A lot of the ladies in the Duggar family have started wearing pants in public and on social media over the last couple of years. This was very notable when it first happened, as the 19 Kids and Counting kids always wore over-the-knee skirts growing up. Now, Joy-Anna Duggar Forsyth is the latest Duggar sibling to speak out about bucking the skirt-wearing rules. So, what prompted her to shift her fashion sensibilities?
The ninth child and fifth daughter of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar is 25 and a mother of two (with one more on the way). She, her partner Austin Forsyth and their children live in Arkansas, but recently a pregnant Joy-Anna shared a post in pants with her sister Jinger in California. (Jinger is also a noted Duggar pants and shorts afficionado.)
Now, Joy-Anna Duggar Forsyth has answered some questions from her fans, and was asked about the fashion shift, opening up about why she ultimately decided pants were fine to wear. In fact, it sounds as if her switching from the allegedly more modest skirts to pants looks was something she discussed with her husband really early on in their marriage. Ultimately, they came to the same conclusion on the matter. She said:
Austin and I prayed about this for a long time, and I think we had like the first conversation within our first year of marriage. We had talked about before what we believed about it. But really like studying and reading The Bible and digging in deep. It was something we talked about on and off for like the last three or four years… What does The Bible say? And it wasn’t something I was like super persistent about studying because honestly I had always worn skirts my whole life, and so for me, I dunno, I just wasn’t in a rush.
Eventually she did follow in the footsteps some of her sisters took before her. Jessa and Jinger, for example, were seen in pants a couple of years ago. While it took Austin and Joy-Anna a little longer to come to the same conclusion, she ultimately says pants made sense for her and her family, and still fit into her family's belief system.
Really, the last year we really prayed about it and felt like there wasn’t anything in scripture – there isn’t anything in scripture – that’s black and white on dress. It talks a lot about modestly but I feel like you can be modest and wear pants. So, that’s kind of where we came to. And I do try to be modest in wearing pants.
She notes she does consciously avoid things that are “too tight” or “too short,” but she’s confident in pants these days. In the YouTube video, Joy-Anna is wearing pants.
It’s worth noting that Joy-Anna and Austin are big fans of camping. She said in the same Q&A that she and the family had a camping trip planned in a couple of weeks with "all of Austin's family." They camp in the RV and want to do more of it this summer so “the kids can run off energy.”
Camping is awesome, but I can’t imaging doing that sort of activity without having the option of pants, so in some ways it’s surprising it took Joy-Anna Duggar Forsyth as long as it did to come to her pants-wearing conclusion. Though, again, she did straight up say she “wasn’t in a rush" before she made the decision. Now, she's joined the ranks of Duggar daughters who are stepping away from the rules their stricter parents laid out for them -- even if Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are allegedly not so happy about it. Just don't expect her to jump on the pants-free Hollywood trend.
