'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' Bring Sweatp...

In a world of carefully curated lives on social media and reality television stars that wear couture to a casual dinner with friends, the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives are taking television ratings by storm—in sweatpants.

“It's cool and it's refreshing because no one's wearing glam to sit in someone's loving room,” Layla Taylor told Newsweek. “No one is wearing a dress that's very fancy just to grab dinner down the street at your local restaurant.”

Secret Lives of Mormon Wives has more than enough drama to capture people’s attention. From “soft swinging” and rumored affairs to marital problems and the ever-present question, “Can MomTok survive this?” With all the intrigue surrounding the women, it would be easy to miss one of the details that sets this show apart from so many others on our screens—the fashion.

Sure, you’re unlikely to catch them at an influencer event without glam and their hair is on par with a Disney princess. But, when the women are debriefing about the drama or sharing deeply personal moments at someone’s house (which is the majority of the show), they’re doing it in sweatpants. Just like the women who watch their show.

“[We] strip down almost the layers that people put on...you just don't need them,” Taylor said. “I feel like we're able to kind of just show more authentic, real sides of ourselves.”

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They’re far from the first people to dress down on a reality show, but what’s striking is how committed they’ve remained to it. As seasons of a show progress, it’s not uncommon to see the stars elevate their style to meet the pressure of being on television and having their lives filmed. In a Real Housewives special, Kyle Richards from Real Housewives of Beverly Hills said she used to sleep in an oversized T-shirt but went out and bought a fancy night gown when Beverly Hills started filming. The Kardashians, who have built an empire on reality television, are rarely filmed without full glam.

The SLOMW women predominantly built their wealth and prominence by curating their lives on social media. They’re leaders in a new generation of celebrity that’s not built on being Hollywood famous, but being internet famous. Everything about their lives screams women who should be meticulously planning how they’ll look on television. Instead, they've decided to stay the real 20- and 30-something women that they were before they were cast on the show.

Crocs are still a regular shoe choice for Taylor Frankie Paul, the leader of MomTok. Mikayla Matthews, who’s opened up about a difficult skin condition, has been filmed without any makeup on. Some of the biggest moments on the show—Whitney Leavitt admitting her husband, Conner, was on Tinder, Taylor learning about her ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen texting with another woman, and Jen Affleck opening up about her prenatal depression—all happened in sweats.

Even if the casual nature of their outfits is out of the ordinary for reality television, the women embracing the less made-up side of life and showcasing it on the show isn’t completely out of left field. While influencers long made their money by playing off people’s jealousy, a new class of influencers is gaining traction by showing their most authentic selves. These new influencers post videos of their ordinary lives—easy meals they make, the realistic outfits they wear and the times their houses are left a mess.

For those influencers, it’s not projecting professionalism; it’s about projecting reality. And, while their lives are more glamorous and likely more dramatic than most people’s, in a way, the SLOMW are showing that they aren’t all that different from any other friend group.

“I think it's kind of cool that we're able to kind of just normalize being normal and we don't need to fake it for the cameras,” Taylor said. “We'll text each other and be like, ‘hey, what are we wearing?’ And we're like, ‘Sweats. Sweats, no makeup, we're showing up how we are.’”

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