (not all, but lots) does make your chest stick out and your backside stick out. Also, to walk in them properly you must swing, and this men notice whether they are wanting to or not. These things do not help a girl exhibit an attitude of modesty.” She is right! Heels aren’t wrong to wear, some just send the wrong signal.
Rebekah gave me permission to use some thoughts she shared in an email:
“Modesty encompasses clothing issues, but is basically an attitude of life that shines through in what we wear. This attitude is one of humility, yet realization also that God made me special for His glory. I don’t have to flaunt what I have to gain importance in the eyes of others, but rather I should treat my body with respect and dignity. I am a special and unique creation of God, put together in every part to specific dimensions and particular qualities predetermined by a loving God. He sees my body as perfectly what He designed it to be, and views me as a member of His royal family. As royalty, I should dress as a daughter of the king…I should seek to flatter, not accentuate, to cover, not shrink wrap, make good statements, not offer sinful suggestions to the mind of a man, to adorn, not slop together, to dress as if I am always on call to approach the King of kings, or act as His ambassador. It is true that God seems my heart, but it is also just as true that man cannot see my heart, he judges by the outward appearance, and that is in about 3 seconds of time. If this is how we approach fashion, we can weed through many of the trashy themes out there which lower our thoughts to ideas of trying to ‘fix’ what is wrong with me, cover up my imperfections, or using my body to advertise in order to attract what we think we need in relationships.”
I look at shoes the way I look at clothing, if it draws to much attention, or I am wearing it to show off, it’s best to leave it in my closet!
Deciding what to wear doesn’t have to be difficult, seek God’s advice!
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I guess I’ve never really thought about shoes being modest or immodest when I put them on as I’m usually just looking for something that matches and looks good with my outfit. Thanks for bringing that to my attention!
When wearing heels, I know I tend to stand straighter as I’m kind of forced to and I think there is a fine line between standing straight and sticking out ones chest/backside…a very fine line. The same could be said when not wearing heels, it’s just more definite with heels. IMHO.
It’s pretty subjective. I used to intentionally slouch to make it appear that I had no figure. At the time even standing up straight looked like flaunting to me.
Wow. Modesty is great…it really is. But this is about the silliest thing I’ve ever read. Flip flops….immodest?…. no not at all. They are against dress codes because they are too casual. I think anybody that is aroused by a ‘flip-flopped’ foot has bigger issues…
I agree with you… open-toed shoes are not allowed because they are not professional and in some environments can be dangerous (you can be a waitress in heels, but if they show your toes it would be terrible to drop a sharp knife on accident)… At my school campus flip flops were not allowed, because of a girl that was running, her shoe caught on a sprinkler head, and she injured her foot pretty bad, and situations like that on school property end up in court…
I can understand not wearing shoes that show your feet if you are visiting a culture that focuses on the feet, then it would be considered immodest…
And I know that there are some people that do have feet fetishes… But I just feel that covering up feet is going to far… There are people that find long hair attractive, or as sick as being attracted to animals… I’m not covering up my hair, my feet, and my dog when I go for a walk just to make extra sure of everything…
That’s just my opinion though…
Sydney: I agree, there is a very fine line.
Chrs: At one time I thought the same thing about standing up straight!
Bob: I didn’t say flip flops were immodest, I said they just aren’t always appropriate!
I’ve never ever considered the modesty of shoes before. You’ve definitely given me some food for thought.
Regarding heels, I wear them because I’m tiny and heels give me the extra height I need to feel more confident. Flats make me feel so dumpy lol. It doesn’t help that my party is over 6ft – making me look even smaller next to him!
I agree this deserves some more thought. Modesty is great… i am really a some sort of dress code.
yeah, I agree with “Wearing heels (not all, but lots) does make your chest stick out and your backside stick out. Also, to walk in them properly you must swing, and this men notice whether they are wanting to or not. These things do not help a girl exhibit an attitude of modesty.”
A friend of mine saw a little booklet once all about shoes and modesty. She told me a few things that were very interesting! Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the book anywhere.
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I’ve found it helpful to ask my Father if I have doubts about shoes. This was a very good article. Thanks for sharing, Mardi.
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I just found this site and was interested in the discussion. As she wrote, tennis shoes aren’t immodest, but when you think about it they are very frumpy and don’t really look good with skirts. (I wear a lot of skirts)Flip-flops are just casual so that’s why they are banned in some places like school or work. We aren’t supposed to be attracting a lot of attention with the way we dress and high heels will draw some untoward attention…but on the same note we don’t want to dress frumpy and get attention the other way either. I wear a lot of flats because i’m 5’11″ but sometimes I will put on some heels because it looks cute with my outfit. I don’t have the skinny heels or platform heels, just some nice shoes to just make me feel a little girly.
I would say that bright white sneakers (tennis shoes) would definitely stand out and not look as frumpy, but how long are those kind of shoes white anyway?
I don’t understand your question… How long are those kind of shoes white anyway? How long are tennis shoes white? I don’t know, I try to keep my shoes clean. I was just saying that tennis shoes to me are just frumpy.