A little tug here. A little yank there. Growing up, that was my life and it was so irritating.
I was a little tomboy who was around two southern belles—my momma and my Mamaw Girdle/Myrtle. No, they didn’t attend cotillions or wear the large fancy dresses, but they both were big believers in having impeccable manners and following the unspoken dress code of the south.
In our family, this dress code was alive and well.
The first code was perfection. Seriously, nobody walked out of the house if every hair wasn’t in place and every seam straight. When I was heading out to school, my mom would let a few things slip. But if we were headed to church or the funeral home, I had to pass inspection first. That’s when she would tug and yank on my clothes.
I absolutely hated it. To this little tomboy, it was a total waste of time. Who cared if something was a little twisted?
The next code was the biggest offense of them all: Nobody was allowed to see your underwear. Oh, my heavens. No straps were allowed to be seen whether it was from a bra or a slip. And speaking of slips, you could never, I can’t stress this enough, never ever let the edge of the slip drop beneath the hem of your dress.
Oh, the horror.
By the way, “It’s snowing down south,” is the polite term for, “Your slip is showing.”
If that happened to me, my mom immediately went into combat mode. She tugged on each strap until the snow had stopped. I especially hated that. I fussed as she made endless adjustments. She fussed, asking me if I ever looked into the mirror.
Uh, no! I just wanted to get out the door.
Heaven forbid if we saw any “snow” or other dress code offenses at church. My momma and Mamaw Girdle/Myrtle couldn’t stand that. They wouldn’t discuss the infraction while driving back home because there were males in the station wagon—my papaw and uncle. As soon as they got into the kitchen, they would let their disapproval fly.
Don’t misunderstand their disapprovals. To them, the unspoken southern dress code had everything to do with respect—respect for yourself and the others around you.
In the south, being respectful is very important to us. We don’t like to make other people uncomfortable. Did you know this is the original purpose of manners? Nowadays, people don’t seem to worry about that as much, but years ago, that was a huge deal.
Second, everybody needs to have some self-respect. How you dress, talk, and act says a lot about you. Remember, you were made in the image of God and that is an honor which is often taken for granted.
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27. (KJV)
Let’s go even further on this. You are so cherished by God that He sent His only son to die for your sins.
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (KJV)
So have some healthy self-respect for yourself and others as well.
Word of warning: If you ever see me out and you notice a strap or realize it’s snowing down south, please just discreetly tell me. If you go to yanking and tugging, I won’t be held responsible.