Mormon Women

Before I start talking about the different fashions around the world, I figured I would start my series with fashions in the United States. Mormonism refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It refers to the doctrines taught by Joseph Smith and the succeeding prophets and leaders of the Church. Women in the Mormon Church are expected to wear very conservative clothing and not stray from this expectation. It is said that “immodest clothes lead to sin” (Blakesley, 21). For both men and women, the everyday garment is a one or two-piece bifurcated garment that covers the body from just about the knees to above the chest and upper part of the arm (Davis, 44). This leaves little room for any skin to be showing. At Brigham Young University Devontional, Elder Kimball stated that “a women is most beautiful when her body is covered” (Blakesley, 21). This attitude, shared by all Mormons, comes into play when connecting their faith and the way they dress. In Isiah 61:10: ‘I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall by joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness’ (Holy Bible, 1948, p.831). While they visit the church, Mormons wear special white temple clothes (Arthur, 43). For most Mormon women, their style of dress represents only their faith; I found little information otherwise. People don’t usually think of Mormon women as dressing odd because we aren’t around that culture very often. I applaud Mormon women for not falling into the temptations of popular fashions and sticking to their modest style of dress.

Bibliography

Arthur, Linda. Religion, Dress, and the Body. Oxford, UK: Berg, 1999. Print.

Blakesley, Katie Clark. "A Style of Our Own": Modesty and Mormon Women, 1951-2008." Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 42.2 (2009): 20-53. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 2 Mar. 2011.