What LDS women are saying about new sleeveless garments: Yes, you will be able to wear tank tops

Sleeveless garments may not be in Utah yet, but they are floating across the Latter-day Saint universe — and reviews are pouring in.

Meanwhile, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah and elsewhere in the U.S. are getting, well, eager to lay their hands on the redesigned underclothing.

The global faith of 17.2 million remains steadfast that the new garments won’t be available in the United States until the fourth quarter of this year, but that hasn’t stopped American Latter-day Saints from clambering for them.

As one indication, when the new styles emerged last fall, Instagrammer Rachel Gerber says she got more than a million clicks on her LDS Changemakers account and the queries have never stopped.

Since then, Gerber, who was among the first to report on the style changes, has been pelted with questions about the garments, which faithful members wear underneath their daily clothing as a reminder of sacred promises they have made to God.

Can women really wear tank tops over the new sleeveless styles, unlike the current versions? Will the new slip (or half-slip) model allow women to wear their own nonsacred briefs? Will the fabrics be lighter for those living in hotter climates?

(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) These screenshots from the church's online store for U.S. members show new garment options for women available toward the end of this year.

And can the revised styles finally put an end to the judging of fellow members over whether they are — or are not — following the prescribed rules? Will it end the condemnation of so-called porn shoulders and the mantra on modesty?

The church has posted images of the garments — four new styles for women and two for men — but they are already for sale in many countries, including Kenya, South Korea, the Philippines and Japan, to name a few.

They will be available in the United Kingdom and New Zealand midyear, Gerber says she has learned.

When the redesigns first appeared online, some women were skeptical that they would make much of a difference, she says, but now that some have actually tried them on, it turns out, a few inches does alter the look and feel.

Some conservative Latter-day Saints say they feel “betrayed” by the change, Gerber says, and insist they will stick with the current styles — which will remain available — as “a badge of righteousness.”

Most women, though, are salivating at the chance to try the new designs, Gerber says. She knows of brides-to-be who have paid friends in other countries to pick up pairs of the new garments so they could wear sleeveless wedding dresses.

And when Utah influencer Vika Froelich, who got a pair from relatives in Korea, volunteered on social media to buy a few for others, she says she got more than 4,000 direct messages taking her up on it.

She had to politely pull back the offer.

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A closer look

Froelich, a Latter-day Saint mom in Saratoga Springs, had ordered a few pairs online by changing the sender address in the church’s online store site from the U.S. to Korea. Her aunt there received them and sent them to her niece.

The 30-year-old mom wanted to be “a good influence” on devout Latter-day Saint women, she says in an interview, “so it wouldn’t be such a shock when they see women coming to church in sleeveless dresses and wonder if they were wearing their garments.”

She hoped “to open the door before they are released here,” she says, “to get people thinking.”

And when Froelich, whose Instagram account specializes in modest fashion, put them on, she says, it was even a “shock” to her. She discovered that traditional tank tops, indeed, will now be “garment-friendly.”

The open-sleeve garment was 2 inches lower in the armpits and 2 inches shorter at the waist, Froelich, who is 5-foot-4 and weighs 110 pounds, says in a video, though she knows it may fit differently on other women.

“I can’t wait till everyone gets these garments because they really are so amazing,” she says, “and I’m so happy with all of the changes.”

Froelich recently posted a video of her in a sleeveless dress entering the meetinghouse. “The anxious feeling you get when you walk into church wearing the new sleeveless garments,” the clip states. “Wish me luck.”

Jaime Perry, a Latter-day Saint in Guam, says the neckline was “too high” on her, which means she can’t wear the new garments with many of her dresses.

She also finds the material, which contains spandex, “too tight,” Perry says in an interview. “I don’t think [the new style] will be a viable option for many in my country.”

Her fiance, William Lyle Stamps, an American Latter-day Saint who works for Guam’s attorney general, offers his own review of the new men’s garments.

He was “surprised,” he says, “that the hot-weather guy bottoms basically imitated the woman’s top of the last five to 10 years … It had a mesh strip to increase breathability.”

And the sleeveless top means “exposed underarms,” Stamps says. “I felt like a teenager again, oddly.”

Still, Stamps prefers the former style.

“They already work well for hot weather,” he says. “I’ve worn that for 30 years … except for when I had to wear military garments, which only had the cotton.”

Stamps notes that there was a male bottom “support” version.

“It worked as intended,” he says, “but I don’t recommend long-term wear. It’s to wear for the gym or sports activity, then change.”

For women, though, such a version is a long-term concern.

That time of the month

For years, Latter-day Saint women have endured the fabric and fit of garment bottoms during bladder leakage, staining and monthly menstruation.

In her massive survey on women’s attitudes toward garments, researcher Larissa Kindred says complaints about coping with their periods topped the list. Some 62% of traditionally devout women said that wearing garments was “difficult to navigate” during menstruation.

“When I first started wearing them, it took me about two years until I found the best period product to use with the garments,” a respondent wrote. “I preferred pads, and it is hard to find pads for ‘granny-style pants.’ They are either too small, the bottoms would not be easily moved, causing the pad to misalign, or I would end up sticking three to four pads on at a time.”

Adapting garment bottoms for periods was among the revisions Colorado Latter-day Saint Afton Southam Parker suggested to a church committee. It also was among the reasons she proposed a “slip” version, so that women could choose what to wear beneath it.

“There really needs to be elastic to be able to hold the wings from a pad in the crotch area not farther down the leg. That was an important part of the feminine products,” she told church officials, “and even without the wings, just having it cradled in the regular crotch area of underwear was so much better than shorts/boxer-style.”

Apparently, the church took those suggestions to heart. The faith’s General Handbook now says women can choose how and when to use their own underwear (bras and panties) with the sacred undergarment.

“It is a matter of personal preference,” it states, “whether other undergarments are worn over or under the temple garment.”

There also are plans for women’s bottoms that incorporate more layers of fabric, says Gerber, who says she has seen prototypes.

Whatever the design, Parker is thrilled to see church leaders address this issue.

“I just firmly believe that women need to choose their own underwear to address these very personal issues,” she says, “because it’s hard to feel anything spiritual or uplifting when your body has physical issues with the very thing that you’re supposed to feel special and sacred about.”

Out with ‘porn shoulders’

Whether believers like the new designs and fabric, there is no question that the modesty defense of the old style is gone or at least fading. And some longtime members feel betrayed by that.

“I was taught to hate my shoulders and my body because of the male gaze and their purity,” a commenter wrote on Froelich’s post. “To see the church now say tank tops are fine, that doesn’t undo the trauma and shame I was taught to feel.”

Some women are “grappling with how these changes affect long-held teachings about modesty,” writes Utahn Carol Rice, director of communications for Latter-day Saint-focused Public Square Magazine.

The redesign, she argues, “comes with an opportunity to revisit personal understanding of why one wears the garment and what it truly represents, inviting a deeper understanding of modesty and sacred identity.”

To Froelich, it’s an important messaging shift.

The Instagrammer grew up in Tremonton, an “extreme modesty culture” where teenage girls had to kneel to ensure their shorts touched the ground. She served an 18-month mission for the church, with its strict dress code. She internalized General Conference messages about “covering shoulders” and about the “tie between modesty and garments.”

Now Froelich believes garments have “nothing to do with modesty,” she says, “and everything to do with covenants.”

Modesty isn’t about “what we are wearing. It’s about who you are on the inside.”

The young mom is delighted by the change, she says. It will get believers “to focus on the right things.”

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