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Monday, December 27, 2010

Unconsciously Edwardian

We went to the mall after church for Chip's birthday lunch. We ended up at Dulcinea for a dose of Spanish cuisine. While waiting for the others to get there (we came in two cars), Mark took our picture (we were also planning to order the paella negra, so we thought we'd get in some pics with squid ink-free smiles, lol). After lunch, one car went straight home, while the rest of us stayed behind to buy a couple of things (black shoes and stockings for Marguerite and a bridesmaid's dress for Chip). While were in a shop called Hip Culture, we heard one of the clerks say, "An' taray naman ng outfil nila, parang sa Princess Sara." ("Their outfits are fierce, like those in Princess Sara."-- Princess Sara was one of those Tagalized cartoon shows I mentioned here.) That's when we realized that they had been making a fuss about the clothes we were wearing (just Chip, Cheska and myself -- Marguerite was wearing a non-weird, but also non-churchy fuchsia, black and white ensemble with sneakers of the same color combo). They had been dropping comments since we entered the place, but we didn't think they were directed at us. We had to laugh at that. They were actually being complimentary too. They liked the outfits, but thought they were unusual. My dress was ankle-length and Chip's and Cheska's ended below the knee. I guess we did look different from your token mall goer, very modest, and judging from the Princess Sara bit, a little Edwardian, lol.
The three of us with probably a handful of other members are real sticklers for the church dress code - no sleeveless tops and skirts below the knee... This is imposed on the worship team (who mostly prefer to wear slacks anyway) and merely encouraged in the rest of the congregation. The operative word is "encouraged", which means we usually stand out in a sea of denim jeans and T-shirts. The thing is, I'm not modest at all. I used to wear the skimpiest things (not in church, of course), but since I made the conscious choice to be obedient, observing modesty (not really hard, but I started my adult life in a very liberal setting and its influence took root quite deeply) has become easier and easier.
Here's a brighter camera setting, lol:

3 comments:

chubskulit said...

Oh I love Dulcenia sis, a priest friend brought us there and it was my first time.. Ganda ng mga ngiti hehehe..

Dave DeWall said...

Well, I think your outfits are just fine, too. Nothing wrong about dressing a certain way for church, that's for sure. Your story reminded me of a lady dressed in an outlandish red party dress that my wife and I saw at KFC one Sunday morning in Ilolo. She was talking loudly on her cell phone parading back and forth through out the restaurant obviously trying to draw attention to herself. I looked at a group of young teenagers that were obviously entertained by the lady as I was and rolled my eyes. They laughed so hard. I don't think the lady in red was getting the kind of attention she wanted.

spinninglovelydays said...

@Rose: Thanks! It's a good place to go to if you're craving Spanish dishes. :)

@Dave: Too bad there's no full-length picture, but I suppose my outfit was particularly Amish-ish because it was ankle-length. Unlike your lady in red, we weren't trying to stand out. We didn't even think we did, except for that comment, lol