PROVO, Utah (NPR) — Even on scorching summer days, faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wear sacred religious garments underneath their clothing.
But Brigham Young University student Dara Layton answered the door on a 100-degree day in Provo wearing something very new to her: a tank top.
For years, she only wore shirts that fully covered the cap sleeves of the religious undergarment. Then last fall, her church opened up a new option with thick straps instead.
This is the first summer the faith, widely known as the Mormon church, has offered the underclothing without sleeves in its nearly 200-year history.
Many Mormon women are celebrating the new garments, which they’ve been requesting for years. Others say the church’s all-male leadership should have listened to them sooner. As for Layton, she’s just excited.
“My shoulders, they, like, have never been more tan in my entire life,” she said, laughing.
The redesign isn’t available in the U.S. yet, but that’s not stopping American women from getting their hands on them from other countries. That includes some social media fashion influencers who post about how to style the religious wear for their tens of thousands of followers.
Layton thinks the clothes in her closet have doubled since she got the sleeveless garment about a month ago.
“I went on probably the biggest shopping spree I’v …