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.