The new hot Hasidic look.
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 Hasidic clothing, and decide that this was fashion.
Korean-born Gunhyo Kim, a graduate of Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Arts and an assistant to designer super-star Dries Van Noten, was inspired by Antwerp’s Hasidic Jewish community. He takes a traditional arba kanfot, an article of clothing mandated by the Torah (Numbers 25:37–41 and Deuteronomy 22:12) and turns it into… um… something else.
Is it time to give up Levi’s jeans, Brooks Brothers pink shorts, and L.L.Bean flannels in favor of Hasidic chic?
Have a look and decide for yourselves.
No self-respecting Hasid would wear a tight, sharkskin gray suit and, horror of horrors, white shoes with an ill-fitting Borsalino. But that’s the whole point of this loony look, mixing the traditional with the avante garde.
The arba kanfot are turned into an item of fashion, and the hat is a witty take on a Hasidic spodek, most notably worn by Gerer Hasidim.
Seraphic Secret confesses to a weakness for the Hasidic shtreimel, a round hat made of fur that can be enormously expensive. We hope that PETA members take one look at this article of clothing and feel their heads explode.
H/T Rachel Lipson
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a lovely and inspirational Shabbat.
Ariel Chaim Avrech, ZT'L, May His Righteous Memory be a Blessing.
5 Comments
What’s next, Amish Chic?
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I like the look, and think it is elegant. But I’ll defer to my Jewish friends about whether or not the prayer shawl is appropriate. (I always think it’s silly when people wear rosary beads, etc., as merely decorative accessories.)
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The guy in the top picture sort of rocks the look. The rest not so much. The shtreimel looks especially ridiculous.
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So… is this… ahem… Hasidic Gangnam Style?
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Hey, except for the ill fitting hat, I can see many, financially successful, younger members of the frum (Orthodox) community wearing this stuff.
What I want to know is – why is always “Hasidic?”
I keep on reading articles about “Chasidic” Jews which, as far as I can tell, are also about your average non-Chasid, Orthodox Jew.
It’s kind of funny. I can see one hundred years from now that perhaps “Orthodox” or “Torah observant” Judaism are all going to be “Chasidic” (or perhaps “Charedi”) and everyone else, Modern Orthodox?; Conservative; Reform; etc, are all going to be “not Chasidic…”
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