University Studies Chassidic Women’s Fashion
They may not often grace the pages of Vogue, but strictly Orthodox women regularly reinterpret celebrity and catwalk fashion – with a modest twist, according to research by the London College of Fashion.
Chassidic women have interpreted mainstream fashion trends such as knitwear with embellished shoulder detail, ruffles, 60s-style pill box hats and evening dresses tempered with white shirts to cover a plunging neckline. Sheitls have trendy wispy fringes, or swinging ponytails with girly bows.
Speakers at London College of Fashion symposium on ‘Mediating Modesty’ spoke of detailed research they had conducted into frum fashion.
One of them, Barbara Goldman Carrel, from New York’s City University has conducted an in-depth study of Chassidic women’s fashion. She said: “When I told people I was studying Chassidic fashion, they said ‘Is there such a thing?’ But more and more people are finding fashion is something to be embraced, not reviled.
“The Chassidic womenswear shops in Borough Park, Brooklyn, have displays from fashion magazines, with chic scarf covers for parts of the picture which are immodest, like bare shoulders. One woman I met while doing the research told me, ‘we have to be modest, but no-one says we have to be backward.’ Tzniut (modest) fashion is intangible, it’s down to interpretation, apart from requirements about how high a neckline should be, and skirt and sleeve length.
“She said she was amazed to see photos from fashion magazines such as Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar on the walls of Chassidic dress shops and custom-made, modest versions of the latest designer dresses made in the shops. Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein are particularly popular brands.”
Even men’s suits are made with a fashionable awareness, Ms Goldman Carrel said. “The fabrics are luxurious; there are individual twists on traditional styles that you can see if you look closely.”
She said there was an explosion of tzniut fashion blogs online, including Fashion-Isha and Frum Fashionista with Jewish women taking inspiration from modest styles seen in the pages of Vogue and other fashion magazines.
RR
first of all, there are non jews who also have a modesty code for the women and children, it DOES exist with some of the religious goyim. Second of all, I hope they realize that the power of this new “trend” of following us, will help many issues, which you all can easily imagine. It would help.
how far have we gone!
chinfo is relating to the emptiness and prostkeit of Crown Heights families. chinfo has become the voice of all the good the bad and the ugly or Crown Heights. There is nothing bad or ugly about women dressing modestly and still looking good, as shown in this article and associated picture. There is something wrong when we place too much importance on dress and apparel. The very least chinfo should send this article to a womens only site such as Beis Rivka or Bnos Menachem. So that all the bochurim who may wander there will know that they are wandering in a place that they don’t belong. Why post this info on chinfo? Its not necessary.
Yael
To “how far have we gone!” CrownHeights.info is not only for men. Women are members of the community, too and deserve to have their interests explored in the public forum in a dignified manner.
Frumpy Frummie Fashionista
Hey!!! At last I’m fashionable!!
it-s hip to be tznius, dumb to expose
hey #2 – if you are a guy, then realise many other men would benefit from knowing their wife can be beautiful AND tzniusdik!
Our problem is that too many of our women and girls think if they don’t expose, their husbands will lose interest, or they won’t be able to attract a shidduch or whatever other nonsense fills their minds.
The picture is 100% better than the likes of what’s shown in the Neshei newsletter – think about that.
WOULDN’T IT BE GREAT TO WALK DOWN KINGSTON AND EVERY ONE OF THE 4 WOMEN IN FRONT OF YOU IS DRESSED TZNIUSLY?
y not ch
to yael if crown heights was more of a modest place maybe than will they explore our modesty too! face the reality of how women are dressing down the street!
to no.4
ha! Cute name!
To Yael
There is absolutely nothing wrong with women having a forum to discuss issues about women, and their attire, their needs and desires, problems and solutions etc.
The problem is having chinfo address everyones needs in the same forum. Just like there are tznius issues in clothes, there are also tznius issues in web sites. maybe even more than in clothes.
So therefor if Chabad – Lubavitch is going to use the internet as a place to discover and discuss the issues, there is a need for separation of the genders.
Imagine in real life if a bochur was to attend a women’s only talk on raising a family, or if a girl was to attend a men’s only lecture on shalom bayis, how would that sound? It of course wouldn’t happen. So why is it kosher for it to happen on the internet?
Its not kosher, but we just don’t care enough. If we did care enough, the solution using technology is very simple.
hey, fashionista!
you sound too familiar!! a relative!
To #2 and #3
I believe #2 can’t possibly be serious…I know of many young men (and not such young men) and woman who have a good laugh posting ignorant, stupid and foolish comments on the chabad websites…
If they are serious…well…let’s just think they’re not because if that is the case then we have some people with some serious deficiencies (mainly in the area of the brain).
Nisht a Shmatte
There are many frum men in the fashion business. Not too many Lubavitchers anymore, but plenty of Satmar, Poylishers and especially Syrians and Persians. There must be about 20 mincha minyanim in the old NY schmatte district every day.