Stacy Long
AFA Journal staff writer
Little girl fourteen flipping through a magazine
Says she wants to look that way
But her hair isn’t straight, her body isn’t fake
And she’s always felt overweight
Well, little girl fourteen, I wish that you could see
That beauty is within your heart
And you were made with such care, your skin, your body and your hair
Are perfect just the way they are
April 2014 – The lyrics above, from the 2009 song “More Beautiful You” by Christian music artist Johnny Diaz, tell a story that most young girls and women have shared in emotionally. It tells a story that Kylie Bisutti experienced in a modeling career that led her to become a Victoria’s Secret Angel, and ultimately to a crisis of conflict between her Christian beliefs and the demands of her modeling career.
In I’m No Angel, Bisutti tells her story of discovering the truth about the fashion industry that creates the ideal for young girls like the one in Diaz’s song.
“Horrifying as it may sound, some models even go so far as to have their hip bones surgically shaved down,” she writes. “Others have their bottom ribs removed so they look ultra-thin.
“[But] everything about them seemed perfect – their hair, their skin, their bodies. … They were the embodiment of everything the world deemed sexy and desirable, and like millions of girls all over the world, I wanted to be just like them.”
In her book, Bisutti reveals how she ultimately left the fashion industry in the prime of her career, so that she could instead model the virtuous womanhood of the Bible to the girls and women watching her.
Learning the word modesty
Other women who have seen and experienced the ugly side of the fashion industry have also chosen to step in and make a difference in the world of fashion and in the way that girls perceive and express their beauty. Brenda Sharman, a former Miss Georgia and top six finalist for Miss USA in 1990, continues her modeling career with an uncompromising stand on her values after becoming a Christian in 1995. She knows firsthand the challenges of the fashion industry.
“I never even remember hearing the word modesty when I was a girl, but I learned very early in the fashion world that your body is basically an object to expose and fit whatever sample size you’re given,” she told AFA Journal. “You become an object to sell something.”
However, she can also testify to the change that Christianity made to her perception of modesty. And surprisingly, she has found that her convictions on the issue have only gained her greater respect.
“My agents don’t call me for anything that is overtly sexual now because they know I won’t say yes,” she said. “I think people can respect that a woman wants to dress or present herself with dignity and discretion, even if they personally do not want that for themselves.”
From her personal experience, Sharman believes that Christians can be true to their convictions and obedient to their values despite a non-Christian culture; in fact, simply by doing so, Christians have the opportunity to influence and change culture.
“It seems like the people who drive culture are coming out of Hollywood,” she admitted. “But when Christians stand up and do the right thing, they can influence their family, their friends, their community, and we can’t underestimate that. If enough people did that, then you can see how the culture would shift.”
Living as leaders
With that in mind, Sharman founded the Pure Fashion program for girls 8-18, to encourage them toward purity in all areas of life, and at the same time equip them to be leaders as Christian women in the modern world.
“Girls want to know how to combine their faith with the fashion industry; they want to know how to be a Christian girl and still dress in trendy styles that they see at the mall,” Sharman explained. “That’s where Pure Fashion comes in – a program of five to six months, focusing on everything from speaking skills to what to wear, hair, makeup, everything about how to present oneself to the world.”
And, overall, people welcome the counter-cultural message of Pure Fashion. Even in countless interviews with media outlets like the Dr. Phil show, USA Today, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal, she has not encountered an unappreciative audience.
“When the Pure Fashion program was first starting, people were very supportive because so many saw that the message is needed in our over-sexualized culture,” she said. “Basically Pure Fashion teaches that modesty is about the heart, not the hemline. It helps girls feel strong about who they are and who God created them to be and not fall prey to negative societal influences.”
Representing women
Clara Gibson is another woman who is using her talent and faith to rescue girls from the damaging cultural influences propagated by the fashion industry, media and entertainment.
“It has become politically correct for a woman not to have control over her own body and to expose it to get any attention,” she told AFAJ. “Hollywood is trying to become a representative of who women are, and positions of leadership and influence in our society are being filled by people who do not have God.”
Gibson insists that displaying modesty and biblical values is more than an issue of decency or personal conviction, as important as that is. It also gives Christian women a platform for leadership and influence that has the potential to change culture and redeem people from negative messages sent by culture. “We as Christians need to become the models to our young girls,” she said. “We can make a stand and rectify what Hollywood is doing. It means coming together as a community and saying, ‘These are our standards, not Hollywood’s.’”
Making values fashionable
Gibson strives to accomplish this at the grassroots level through Modest Bellas, a local program she founded in her Texas hometown. Through this program she seeks to be a role model for young girls and women as they navigate the world of fashion, teaching them to develop a tasteful, attractive wardrobe, learn elements of design and participate in a fashion show or photo shoot each year. Beyond that, she sets an example of how a woman can be a positive influence to the girls in her community or her own home.
“We have a responsibility to teach girls to use their beauty to let the Lord shine through them,” she said. “Modest Bella was born out of a desire for me to show girls that fashion is fun, and it can also be modest.”
While Gibson’s current sphere is local, she believes Christians have the ability and the responsibility to negate non-Christian influences by exhibiting their Christian values – as individuals, as designers, as actors – with conviction in the public eye. 
Modest Bellas
[email protected]
Pure Fashion
P.O. Box 1466
Cumming, GA 30028
1-855-556-6872
CMG Booking
Brenda Sharman
