Michelle Duggar's latest fashion choice is getting the internet's attention.
The 19 Kids and Counting alum recently swapped out her usual attire of long dresses and maxi skirts and wore leggings under a skirt paired with a blue shirt, as seen in a family photo posted to daughter Jessa Duggar Seewald's Instagram page April 4. The look created a buzz amongst fans, who have long known Michelle to uphold a family dress code that prohibited women from wearing anything other than long skirts and dresses.
"So cool seeing Michelle wearing pants!!!" one user commented, while another added, "Omg mom is in pants!!!!! Love it !!!"
Some social media users praised Michelle, 56, for changing up her wardrobe, with one user writing, "Wow! Mom's wearing pants!! BRAVO MOM!!!"
And Michelle wasn't alone for the occasion. In the photo, daughters Jana, 33; Jill, 31; Jessa, 30; Jinger, 29 and Joy-Anna, 25, are all seen in trousers. Next to them, their younger sisters Johannah, 17; Jennifer, 15; Jordyn-Grace, 14 and Josie, 13—who Michelle all shares with husband Jim Bob Duggar—were dressed in skirts.
Back in May 2021, Jinger—who married husband Jeremy Vuolo in 2016—spoke out in her book, The Hope We Hold: Finding Peace in the Promises of God, about her decision to "reexamine" her parent's lifelong traditions, such as the family's dress code.
"My mom had always dressed us girls in skirts and dresses, a standard that was taken from Deuteronomy 22:5 (ESV), which says, 'A woman shall not wear a man's garment,' and I never really questioned it," she wrote. "Modesty was a huge topic in our house, and we believed that wearing skirts instead of pants was a central part of being modest."
After searching "the Scriptures for answers," Jinger recalled never finding a "passage specifically forbidding women from wearing pants," prompting her to reach her own conclusions.
"Growing up, I had a set of standards that I took as givens," Jinger shared. "Now, as I reexamined and compared them to scripture, my convictions were changing. Modesty isn't about what you wear. It's about the position of your heart."