Category Archives: Friday Fashion

By Robert J. Avrech | November 29, 2012

Friday Fashion: Hasidic Chic

Tweet The business of fashion rests upon the notion that with every season there is a look that is new and exciting. Of course, there is nothing new under the sun. There are only old ideas dressed up to look new. Thus, it was inevitable that at some point a designer would look at traditional [...]

By Robert J. Avrech | October 5, 2012

Friday Footwear: Lielle Meital Kicks Up Her Heels

Tweet Here are some more pink shoes Lielle has her eyes on.

Also posted in Friday Footwear, Friday Fotos | Tagged Brian Atwood, Chanel, Crocs, Jean Paul Gaultier, Lanvin, Lielle Meital, Louboutin, Pink shoes, Shabbat | 9 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | September 21, 2012

Friday Fashion: Spring 2013 Ready-To-Wear

Tweet Seraphic Secret likes to follow trends in fashion. Our mission is to ignore the slutwear that parades as cutting edge design and focus instead on beautifully tailored outfits that are both flattering, ladylike, and modest. As always, we do not highlight pant suits; they are a crime against femininity. We are happy to report [...]

Posted in Friday Fashion | Tagged Calvin Klein, Carolina Herrera, Michael Kors, Monique Lhuillier, Oscar de la Renta, Temperley | 4 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | September 14, 2012

Friday Fashion: Mayan Ariel Super Styling for Rosh Hashanah

Tweet Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins Sunday evening. It is traditional to greet the New Year with some new outfits. Maayan’s adorable dress reflects a discernible trend towards a return to patterns.

Also posted in Family, Friday Footwear, Maayan Ariel, Rosh Hashanah | Tagged leopard print shoes, Mary Katrantzou, Old Navy, Prints, Toms | 6 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | September 7, 2012

Friday Footwear: Lielle Meital’s Little Cat Feet

Also posted in Family, Friday Footwear | Tagged Carl Sandburg, Lielle Meital, Little Cat Feet | 11 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | August 3, 2012

Friday Footwear: Cool Tootsies

Tweet Millions of Americans are out of work. The federal deficit is a crime. We are on the edge of a double dip recession. What to do? Fashion designers are banking on happy, unexpected colors to dress up your tootsies. Seraphic Secret has done the hard work of combing through the 2013 footwear collections and [...]

Also posted in Friday Footwear | Tagged Charlotte Olympia, Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi, Gloria Swanson, Jason Wu, kenzo, Louis Vuitton, Nicholas Kirkwood | 15 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | June 22, 2012

Friday Fashion: Being Gable

Tweet It’s often been said that every man wants to look like Cary Grant, while every man wants to be Clark Gable. A few months ago Seraphic Secret was screening one of our favorite Gable-Harlow movies, China Seas, (1935) the story of a brassy dame, a gruff sea captain and piracy on the high seas. [...]

Also posted in Clark Gable, Hollywood, Jean Harlow, Men's Fashion | Tagged custom tailoring, Enzo Caruso, Hollywood Costume Design, Hollywood History | 14 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | June 15, 2012

Friday Fashion: The Female Animal

Tweet In last week’s Friday Fashion post we observed that designers frequently clothe women utilizing fur, feathers and animal patterns. For as long as fashion has existed, animal metaphors have been an indispensible part of the designer’s lexicon. Hollywood, during its golden age, a leading arbiter of taste, heightened and refined the animal analogy with [...]

Also posted in Ava Gardner, Clark Gable, Constance Bennett, Gene Tierney, Irene Dunne, Jean Harlow, Joan Bennett, Lupe Velez, Marlene Dietrich, Martha Hyer | Tagged Adrian, Constance Bennett, Costume Design, Edward Stevenson, Gene Tierney, George Hurrell, Glamour, Hollywood Glamour, Joan Bennett, Karen Singer Avrech, Martha Hyer, Robert Kalloch, Scarlet Street, The Woman in the Window | 7 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | June 8, 2012

Friday Fashion: The Female Animal

Tweet For as long as fashion has existed, animal metaphors have been an indispensible part of the designers language. Hollywood, during its golden age, a leading arbiter of taste, heightened and refined the animal metaphor with brilliant costume designers turning ravishing movie stars into expressions of animal desire.

Also posted in Friday Footwear, Friday Fotos, Hollywood, Myrna Loy, Silent Movies, Travis Banton | Tagged Adrian, Carole Lombard, Cleopatra, Evelyn Brent, Greta Garbo, Joan Blondell, Joan Crawford, Josef von Sternberg, Letty Lynton, Marlene Dietrich, Robert Kalloch, Shanghai Express, The Torrent, Theda Bara, Twentieth Century, Underworld | 13 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | April 6, 2012

Friday Fashion: The Exodus Edition

Tweet On Passover the Jewish people are instructed to envision that they are experiencing the Exodus from Egypt. During the Passover seder (meal) we reenact—through sacred memory animated by ritual—the passage from bondage to slavery. The Torah tells us that the Jews left Egypt with the spoils of their oppressors—compensation for 400 years of cruelty. [...]

Also posted in Friday Footwear, Holidays, Passover | Tagged Barbara Briones, Charlotte Olympia, Exodus, Fendi, Gio Dev, Glamour, Gucci, Jerusalem, Ma'ayan Ariel, Manolo Blahnik, Passover Fashion, Seder, Shabbat, Stella McCartney, Tory Burch | 3 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | March 30, 2012

Friday Fashion: Hollywood Hats for Passover

Tweet Passover is almost here. Cleaning, changing dishes, and buying Passover food takes up a huge amount of time and energy. Observant Jews also take the opportunity to purchase new clothing in honor of the holiday in which we celebrate our deliverance from Egyptian bondage. Orthodox women cover their heads in synagogue—a sign of modesty—thus [...]

Also posted in Anita Page, Holidays, Hollywood, Hollywood Hats, Passover | Tagged Bette Davis, Cecil Beaton, David Lean, Edward Stevenson, Fashions of 1934, Grace Kelly, House of Flying Daggers, Irene Dunne, Joy of Living, Kalloch, Leslie Howard, Mary Nolan, Miriam Hopkins, The Old Maid, Wendy Hiller, William Powell, Ziyi Zhang | 10 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | March 9, 2012

Friday Fashion: The Past is the Present

Tweet The great Hollywood costume designer Orry-Kelly with Ann Sheridan. Seraphic Secret likes to check out the latest fashions, scouting for beautiful but modest clothing. We don’t believe that women have to reveal acres of flesh in order to appear and feel attractive. In fact, the opposite. The more chaste the surface, the more mystery [...]

Posted in Friday Fashion | Tagged Alber Elbaz, Alberta Ferretti, Alexander McQueen, Anne Sheridan, Aquilano Rimondi, Haider Ackermann, Hermes, Lanvin, Orry-Kelly, Sarah Burton, Tory Burch, Victoria Beckham | 8 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | February 24, 2012

Friday Fashion: Bags, Spring 2012

Tweet In 1956 while pregnant with Caroline, Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco was photographed in New York City by Life Magazine carrying a black crocodile Hermes bag, which she used to cover her pregnancy. After this picture was published the bag became a fashion hit and was renamed the Kelly bag. A woman’s handbag is more [...]

Also posted in Handbags | Tagged 3.1 Phillip Lim, Balmain, Burak Uyan, Celine, Diane von Furstenberg, Dolce & Gabbana, Grace Kelly, Gucci, Hermes, Kelly Bag, Tory Burch, VBH, Victoria Beckham | 10 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | February 17, 2012

Friday Fashion: The Past Is The Present

Tweet Seraphic Secret likes to check out the latest fashions, scouting for beautiful but modest clothing. We don’t believe that women have to reveal acres of flesh in order to appear and feel attractive. In fact, the opposite. The more chaste the surface, the more mystery and depth. This season, it’s kind of obvious [...]

Posted in Friday Fashion | Tagged Anna May Wong, Calvin Klein, Douglas Hannant, Downton Abbey, Eva Marie Saint, Fall 2012 RTW, Hebrew Tattoos, Hollywood Influence on Fashion, Jason Wu, Jean Harlow, Kim Novak, Lyn Devon, Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, Milly, Modest Fashion, Orry-Kelly, Ralph Lauren, Suzanne Pleshette, Tippi Hedrin, Victoria Beckham | 15 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | February 10, 2012

Friday Footwear: Hollywood Steps Out

Tweet Classic photos of Hollywood stars usually reinforce a particular image. Lighting, composition, body language, wardrobe and the singular architecture of the face are the ingredients that create a glamorous narrative for audiences to internalize. Clark Gable is the man’s man who doesn’t give a damn; Carole Lombard, the girl next door who will drive [...]

Also posted in Brigitte Bardot, Clark Gable, Friday Footwear, Gloria Swanson, Hollywood | Tagged Brigitte Bardot, Carole Lombard, Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable, Ginger Rogers, Gloria Swanson, Harold Lloyd, Pablo Picasso, Pola Negri | 11 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | January 27, 2012

Friday Fashion: Real Men Wear Pink

Tweet The Talmud (Shabbat 113a) tells us that Rabbi Yochanan called his clothing, “The things that honor me.” Seraphic Secret believes that what we wear tells the world who we are and how we wish to be treated. If you dress like a slob and then get annoyed when people treat you like a slob, [...]

Also posted in Men's Fashion | Tagged Brooks Brothers, L.L. Bean, male fashion, masculinity, Pink, Pink Business Shirt, Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, Rabbi Yochanan, Shabbat, shul, synagogue, Talmud | 13 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | January 20, 2012

Friday Fashion: Hollywood Males It In

Tweet The operative word is effortless. In truth, Chaplin’s style was only achieved through the superlative tailoring of the English Savile Row firm, Anderson & Sheppard. As the new book, Anderson & Sheppard: A Style is Born, edited by Graydon Carter and Cullen Murphy, makes clear, the venerable British tailors shunned actors and other show-biz [...]

Also posted in Books, Clark Gable, Hollywood, Joan Crawford, Men's Fashion, Rudolph Valentino | Tagged Anderson & Sheppard, Anderson & Sheppard: A Style is Born, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Fred Astaire, Gary Cooper, Hollywood Glamour, Marlene Dietrich, Savile Row, Victor Fleming, Vivien Leigh | 6 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | January 13, 2012

Friday Fashion: Hollywood on Parade

Tweet Seraphic Secret was glancing through the latest issue of the “National Enquirer” the other day—how else am I going to learn about what’s going on in Hollywood?—and was horrified to discover that this tabloid has a rather unhealthy fixation on celebrity photos that focus on cellulite, disheveled stars in flip-flops taking out the garbage, [...]

Also posted in Hollywood | Tagged Fred Astaire, Glamour, Hedy Lamarr, Hollywood's Golden Age, In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust, Mervyn LeRoy, Myrna Loy, National Enquirer, Random Harvest, Shabbat, Susan Peters | 14 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | January 6, 2012

Friday Fashion: Turban Time in Hollywood

Tweet When asked to define the essence of Hollywood glamour, the multi-talented director Edmund Goulding replied: “It’s the magnetism that changes the current of every movie fan’s life and persuades a girl that she must have a dress like the one Joan Crawford wore in her last picture. It’s the mesmerism that induces a [...]

Also posted in Brigitte Bardot, Elizabeth Taylor, Esther Ralston, Hollywood, Hollywood Hats, Marilyn Monroe | Tagged Hedy Lamarr, Lana Turner, Mae Bush, Marlene Dietrich, turban | 12 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | November 18, 2011

Friday Fashion: Spring 2012 Ready-to-Wear

Tweet Seraphic Secret likes to follow trends in fashion. Our mission is to bypass the slutwear that parades as cutting edge design and focus instead on beautifully tailored outfits that are both flattering, ladylike, and modest. As always, we do not highlight pant suits; they are a crime against femininity. We are happy to report [...]

Posted in Friday Fashion | Tagged 50's Fashion, Aquilano Rimondi, Band of Outsiders, Calvin Klein, Chanel, Donna Karan, Jil Sander, Modest Fashion, Rochas, Spring Ready-to-Wear 2012, Valentino | 1 Response

How I Married Karen

The new book
by Robert J. Avrech

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About Me
Robert J. Avrech
Los Angeles, California
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I'm an Emmy Award winning screenwriter. I'm also an observant Jew, a religious Zionist, a conservative Republican, and a member of the NRA. I've been writing and producing in Hollywood for over twenty-five years. But the focus of my life is my family: my radiant wife, Karen—with whom I have been in love with since I was nine years-old—and my two daughters, who, thankfully, look like Karen. Not too long ago, we had three children. But our son, Ariel, died at the age of twenty-two from cancer. We miss him terribly. We think about him practically every minute of every day. People tell us that time heals, but Karen and I know this is not true. Time grinds away doing its terrible work. Ariel is gone. Yet absence becomes presence.

Ariel Chaim Avrech, ZT'L, May His Righteous Memory be a Blessing.
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2012
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audio-only mp3 [15MB]: Ninth Annual Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture

2011
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audio-only mp3 [18MB]: Eighth Annual Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture

2010
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audio-only mp3 [80MB]: Seventh Annual Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture

2009
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audio-only mp3 [64MB]: Sixth Annual Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture

2008
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audio-only mp3 [70MB]: Fifth Annual Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture

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