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Teen fashion show demonstrates virtue of modesty
By Joyce Coronel, joycecoronel@aol.com
May 1, 2008
SCOTTSDALE — One by one, the models paraded down the runway as onlookers oohed and ahhed.
After seven months of preparation, the 30 tastefully attired local girls strutted their stuff before parents, grandparents and siblings during the April 20 Pure Fashion show at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort.
Pure Fashion, which has garnered both national and international attention in its bid to teach girls how to recognize true beauty, made its debut in the Phoenix area last year. Teenage girls from both Catholic and public schools throughout the Valley have been learning how to be “pretty, not provocative,” as one of the organization’s mottos states.
After showing off their fashionable-yet-modest outfits, provided by Dillard’s, some of the girls addressed the hundreds of people in attendance regarding what they had learned through the faith-based program.
Angela Costenino, a junior at Tempe Preparatory Academy told the crowd about one of the highlights of the seven-month program: a two-day retreat dubbed “A Heart and Soul Makeover Weekend.”
She said the participants learned that beauty comes from the inside out and that Pure Fashion teaches “how to be pure in body, mind, heart and soul.” Costenino added that “a woman who respects herself enough to dress modestly recognizes her body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.”
But it was the heartfelt tribute given by Gabriella Rodiles that moved some in the crowd to tears.
Rodiles, a sophomore at Xavier College Preparatory, is the daughter of one of the chief organizers of the event, Betsy Rodiles, who died unexpectedly on March 1 due to a cerebral aneurysm.
“She would be so proud to see the beauty radiating out of the 2008 Pure Fashion models,” Gabriela said. “My goal is to carry on her vision for Pure Fashion and continue her legacy forever.”
Madeline LeBeau, whose daughter Monica, an eighth-grader at Tempe Preparatory, was one of the models, said she “very much supported the program and how they talk so much about purity and the inner beauty that comes from God.”
She added that Monica liked the focus on being “modest, but also very pretty and stylish. It reinforces strong moral values as opposed to everything the girls see in ads, television, magazines and youth culture.”
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted’s letter to the group was included in the event’s program.
“May your work with Pure Fashion hold up the deep, God-given dignity of the young women in our diocese and bear much fruit for the family — fundamental cell of the Church and of society,” the letter read.
Melanie Welsh-Pritchard, the education director for Life Educational Corporation — who frequently speaks to young people about the topics of abortion, modesty, chastity and the dignity of life — addressed the pervasive influence of the media that encourages girls to be “sexy.” Welsh-Pritchard got curious one day and looked up the meaning of the word and learned that it meant erotic, suggestive, dirty or vulgar.
“I don’t know about you,” she said, “but I’ve never wanted to be any of those things. There’s got to be an alternative.”
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