Jinger Duggar Recalls How Her Family’s Modest Dressing Rules Affected TLC Group Photo Shoots

Jinger Duggar opened up about what it was like following her family’s modest dressing rules while doing the TLC group photo shoots.

“Getting everyone in something they wanted to wear was always a little challenging,” Duggar, 31, said on the January 22 episode of her and husband Jeremy Vuolo’s self-titled podcast. “I was always a little nervous about that because I didn’t know what wardrobe they were going to choose. So that’s something where I was hesitant going into it.”

While Duggar, who is one of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s kids, starred alongside her family on 19 Kids and Counting, the brood would participate in promotional photo shoots alongside some of TLC’s other biggest shows at the time including Sister Wives, Little People, Big World, 90 Day Fiancé and more.

Jinger explained that while on set, the wardrobe team would provide clothing they picked out for the reality stars. According to Jinger, they “would try to choose things they thought you would typically choose for yourself.”

“They had all of the very Duggar-style wardrobe. So it was more like Old Navy, probably even some WalMart clothes were in there, very chill, very streamline Duggar-style,” she reflected. “They had our whole wardrobe and then they’d have someone else’s on the side.”

While there were plenty of options to choose from, Jinger claimed that the size options would vary. She recalled one instance where there was a dress that was about “two sizes too big” and she needed to get it pinned to fit her. The wardrobe team would also hide their makeshift tailoring attempts by having Jinger wear a jacket over the dress.

Jinger also shared that the wardrobe team had fact sheets for her and her family that included their photos plus sizing information. However, there were some stylists who were unaware of the Duggar family’s rule that women could not wear pants. (Jinger later added pants to her wardrobe after tying the knot with Vuolo in 2016.)

“A couple of them didn’t realize we didn’t wear pants,” she said but noted that the network never tried to get her to wear anything that wasn’t her style.

Jinger also claimed that wardrobe would return the clothing items after the photoshoot. However, if someone wanted to keep a clothing item, they would occasionally “let you keep an outfit depending on the cost.”

While the fashion aspect of the photo shoots was a struggle for Jinger, she did enjoy getting to see other members of the network that she typically would not. Jinger compared getting the other shows together to a “circus”

“Most of the time we were separated, they tried to give you your own space so you wouldn’t run into other people,” she reflected. “In hair and makeup or in wardrobe or when walking outside of your tent you could see people you knew.”

Jinger got her reality TV start in 2008 when 19 Kids and Counting first premiered (with the original title, 17 Kids and Counting). After 19 Kids and Counting ended in 2015, Jinger joined the spinoff series, Counting On, which ran until 2020.