I remember as a young girl we were told stories of how a beautiful, smart and brilliant girl should appear descent and innocent. Most female children were adorned on long gowns and knee length skirts.
Reasons most of the secondary school girls made it a point of duty to allow only uniforms that had allowances and spaces.
It was such a beautiful time to see girls wear clothings that covered their bodies. And if you had a counsellor in secondary school around the 1970s and 1990s, you will agree with me that you were taught to sit with legs crossed and wear descent clothes not revealing pantyliners or flabby bodies. It was so important to be decently dressed at that time and females were even taught that girls who exposed their vitals were not wife materials and very much indecent.
What is happening today is a reverse of the former order when decency was expensive. Today, caution has been mortgaged that it has become abnormal to be properly dressed with the vitals covered.
But why did women become so daring? A particular answer could be modernisation and freedom of expression. The level of promiscuity and body all baring has become very intolerable that even adults, parents are no longer ready to warn today’s young girls to cover up their bodies for fear of being ostracised or tagged: “Old school.”
It has become alarming that a number of our Nigerian musical videos all show girls dancing almost nude. Whatever the society has become it is the collective responsibility of everyone to fix this modern problem fiercely on our faces.
A woman can still look pretty, elegant and comported without looking immodest or indecent and would make heads turn in admiration instead of disdain.
It was ethical to wear the right kind of fashion to the right occasion. For example, there were clothes carefully designed for dinners, beach, casuals, work places, etc. What is obtainable is in reverse order. I sometimes find fashion slips and malfunctions when the wrong selection of clothes is worn to the right event and same thing goes with other accessories such as the hair, jewelries, make-up, fragrances, etc.
As a woman, it is not everything on social media and television screen that is right fashion. Ensure to appear very beautifully covered, you will get the right attention. I have seen ladies get embarrassed with their own outfit on arrival at the right setting on a wrong outfit.
Are you a female reader? How have you been appearing? Decent or indecent? Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. A confident woman is a covered up woman. That is where her dignity and respect lies.
. Lilian Mabeek is a writing enthusiast who enjoys to captivate her readers with everyday happenings or experiences as it best soothes each person, having similar and peculiar reactions and interaction with daily life occurrences. As an inspirational writer focused on indelible prints of positivity of the minds on anyone reading a line or pages as it were, she prefers not to delve into negative stories or publications, but rather intentionally purges the minds of readers to awaken to a beautiful world where endless joy is found and possibilities exist. For Mabeek, her purpose is to bring peaceful memories, coexistence and friendliness to the mind of anyone who reads her daily digest. You can describe her choice of expression as a daily English usage for better comprehension among readers of all educational qualifications. Mabeek’s passion for writing was borne out of ensuring that anyone reading any publication will find pleasure, humour, laughter and an appreciation of whatever is being written about, but ultimately avert stress, anxiety, depression and any form of life challenge. As a social commentator and public relations consultant, for her the pen is a tool to the heart of the society, bringing public enlightenment that it pays to focus on positive narratives and creating a greater image for Nigeria.