On 'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,' Holy High-Low Outfits

I started watching Hulu's The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives for the drama. Pregnancies! Arrests! Backstabbing, confirmed via an anonymous "Truth Box"! The producers really got me with the "Unholy" needle drop in the trailer, and I was strapped into the #MomTok rollercoaster without having seen a single one of their videos on my own "For You" page prior. I'm an anomaly; the cast of moms-turned-influencers has a combined ten million followers on TikTok.

By the time the credits rolled over the final episode, I wasn't just wondering if MomTok would survive the fallout from the show's various scandals. I was also fixated on their style—the loud-luxury-meets-accessible fashion pieces the cast wore through every baby shower, girls' trip, and confessional post-mortem.

Mormon Wives is not necessarily trying to be a fashion show; it's about the tension between a group of women's religious backgrounds and the more progressive lives they're trying to lead. (And also, it's about good ol' fashion friend group infighting, as a battle to lead MomTok plays out.) Still, the eight episodes are a veritable feast of influencer-special outfits, with a level of contrast that makes "high-low" sound like an understatement.

Teary-eyed admissions in the confession booth come with puff-sleeve dresses via Revolve and gold earrings from Tiffany (or very close lookalikes). At a pivotal reveal during a baby shower, the moms' huddle is dwarfed by Jennifer's blue Goyard tote and Jessi's fluffy white Chanel flap. Drives to Swig, the soda chain that's to Provo, Utah, what Starbucks is to most major American cities, come accessorized with Free People jackets—and Dior saddle bags.

The bags and the jewelry are the most readily recognizable pieces from these major luxury brands; runway deep cuts, you will not find. And while everyone has an obvious affinity for pairing Zara, Amazon, and HM with loud logo bags, a few of the wives have even more definable takes on what Reddit calls the "Utah uniform."

Taylor Frankie Paul, the self-proclaimed "founder" of MomTok who's pregnant with her third child during the series, wears an array of thin, clingy, off-the-shoulder sweater dresses in cotton candy shades—Hailey Bieber maternity wear with a few less zeros hanging on the price tag. Layla, the youngest cast member at 23 who's also recently divorced, favors short mini skirts and an often-worn, shearling-lined Zara jacket. The series' eventual villain, Whitney, has a thing for both cozy lounge sets and Christian Dior, which shows up in the form of a toile book tote and gold logo earrings. (She memorably wears the latter with an ASOS graphic T-shirt declaring "DRAGON FRUIT" in bright capital letters. Okay!)

Despite the size of the cast, each woman's style reads like the same closet in a slightly different font. Skirting the strict rules of their religion where modesty is concerned, they do it in the same ways: crop tops, sheer netted dresses, micro-mini skirts, and tight athleisure sets. It's not just #MomTok's fashion that's consistent: Almost the entire cast has their hair styled into waterfall waves by Jessi, who owns a salon in Provo. (For inquiring minds: Yes, the tutorial is already on TikTok.)

While I couldn't always follow Whitney's mental gymnastics routines, I could easily follow why loud luxury turns up alongside so many everyday outfits. Many of the #MomTok women are also the breadwinners in their marriages. Jennifer Affleck's videos and resulting brand deals even fund her husband's medical school expenses. No one carries a Birkin bag (that I've noticed), yet it's all very reminiscent of the other former Jennifer Affleck's most exaggerated high-low outfits. Spending big on easy-to-ID designer logos is the fastest way to tell the world you're getting checks. For women whose professional influencing is scrutinized by their community—and sometimes, their own spouses—that matters. They can't buy acceptance, but they can buy a great bag.

We might sit on our couches and judge what these women do and what they wear to do it, but there's plenty of evidence that Mormon wives with secret lives aren't the only ones mixing Shein and Saint Laurent. High-low styling is universal in this economy; we're just seeing a heightened version onscreen. In the US, fast fashion is one of the fastest-growing retail segments; while the luxury market sales have cooled down in the last few quarters, it's also a big earner.

Scrolling Reddit's r/MormonWivesHulu pages, I caught some users roasting Whitney's "pilgrim chic" dresses and questioning whether #MomTok product placements were really enough to afford a Goyard tote. And then I saw someone surveying the thread—just not for a Goyard price check. Instead they came here to innocently ask, "Does anyone know where Demi's temple bag is from?"