Latest news with #templegarments
New York Times
29-05-2025
- Health
- New York Times
The Sacred Undergarment That Has Mormon Women Buzzing
Some Mormon women are obsessed with something illicit. They're phoning friends, calling in favors and paying for international shipping to get it: a sacred tank top. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has redesigned its temple garments, which are worn by faithful members under their clothes. The garments are effectively underwear that until recently, looked like white short-sleeve shirts and knee-length shorts. Now, the church has removed the sleeve on some designs, turning them into tank tops. The church is releasing the tops to its more than 17 million members around the world in phases. Last October, it quietly announced that the new garments would first be available to members in 'hot, humid' climates like those in Africa and Asia. They aren't sanctioned for wear in the United States yet, but that hasn't stopped American influencers from sourcing them — and showing them off in recent videos online. 'I was like: I want them now. I will get them at all costs. I will fly to Japan if I need to,' said Andrea Fausett, a 31-year-old influencer based in Hawaii. She secured a few tops from a friend in Asia. Other women told The New York Times that they had asked friends or family in Thailand and the Philippines to mail them. Kim Austin, a 33-year-old consultant living in Provo, Utah, said that she wore the new garments under a sleeveless dress to church, and that women in her congregation asked how they could get them. 'Utah women will stop at nothing,' she said. Alyssa and McKenna Banks, sisters who run master classes for styling modest outfits (advertised as 'garment girlies — but make it vogue'), said their clients were dying to get them. This seemingly small shift is a big deal within the faith. The tank tops contain multitudes: They are a relief for many faithful members who have been hoping for a change for years. They are a source of frustration for many former members who wish they could have come sooner. But above all, they are a tangible reflection of the ways the church's public perception is shifting. While the church was once known for its pioneers and polygamists, it's becoming better known for viral influencers — some of whom are bending or ignoring modesty mandates. A welcome change The garments are an integral part of the faith. They are worn by most faithful adult members as a reminder of covenants they make with God in the church's temples. Many members also believe they provide spiritual protection. The church instructs members to wear them 'day and night throughout your life.' The garments aren't supposed to be seen in public. That's easier for most men, whose clothes rarely show their shoulders or thighs. But for women, garments can limit what shorts, dresses and tops they can wear. While women in the church often repeat the adage 'modest is hottest,' the garments are a quiet source of frustration for many. John Dehlin, the host of the podcast 'Mormon Stories,' said he had interviewed hundreds of women, both practicing and former members of the faith. 'I would say close to all of them expressed significant discomfort, if not aversion to wearing garments,' he said. 'The women said the garments made them feel frumpy, contributed to body shame or negatively affected their sex life with their partners.' The church seems to be listening, and many young women are thrilled. 'I'm stoked,' said Ms. Fausett, the influencer. 'It helps you feel a lot more normal. It won't be so easy to play 'spot the Mormon' everywhere you go.' Other women say they welcome a redesign for health reasons. The garments fit tighter on women, and many complain that the synthetic fabrics cause yeast infections. Ms. Austin said the new tops were less hot and more comfortable for her body after giving birth. 'It makes me want to wear them more as opposed to complaining,' she said. Kaylee Hirai, a 32-year-old woman in Washington, said she had longed to wear tank tops for years and struggled with the church's modesty requirements. 'It also was just healing for me,' she said. As a child, she added, 'I thought somebody was bad if they dressed this way, or I was bad.' A source of resentment Not everyone is pleased with relaxed rules. Both faithful and former members have been posting online about the change, and some of the comments have been angry. Some current members responded that the new garments were too revealing or shouldn't be discussed. 'I still feel like there's judgment from older generations, specifically boomers,' Ms. Hirai said. Former members also expressed mixed emotions. While some said they were glad to see a change, they said they were frustrated that they had spent years following the church's strictly enforced modesty rules, only for them to change without explanation. 'It creates a feeling of: What was all of that for?' said Hayley Rawle, a 29-year-old host of a podcast for former members. The church's official announcement in October cited heat in some regions as a reason for the redesign. The church declined an interview and did not respond to specific questions about the impetus for the change. 'The temple garment remains an outward expression of an inner commitment to follow the Savior Jesus Christ,' said Irene Caso, a church spokeswoman. She referred people to images and information available on the church's website. But members and nonmembers who spoke to The Times did agree that this shift reflected a broader change in the church's public perception. Once associated with pioneer women in long dresses, Latter-day Saints are increasingly represented by a new vanguard of social media influencers. Women like Hannah Neeleman of Ballerina Farm, Nara Smith and the women of 'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' are on pageant stages and red carpets in plunging gowns, shoulders bare. They are broadcasting a new vision of the church to their tens of millions of followers. 'None of us depict the 'perfect stereotypical Mormon wife' that is abiding by all the church rules and living exactly as they should or they're told to be,' said Miranda McWhorter of 'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.' In the show, she often wears tank tops.
New York Times
25-05-2025
- General
- New York Times
Is There a Good Way for Religious Garments to Be Discarded?
Ben and Ali Larsen were cleaning out the basement of their house in Ogden, Utah, when an idea came to them. There, they found several garbage bags full of old temple garments, a kind of sacred undergarment that all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are required to wear under their clothes. These garments — always white and generally snug, covering the shoulders and torso as well as the lower half of the body down to the knees — are worn at all times, with exceptions for sports, bathing and a few other activities. 'If you can do the activity while wearing the garment, it's recommended that you do,' Ms. Larsen said. 'Because it is a symbol of your love of the Savior and your faith in him.' The garments can be thrown away or reused, but only after the four holy markings (a backward L-like shape on the right breast, a V-like wedge on the left breast and two dashes, one at the navel and one on the right knee) that are stitched or printed onto all such garments are cut out. 'A lot of people would cut it up and use it as, like, a dish rag or to dry their car,' Ms. Larsen said. But for the most part, 'nobody likes having to dispose of them,' Mr. Larsen said. 'It's labor intensive, and we see them as extremely sacred. Members really struggle with, 'Am I treating this with the dignity and respect that it deserves?'' Many church members, he said, simply put the issue out of sight and mind. 'We've heard stories about members who've saved their garments for years.' With more than 500,000 coreligionists in the Salt Lake City area, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints makes for one of the strongest faith communities in the United States — and also for a market opportunity, if only the Larsens could find a way to offload (and monetize) the burden of having to deal with outworn temple garments. In March, the couple started Celestial Recycling, a unique business that allows church members to send the Larsens their old temple garments, which are primarily made of cotton or polyester, as well as nylon. Celestial Recycling has the garments shredded and then sent to a cement plant, where they are burned at a temperature of 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. The resultant heat powers a kiln, just as coal would. (Customers don't have to bother with cutting out the four sacred markings because the garments are being completely destroyed, making their former religious function unrecognizable; 'It is very common for members to just burn the entire garment all at once,' Mr. Larsen explained.) 'I'm surprised someone hadn't thought of this before,' said Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp, the director of the Mormon studies program at the University of Virginia. Dr. Maffly-Kipp explained that members of the faith wore the undergarments as a reminder of their covenant with God. (Temple garments are not to be confused with temple robes, which are worn only inside Latter-day Saints temples.) Celestial Recycling takes its cues from similar businesses in the secular marketplace, such as Trashie and Retold Recycling. Users of those services are sent a bag, into which they deposit their unwanted items. (Retold just takes textiles, while Trashie also takes electronics.) Customers drop off the sealed bag at a designated location, or have it picked up; the items are sorted and recycled. In recent years, the fashion industry has confronted the reality that clothes do not simply disappear when the consumer throws them away; they end up in landfills or the ocean. And the problem has become worse with the rise of outlets like Shein and Temu. 'We've gone from fast fashion to instant fashion,' said the Trashie founder Kristy Caylor, citing the fact that only 15 percent of textiles were recycled in the United States. Each year, Americans create up to 34 billion pounds of textile waste, according to 2018 figures from the Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. Larsen said he and his wife had been inspired by 'Our Earthly Stewardship,' a sermon delivered by Bishop Gérald Jean Caussé in 2022. 'The care of the earth and of our natural environment is a sacred responsibility,' the bishop said in that sermon. Their business is not affiliated with the church itself, which did not comment on Celestial Recycling. The Larsens also have other jobs: She runs a nail salon from the basement and does clothing alterations for a dance studio; he is a partner at a law firm in Ogden. Ms. Larsen said that when their three children were younger, she would take breaks from parenting — 'I love you dearly, but mom needs some time,' she recalled — by making them small blankets out of her old temple garments. With its longstanding ties to the American West, the Latter-day Saints church fused a frontier mentality with a reverence for the landscape — and an emphasis on self-reliance. 'The Mormons have always been fairly practical people about sustainability,' Dr. Maffly-Kipp said. Celestial Recycling's white recycling bags cost $18, $20 or $28, depending on size. Customers can stuff them full of temple garments (temple robes can be recycled, too) then drop the bag off at one of three locations in the Salt Lake City area. Mailing the bag from elsewhere costs extra. The Larsens' three-car garage is also the central Celestial Recycling hub. 'Right now, we're having them all shipped to us directly,' Mr. Larsen said. The couple drives the bags to a shredding plant, where they are torn up before being transferred to a cement factory. Mr. Larsen said he could not think of an equivalent service in the United States. Most faiths mandate that religious objects be disposed of with respect but do not necessarily dictate how to do so. Catholicism advises that 'anything that has been blessed should be burned (and then the ashes buried) or simply buried,' according to the Rev. Monsignor William P. Saunders, a pastor in the Washington, D.C., area. In Judaism, 'there definitely is a sense of treating the land like a gift, meaning that it's not something to be destroyed,' said Atara Lindenbaum, an associate rabbi at the Hebrew Institute of White Plains. There is no single rule about how to dispose of religious items like yarmulkes, though one option is to store them in a genizah, a repository for worn-out religious objects. Muslims adhere to a similar imperative. 'For people who practice Islam seriously, they have a great concern about wastage,' said Hamza Yusuf, a scholar of Islam and the president of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, Calif. Mr. Larsen said he would welcome customers of other faiths. But it is the faith he and his wife share that mainly guides them. 'We have felt inspired every step of the way,' he said. 'Every time we felt like, 'How is this going to work?' something miraculous happens that puts us in the right place.'
