The Duggars and Their World: Fashion, Food, Finance, Schoolin’ and Child Rearin'

[Lillybee]

Kelly wore it better. Her modesty panel was not as extreme.

 

Anyhow, I have been watching Big Love. Nicki, the wife from the compound, rocks the modest style. She wears very long skirts, long sleeve, high neck blouses. I think the biggest difference is that her shirts are always tucked in. Do the Duggars and other fundies have something against tucking their shirts in? Does it show off their waists too much?

[drafan]

Kelly wore it better. Her modesty panel was not as extreme.

 

 

Maybe this will show up on "Who wore it better?" in People Magazine. LOL Or on that Fashion Police show.

 

 Do the Duggars and other fundies have something against tucking their shirts in? Does it show off their waists too much?

Shirts tucked in are very out of vogue right now. I think this has more to do with thinking they are stylish. Kind of like the flip-flops.

[Skittl1321]

I find it hysterical they wore the same dress!  And Kelly wore it much better. I wouldn't really have thought about it being an added modesty panel. What she added went with the dress and didn't make it look ridiculous.

[JessDVD]

Anyone have a picture of Kelly in that dress? I tried Google and got to pictures of Zach, Erin, and Alyssa's wedding, narrowed it down to Zach or Alyssa but still can't find a better picture to confirm.

[starfire]

I am incredibly curious about Jill's pinterest, but no luck finding it.

 

 

 

I am pretty sure this is it: http://www.pinterest.com/ipreferatext/boards/

[Literata]

 

Of course, buying something lower cut and obviously modifying it calls that much more attention to just how "modest" you are.

Agreed. Both my kids are getting married in the next nine months (not to each other -- ha!) and I've been searching for "mother-of" dresses. I'm certainly not as modest as Michelle is, but first, I'm 51, and second, I've lost 70 pounds over the last year and a half and have NO boobs left and some extra skin to deal with, so I'm not all about putting it all out there for everyone to see (not that they'd want to, believe me!). And I've had NO problem finding dresses that even Michelle would not object to; they're not terribly matronly, even, but the necklines are plenty high to prevent my lack-of-boobs from defrauding anyone. :) My guess is she wanted a modesty panel so she could say, "Look -- this is a modesty panel." (And why are the boobs so pointy in that dress?)

[Lillybee]

I wonder what kind of bra Mullet wears to keep her girls up in place. After 19 kids, I have a feeling that unrestrained they might be around her waist.

[Almost 3000]

I just searched Amazon and eBay for MOB dresses and there are lots of t-shirt type tops or V-neck with jacket options. In fact its kind of the norm. Most are under $150 so affordable too. But if she did wear Kelly's dress I kinda admire that because for many of these families the cost of a fancy dress would be a hardship and I like that Michelle doesn't seem to spend a lot on her clothes. That said, the necklace was out of character for her.

[Absolom]

I'm thinking she borrowed or bought Kelly's dress and it didn't fit properly.  The seams on the bustline fit me oddly, too, when I tried on that dress.  It doesn't work well with a generous bustline.

[mimionthebeach]

 My guess is she wanted a modesty panel so she could say, "Look -- this is a modesty panel." (And why are the boobs so pointy in that dress?)

So, she borrowed the dress from Kelly Bates and the bra from Madonna?

 

And I totally agree they want to make a POINT of their modesty.. It's a total waste of money to by a nice dress (or an expensive Kleinfeld gown) and destroy the style completely with those horrible alterations. I caught the cross-over episode of Say Yes To The Dress out of the corner of my eye and thought why is she bothering if she's going to ruin it with chunks of ill-matched fabric.I thought Erin Bates' modifications were so very obvious and just awful

[Libby96]

Can these girls really find NO modest wedding dresses out there without slapping extra fabric in weird places? When I got married that "mermaid dress down to the butt, then flair" style was in. I didn't like that style, so I found something else. Of course, when you are starting with the premise that a collarbone or shoulder is provocative, it might be tough.

[Zanzibar]

Anyone have a picture of Kelly in that dress? I tried Google and got to pictures of Zach, Erin, and Alyssa's wedding, narrowed it down to Zach or Alyssa but still can't find a better picture to confirm.

 

You can see a few pics of Kelly in that dress here (scroll down a bit):

 

http://blog.thebatesfamily.com/2014/01/23/zach-whits-wedding-party/

[Dejana]

Can these girls really find NO modest wedding dresses out there without slapping extra fabric in weird places? When I got married that "mermaid dress down to the butt, then flair" style was in. I didn't like that style, so I found something else. Of course, when you are starting with the premise that a collarbone or shoulder is provocative, it might be tough.

A search for "modest wedding dresses" pulls up sites that deliver, plus multiple stores in Utah, with its large population of LDS women also seeking less revealing styles. Nothing here seems any more scandalous than what Anna or Erin Bates actually ended up wearing, and Latter Day Brides has dozens of dresses under 1K. Perhaps a trip to Salt Lake might not be on the Duggar agenda. It's out of the way, but so's Nepal...

 

More charitably, perhaps they're limited by the rushed marriages preferred by their set. Even if they order something from a wedding outlet on line, it can be a 10-12 week delivery time, plus alterations...that's longer than a lot of them wind up being engaged.

[Absolom]

I think shopping off the rack is their biggest hindrance in getting a decent looking modest dress.  They also tend to live in the rural south where there are no convenient modest shops such as Utah, CA, or NY would have.  Even if they had modest wedding gown shops they would still be limiting themselves with the short engagements to what is available in the store, but it would be at least dresses intended to have sleeves and not cleavage exposing. 

[JessDVD]

@Zanzibar - thanks and DUH, of course I could have checked their blog. Didn't think of that.

 

That dress looks great on Kelly, the little modesty panel is very subtle and could even be part of the dress. The dress I'm probably wearing for my sister's wedding this fall would be a v-neck but it has a little built-in panel to keep the neckline a little higher (link here, not that I think anyone cares that much). Still not Duggar appropriate and all that but at least covers the chest area.

[CofCinci]

Photo confirms it's the same exact dress. I can't believe Michelle would be that cheap!!! I understand their whole "Buy Used, Save The Difference" philosophy, especially before they had TLC/speaking tour money -- but wearing a friend's dress to highly publicized wedding of your first daughter to get married. Treat yo' self!!

Mrs. Bates won the "Who Wore It Best" because the dress actually fit her and the added modesty panel didn't look ridiculous.

[trimthatfat]

The dress looks 10x better on Kelly. Something about it looks very stuffy on Michelle and the modesty panel just takes the dress to 'ugly'.

Edited July 10, 2014 by trimthatfat

[Sew Sumi]

Michelle is VERY busty. Kelly is not.

[NausetGirl]

I'd love to know more about the "Sin in the Camp" situation that went on several years back regarding Josh.  Also wasn't there something that went on where the Duggars were going to be on Oprah or do something with her and she completely shut it down after finding out something scandalous about them?   Maybe we need a new thread to discuss the facts/rumors about that?

 

I'm guessing that there HAS to be some truth in the whole Oprah scenario.  Hard to believe this family would not have appeared on Oprah but for the fact that she or a senior producer on her show learned something they did not want to seem to be promoting or endorsing.  Even the Gosselins were on Oprah although I think it was at least a year before the infamous split and 5th birthday party of the tups.

[Literata]

Wow, Kelly really looks like an older version of Erin in those pics.

 

So we're thinking Michelle actually wore Kelly's dress??

[drafan]

Wow, Kelly really looks like an older version of Erin in those pics.

 

 

......yes, but Erin doesn't have the  Yup-Yup (from Sesame Street) mouth.

 

Mullet had a different bolero ( I'm sweating just thinking about all those layers of satin), and of course, she had to fill it in with a bib. Bet the cost of making the bib plus the new bolero would've bought her a decent dress from Dillard's on-line (ironic LOL), which is the dress capital of the USA. I know Mormons who get  dresses for weddings there, all modest and gorgeous. There is a way to do "modest" that doesn't scream it at all. 

 

Saw a couple minutes of the old Duggar show tonight....egads...they were in prairie dresses with clodhopper shoes. All the girls had Mullet hair. They looked like that Warren Jeffs bunch. Very scary.

Edited July 10, 2014 by drafan

[Absolom]

Is it the same bolero only Kelly folded the lapel area back?

[Hpmec]

Even for Michelle, Queen of Kitsch, wearing a borrowed and then hideously altered MOB dress for such a big, televised event goes beyond ordinary tacky into new, unexplored depths of ridiculous. I would love to have seen Kelly's reaction when she saw the ugly cover up tee shirt bib thing. Just unbelievably awful.

[fixxin2]

Do the Bates secretly look at the whole Duggarnaut circus and just cringe?

When Kelly sees how badly Michelle wore HER dress will a teeny tiny part of her smile?

Are both families keeping score in the weddings race?

[fixxin2]

Oprah probably found out about the homophobia and misogyny rampant in their cult.

[Sundaymorning]

I've always been wondering if and how much the Duggars get paid by TLC.

 

It's pretty clear that TLC pays for a lot of their activities such as travels and weddings, but do they also get a certain salary for each episode?

And if yes, are the family members paid individually, or goes all the money to Jim Bob? Cause I think that at least the adult children should get their own share of the money.

 

Also, do the grown-up Duggar girls get some money from the book they wrote together?

 

Would be interesting to know, cause own money means own freedom, and with some dough in their bank accounts it would be much easier for the girls to escape from their life as Michelles personal and unpaid nannies and housekeepers.

[CofCinci]

I don't think we have answers to those questions.

Also, they make income from speaking engagements.

[LazyToaster]

In fundie circles, sometimes when people speak at churches they take up or collect what is called a "love offering" to give to the speaker. In a big group this could be a nice chunk of change. In my old "church-y" life there were many times that as a congregation we were encouraged (ahem, or rather pushed) to - c'mon folks let's give these nice people a really big love offering for coming here to share God's message just for us - on and on.

I also wonder if they don't end up with a lot of freebies and discounts just because they are sort of celebrities.

[Marigny]

 

Saw a couple minutes of the old Duggar show tonight....egads...they were in prairie dresses with clodhopper shoes. All the girls had Mullet hair. They looked like that Warren Jeffs bunch. Very scary.

I sat through about 15 minutes of 14 kids & Pregnant & I spent the entire time thinking, "Why couldn't you have just stopped at no.15?" And yes, watching the old stuff reaffirms my belief that Jill plays the chief Kool-aid drinker role but Jana is the true convert.

[ItsHelloPattiagain]

 

In fundie circles, sometimes when people speak at churches they take up or collect what is called a "love offering" to give to the speaker. In a big group this could be a nice chunk of change.

I also wonder if the "love offerings" that end up in the basket are taxed cos you can put a big chunk of cash in your pocket from the speaking engagement that's not tracked by the IRS in that case. 

[trimthatfat]

Even for Michelle, Queen of Kitsch, wearing a borrowed and then hideously altered MOB dress for such a big, televised event goes beyond ordinary tacky into new, unexplored depths of ridiculous. I would love to have seen Kelly's reaction when she saw the ugly cover up tee shirt bib thing. Just unbelievably awful.

 

If Michelle did borrow the dress from Kelly, that just seems so ridiculous. Jill is not the oldest daughter, but she is the first daughter of the Duggar group to get married and Michelle borrows a friend's dress, a dress that the friend also wore months earlier to her own child's wedding? I get being frugal, but come on. Certainly, the world would understand even if she went to a David's Bridal or Macy's to find a new dress. Hell, Michelle, Anna, and the older girls all know how to sew so it they could have easily gone to a discount fabric store, purchased some shiny polyester and crystal ribbon, and made a decent dress for under $20.

[MrMattyMatt]

I'm expecting that if and when we see an episode featuring Jill's wedding, there will be a side story line about J'Chelle's dress.   How she couldn't find one modest enough to conceal her uber-sexy body (barf).  Then Mrs. Bates will come to the rescue and J'Chelle will be all honored to wear that dress, etc etc.

[Fuzzysox]

Oh my watching some old epis last night that I had never seen and NIKE Michelle was quite the hussie with her red lipstick!

 

I can't stop laughing about the Little House on the Praire (sp?) dresses.

[MrMattyMatt]

Speaking of LHOTP.  The best Duggar episode was the one where they spent the first night in the newly constucted TTH and J'Chelle was in bed with all the girls reading them Little House in her ramped up baby talk.  Several of the girsl were wearing Little House Sleeping caps as well!

[trimthatfat]

I'm expecting that if and when we see an episode featuring Jill's wedding, there will be a side story line about J'Chelle's dress.   How she couldn't find one modest enough to conceal her uber-sexy body (barf).  Then Mrs. Bates will come to the rescue and J'Chelle will be all honored to wear that dress, etc etc.

 

Ick. This is all just too strange to me. There's nothing wrong with secondhand clothing (wearing a secondhand Kate Spade dress under a secondhand St. John suit jacket now!), but I just feel like Michelle should have made an exception in this case.

Edited July 10, 2014 by trimthatfat

[Absolom]

To follow the law correctly love offerings should come with a 1099.  However, I would not be surprised if that was regularly ignored. 

 

TLC''s general policy is to make one payment per family group for these shows unless someone, like Josh and family, outside that group makes a material contribution to the show. 

[ChicksDigScars]

You can see a few pics of Kelly in that dress here (scroll down a bit):

http://blog.thebates...-wedding-party/

 

She's wearing a silver dress in Alyssa's wedding pics, too. So, not only did Michelle recycle a used MOB dress, Kelly used it in at least two weddings, maybe three. I don't have enough interest to check Erin's pictures. 

 

That's just cheap. Sure, the Duggars PROBABLY have a couple more weddings in the next few years (holding out hope for Jana's escape), but they can afford to get a decent dress for Michelle, for god's sake. 

[trimthatfat]

She's wearing a silver dress in Alyssa's wedding pics, too. So, not only did Michelle recycle a used MOB dress, Kelly used it in at least two weddings, maybe three. I don't have enough interest to check Erin's pictures. 

 

That's just cheap. Sure, the Duggars PROBABLY have a couple more weddings int he next few years (holding out hope for Jana's escape), but they can afford to get a decent dress for Michelle, for god's sake. 

 

I just looked at Erin's out of curiosity. Yes, I am that bored. Kelly wore a pretty navy blue/purple-ish dress. I feel like she could teach Michelle a thing or two about finding flattering, modest formal gowns.

[JessDVD]

I don't know if I've read or just assumed that in the credits, when it says "Thanks to _______" (Jim Bob & Michelle, Gil & Kelly, Josh & Anna, etc), those people are being compensated for the show in a lump sum that they are free to divvy up among their family at their leisure. Jill & Derick, when they appear on the show, will probably be mentioned in the credits now as Derick & Jill Dillard and will likely receive their own.

 

I'd like to think that Jim Bob is putting aside portions for the kids, Lord knows he can afford it, but who knows.

[Sundaymorning]

Yeah, that's what I feared. That JimBob forks in all the money and his older children (who are the main attraction of the show and do all the work around the household) get nothing. Cause I'm pretty sure that they won't give their daughters free access to the money.

 

I hope that the girls get at least their share from their book and speaking engagements. Cause money is very helpful if they finally decide to leave the compound and escape from their life as unpaid slaveworkers.

[Literata]

 

Jill plays the chief Kool-aid drinker role but Jana is the true convert.

I fantasize that Jana just wants to get the hell OUT, but I suppose you're probably right. 

[Ripley68]

I could totally see that Michelle actually just loved Kelly's dress so much, she went out and got her own!  I can't believe she wore the same dress that Kelly wore.  As for having a hard time finding a modest MOB dress - that's almost all I ever see!  My Mom wore a beautiful dress that was right below her neck, 3/4 length sleeves.  MIL had a nice medium cut dress with a nice jacket over it.

[CofCinci]

She's wearing a silver dress in Alyssa's wedding pics, too. So, not only did Michelle recycle a used MOB dress, Kelly used it in at least two weddings, maybe three.

Sisterhood of the Traveling MOB Dress.

[Hpmec]

I think it's the same dress. It's tight around her bust. I don't think she'd go out and buy a dress that form fitting. Not her MO.

[Portia]

As for having a hard time finding a modest MOB dress - that's almost all I ever see!

No kidding. It might have been easier if I were 20 pounds lighter, but it took some searching for me to find flattering dresses that weren't too matronly. I believe my exact words were, "I wanna show off my rack." Sorry to shock you, Jchelle--I'm a nice Christian lady, honest--but my daughters' weddings were the only time I felt completely free to show cleavage at church. Edited July 11, 2014 by Portia

[BradandJanet]

Remove the bib and jacket from the top of Michelle's dress, and that's left is a skimpy, very low-cut neckline that a woman in her early twenties might wear out to a club. I don't get why a woman so focused on modesty would begin with a dress like that. If I'm seeing it right, the bib would actually have to be a full undergarment  with sleeves or Michelle wouldn't be able to take the jacket off. Honestly, I don't think the dress looked all that great on Kelly Bates either but at least the top fit her differently. 

[NikSac]

No kidding. It might have been easier if I were 20 pounds lighter, but it took some searching for me to find flattering dresses that weren't too matronly. I believe my exact words were, "I wanna show off my rack." Sorry to shock you, Jchelle--I'm a nice Christian lady, honest--but my daughters' weddings were the only time I felt completely free to show cleavage at church.

 

I think you owe me a keyboard or something... lol. I couldn't stop laughing at this post (hence the soggy keyboard - and I'm totally kidding). My Mom and Mom-in-Law looked beautiful at my wedding and I'm sure they were scandalous by J'chelle's standards, but they were both very modest!

Edited July 11, 2014 by NikSac

[Skittl1321]

 

or Michelle wouldn't be able to take the jacket off

I doubt she ever would.

She chastised her 4 year old for taking a jacket off when wearing a sleeveless dress.

[mimionthebeach]

I doubt she ever would.

She chastised her 4 year old for taking a jacket off when wearing a sleeveless dress.

I don't think she would take the jacket off. I also think, by the way the dress fit so snuggly and that she had to unfold the bolero lapels to make it fit, that it is a borrowed dress. Bet that grey changes colour when wet, too. Poor choice for the wedding all round. The tackiness of wearing a too-tight, borrowed (from another very public wedding party) dress is for me totally insignificant compared to the apparent belief that the bare shoulders of a 4-year-old on a hot day are stirring up impure thoughts in anyone you have invited to your daughter's wedding.

[GinnyLee]

Jim Bob and Michelle had real estate licenses when they first got married or they got them upon getting married/ afterwards. I believe they make money renting out property. I think Jim Bob also is the one who started that towing company that Josh took over and I have no idea who is running that company now, if it's still in the family. I'm sure at this time they're making decent money from TLC, speaking engagements, the books written by Michelle/JB and then there's the books written by the girls, talk shows, and probably articles written about them, not too mention their blog & website, then there's the advertisers you see in their pantry. I have no idea if those advertisers pay them to put their product on the shelf of if they just get the food as compliments. So when they go on their food trips I often wonder just how much of that bill are the advertisers picking up.

As for medical expenses, I read somewhere that they might use a company called Samaritan (?) which isn't a normal company. The way it works is that if you have a major expense then you contact the insurance company and they put out word to all their members what you need and then anybody who wants to help sends you (or a holding company like escrow) a check for whatever they can afford. So they might get a hundred people/families sending $10 checks, but it all has to be used to pay the bill. Not a bad idea really, if I read it correctly.