Utah’s PROVO Devout members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wear holy religious garments underneath their clothes, even on hot summer days.
On a 100-degree day in Provo, Utah, however, Dara Layton, a student at Brigham Young University, opened the door while sporting a tank top, which was a novel outfit for her.
She exclusively wore shirts that completely covered the religious undergarment’s cap sleeves for years. Her church then introduced a new choice with strong straps last fall.
In its nearly 200-year history, the religion, commonly referred to as the Mormon church, is offering the sleeveless underwear for the first time this summer.
The new clothes, which many Mormon women have been asking for for years, are being celebrated. Others argue that they ought to have been heard sooner by the church’s all-male leadership. Layton, for her part, is simply thrilled.
“My shoulders, they, like, have never been more tan in my entire life,” she remarked alongside a laugh.
Even though the redesign isn’t currently available in the United States, American ladies are nonetheless obtaining the clothing from other nations. This includes certain fashion influencers on social media who share styling tips for religious attire with their tens of thousands of followers.
Since purchasing the sleeveless item almost a month ago, Layton believes her closet has increased in size.
“I went on probably the biggest shopping spree I’ve ever gone on in my entire life,” she stated. “But I was just like, so excited to have new styles that I could wear.”
As she displayed her closet, which was now filled with sleeveless clothing, including the identical tank top in roughly five different colors, hangers rattled.
“I really kind of just went crazy,” she said, laughing once again. It was awful.
The clothes are given to adult churchgoers during temple rituals. This covers the knee-length bottoms as well as the top. Though usually in white, the fabric selections range from cotton to silky nylon to a combination of polyester and spandex.
The church contrasts the garment with other religious attire, such as a Buddhist monk’s robes or a nun’s habit, to demonstrate that it is not the only faith that uses clothes to demonstrate devotion to God.
Because the extra layer is holy to Layton, she wore it despite the hot July day.
“They are about this two-way promise that we make between us and God,” she explained. “And it’s just a way to remind ourselves to bring Christ into our everyday lives.”
However, not every woman is thrilled about the sleeve removal. Some people are perplexed because they believed that Mormons should dress differently, but suddenly they are dressing like everyone else.
According to American religious historian and church member Jana Riess, other women are upset and question why they made the sacrifice of covering their shoulders for so long, just to be allowed to show now.
“There’s a lot of frustrationthat the church is not acknowledging the fixation that it had on women’s bodies, and they’re really pretty sad,” she stated.
Riess claimed that in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the church’s emphasis on women’s and girls’ modesty went too far. She gave the example of a church magazine that added sleeves to an image of an angel.
Rachel Gerber, a part-time legal assistant, recalls that when she was fourteen, she went to a church function wearing a tankini swimsuit, but a leader told her it was improper and that she needed to cover up.
“And I became really angry. I was furious. ‘Rachel, you have to wear it or go home,’ someone said,” she remembered.
In order to advance gender equality within the current policies of the church, Gerber, a mother of two, maintains a social media account called LDS Changemakers.
According to her, clothing and modesty are symbols of greater inequity inside the church. Although there are new temple undergarments for men as well, Gerber claims that wearing stylish clothes with clothes has always been considerably simpler for males.
“It controls my life much more than it controls my husband,” she stated. “He can wear basically whatever he wants.”
The church hasn’t acknowledged that many women have been calling for the sleeve alteration for at least 15 years. It did not reply to NPR’s request for an interview and declined to comment for this story.
However, according to a brief church statement released at the time of the news’s initial release, some members reside in hot and muggy climates, and the clothing modification is intended to bless them as well as any potential beneficiaries.
Gerber ultimately refers to the sleeveless clothing as a victory and a positive development.
“I don’t believe that the church’s leaders despise women. I simply believe that they are working as best they can under this patriarchal structure. However, there is undoubtedly more we can do.
This shift, she said, shows that religious leaders are paying attention.
Later this year, the new clothing style will be offered in the United States.
Copyright 2025 NPR
