How to Dress for Church Without Sacrificing Your Style

How to Dress for Church Without Sacrificing Your Style

Church is traditionally one of the more conservative places you can go. Given its solemn, serious vibe, as well as the many rules of organized religion, it's easy to think going to church means taking a break from your personal style.

But this is not a hard rule. Yes, it's important to be respectful. But if you take the right approach, you can put together church outfits that are modest enough for the setting but that still allow you to be entirely yourself.

To make sure a trip to church, whether for a Sunday service, wedding, or funeral, doesn't sacrifice your style, follow these tips:

Learn What Not to Wear
There are no "rules" when it comes to church attire. It's not as if they teach a class on what to wear at Bible college, and there are church police out there to scold you for dressing wrong.

Instead, the church dress code has developed from a combination of tradition and common sense. The idea is to try and keep the environment serious and free from distractions, for the whole point of going to church is supposed to be to work on your relationship with God. Even if you're not a believer/practitioner, you still need to respect this wish of others when entering their place of worship.

Therefore, knowing what you should not wear is an important first step to keeping your style since it will give you a framework to use when deciding your outfits.

In general, when in church you should not wear:

• Shorts or skirts that stay above the knees. In fact, you should stick to pants and ling dresses.
• Tank Tops or other shirts that expose the shoulders
• Hats
• Open-toed shoes
• Jeans

One thing to remember is that every church is different. Some, especially the modern, liberal ones, are more casual and laid back, and they might not mind if you wear jeans or sandals. But it's best not to assume. If it's your first time going, dress more modestly, and then once you see what's accepted, you can adapt.

Now that you know what you shouldn't wear, you should hopefully have a few outfits in mind. But if you want to take things a step further, here are a few more ways to bring your personal style to church attire:

Accessorize

There is nothing that says you can't wear jewelry or other accessories to highlight your outfit and make it more fun. As mentioned, stay away from hats. And also don't wear any excessively opulent jewelry that calls too much attention. But a nice necklace, a pin, or a special bag can go a long way towards making a standard church outfit much more exciting.

Layers
Another way to bring some pizazz into your church outfit is to use layers. This way you can be sure you're not breaking any of the rules (how can adding more clothing be less modest?). But you'll also be able to create new styles and outfits that you might not wear anywhere else. As an added bonus, a lot of bigger churches tend to get cool, so if you're wearing layers, you're solving two problems at once!

Mix and Match
Lastly, a fun thing to do when dressing for church is to wear combinations of clothes that you might not have otherwise worn. For example, you could put a sweater over a long dress, giving you a unique look while still keeping your outfit modest. This is a great time to try out new things. If you're in Australia and going to church, check out a dress hire in Sydney to find something new, then combine it with something you have, and who knows? Maybe you'll find a whole new way of dressing!

Time for Church
While church is typically a serious affair (even wedding ceremonies aren't taken lightly), you can still have fun with it by putting in some effort when it comes to your outfit. So long as you remember to keep things modest, you can still find ways of expressing yourself even if you have to spend your Sunday at church.