This post has been on my mind for over a year now and I finally feel like it's time to talk about it. I get SO MANY QUESTIONS asked from my fellow LDS women on how to wear their garments with their bra. Sadly, there's no information out on the internet about this topic. It's crazy there's over 14 million members of the church and no one talking about this important topic.
I am an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, my intention from this post is to share my knowledge and expertise on what garment tops styles I feel are the best when wearing with your bra.
I want this be a useful and informative guide for LDS women. I remember when I was endowed ten years ago, I got advice on how to wear my bra with my garments from the temple matron. Some get educated by their mom's and grandma's. You can see information is passed from generation to generation can be misleading and outdated.
After much thought and prayer, I truly feel like it needs to be discussed. I Googled, "how to wear temple garments with bra" and found all anti-Mormon articles. This made me really sad. I want there to be a voice of true in all of the false and inaccurate information out there.
I want to point out something I feel is really important to talk about. This is a HUGE misconception among LDS women, that there is only one right way to wear your bra with your garments. This is false. You can wear your bra over or under your garments.
In section 21.1.42 of the Church Handbook states: "Members who have made covenants in the temple should be guided by the Holy Spirit to answer for themselves personal questions about wearing the garment." There is no statement in the handbook saying garments can only be worn next to your skin. I talked to a couple women who work at the temple as matrons and told me the handbook policy used to say garments should be only worn next to your skin. This policy has changed several years ago because they found a lot of women struggled to wear them against their skin due to mastectomy prosthetics, health problems, being big or small busted, and having a harder to clothe shapes. Not a lot of people know of this policy change, this is why the misinformation continues to still be out there.
Whether you wear your bra over or under your garments, one way isn't better than the other, it's a personal preference. Some get caught up in receiving exact instructions on how to govern themselves in the church. My Heavenly Father knows the intentions of my heart and your heart, and if you decided to wear your bra under or over your garments, this doesn't make you less of a covenant keeping woman. How you wear your garments is between you and the Lord and no one else's business. If you want to find your own answer, I suggest you search and pray about it.
I know many women who wear underwear under their garments because they like the feel or when their having their period so they can wear a pad. This same principle applies to your bra. In my experience, a lot of LDS women have problems with their bras fitting because their wearing fabric (garments) underneath their bra and it constricts the breasts from filling out the bra properly. Bras fit so much better against your skin. Bras weren't designed to wear clothing under them. For those of you who do wear your garments against your skin, there's some ways you can get around garments constricting your breasts by wearing the right garment top style and fabric.
There's some pros and cons to wearing bras over or under your garments:
Bra Over Garments
- Your bra doesn't get as dirty due to the oils and sweat your body produces are absorbed by the garment top instead of your bra.
- You don't have to wash your bra as often because it doesn't get as dirty faster.
- Prolongs the life of your bra.
- Depending on the type of garment top you wear, it can constrict the breasts and making it si the bra doesn't fit as well.
- If the garment top cups are too big, women are constantly having to tuck the extra fabric in their bra.
- Certain garment top materials don't grip the bra well, like the Dri Silk and Mesh. This makes the bra slip, ride up, and move around.
Bra Under Garments
- Your bra will get dirty faster.
- Have to wash your bra more frequently due to the bra being against your skin.
- Bra fits better because your breasts aren't being constricted by the garment top.
- You don't have to worry about having your bra ride up in the back due to the material of your garment top.
- You will be able to see your garment top and markings under your shirt easier.
So what is a woman to do? I'm going to tell you my tips on which fabrics and styles of garment tops I recommend wearing with your bra.
Garment Top Styles
If you're larger busted DDD+ cup size, you want to make sure there's a cup in the garment top. The cups are going to allow the breasts to be less constricted than if you wear a garment top without cups, like the chemise styles. The tops I recommend are the: Square Neck, Round Neck, and the NEW Nursing Garments Cotton-Poly Jersey II (I LOVE THESE).
There's one exception to this rule. The Carinessa II don't have cups in them, but they have ruching on the sides of the chest, and the material is really stretchy, this prevents the breasts from being constricted.
If you haven't hear the news, there's new cup sizes now in garment tops! When I got fitted at the Distribution Center a couple months ago, the woman measured me and put me at a 34B. I normally wear a 32DDD so that seemed way off. I purchased the 34B Nursing Garment Top in the Cotton-Poly Jersey II and they fit perfectly. The new cup sizing guide in garments run big so make sure to get fitted before you buy.
If you're smaller busted AA-DD cup size, I recommend ALL of the Chemise styles because they're going to be easier to fill out and you won't have to roll and tuck extra fabric into your bra. If you're nursing you can get the DriSilque II or the Cotton-Poly Jersey II fabrics because they come in smaller cup sizes.
If you wear your bra under your garments, you can wear any top you would like. Personally I feel like there's ones that look better over your bra then others. The Chemise styles are going to look better then the Square Neck and Round Neck tops because these ones have cups and they can look weird wearing them under a t-shirt. The Chemise tops don't have cups, so it's going to give you a more smooth look underneath your shirt.
Fabrics
These are the fabrics I would avoid if you don't want your bra to move, ride up, and drive you cray cray and these are: Nylon Mesh, Nylon Mesh II, DriSilque, and DriSilque II.
The fabrics I think work well with wearing your bra over your garments is Cotton-Poly, Carinessa II, 100% Cotton Jersey II, and Cotton-Poly Jersey II because these all have cups in them and they do a better job of gripping the bra so it doesn't move around. If you're smaller chested and don't need the cups, stick with the Cotton-Poly Rib Knit, Carinessa II, Dri-Lux Rib Knit, and 100% Cotton Rib Knit.
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Closing
First, I want to acknowledge we're so lucky to have the wide variety of fabrics, designs, and sizes garments come in these days. If you talk to someone who was endowed 20-50 years ago it was very limited to what you can get. I can't imagine wearing the bell bottoms or one piece garments :( The Church has come A LONG way to making garments more comfortable and easy to wear with modern clothing. I just went to the Distribution Center a couple weeks ago to get some new nursing garments tops for myself and was surprised that most of the garments had new sizing, cuts, and designs. And love the new plunge cut of the nursing garment, ah-amazing!