“Sharp-Dressed” Mormons
After attending the meetings of several other religious demoninations in the SLC area, one superficial thing stood out: dress standards. Many churches (Unitarians, Catholics, etc.) are far more casual than Mormon males. And that seems like a good thing. Would Christ really want his disciples to look like lawyers in a third-rate law firm?
At a recent Mormon sacrament meeting, I surveyed the attendees. Just a few “casual” observations. Not too many of the males had colored shirts, I was the only one in light colored pants. The uniform of the day was a white shirt, conservative tie, dark suit, black shoes, no beard or mustache, and short hair. I briefly wondered if there is a correlation between religiousity and dress. But I quickly decided against it.
Occasionally things in my Orem Ward have been more interesting, but unfortunately these are the exceptions. One particular Sunday there were three remarkable deviations from the norm. For a child blessing, several of the participants wore kilts. During her confirmation ceremony, a newly-baptized woman wore slacks. And the person giving the closing player had on a pair of black demin pants.
I recently damaged my knee falling off a longboard. After my operation, I had to wear a substantial brace. This made it difficult for me to wear regular pants. So for several weeks, I wore bermuda-length shorts to Sacrament meeting. Much to my surprise, the church building did not collapse and my attire did not generate a great deal of interest.
All this leads to my most poignant observation: many woman in my Ward dress casually. It is not unusual to see them dressed in denim skirts, casual tops (almost T-shirts), no stockings, and sandals. When I brought this male/female dress standards disparity to the attention of my daughter-in-law, she was unsympathetic. She sort of implied that “Life isn’t fair, deal with it.” She categorically stated that she enjoyed wearing her demin skirt to church. When I discussed the issue with a friend, she was even less sympathetic and immediated stated that she wore her denim dress to church regularly. I started wondering if a more casual dress standard is compensation for women not being given the Priesthood?
In a January (2007) speech at BYU, President Boyd K. Packer, ever the master of the superficial, exhorted students to dress modestly and appropriately. “You will be safe if you look like, act like, and groom like a Latter-day Saint,” Packer affirmed. I have always been a little concerned about judging people by the clothes they wear (Is that much different from judging by the color of one’s skin?). And how do you look like a Latter-day Saint? As the Mormon Church becomes more international, it seems like dress codes set up on Utah standards may become a bit problematic. Do we really want Ecuadorian Native Americans to wear 3-piece suits? Let’s thrive on our diversity. When I went to BYU, men couldn’t wear demin and women couldn’t wear pants. What does that have to do with modesty? Luckily that silliness has changed (thank’s to Paul Harvey). Hopefully MBA standards will not continue forever as LDS dress codes.
I continue to wonder if the sisters in my Ward are “crazy about Sharp-dressed” men?