The Jewish Wardrobe: From the Collection of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem


Book Description

Drawing on the Israel Museum's extensive collection of Jewish dress, the largest of its kind worldwide and dating from the late nineteenth century to the present, this colourful volume explores Jewish dress and its fashions, history and development in Jewish communities across the globe, in particular those established for centuries in the Middle East, North Africa and East Europe. It makes a special point of analysing the interaction of Jewish costume with that of surrounding cultures and its consequent development. Written for a broad audience, the book addresses specific questions like the impact of religious requirements in matters of dress and appearance, such as the need for married women to cover their hair and the myriad forms of head covering and decoration that this stricture has given rise to.




A Cultural History of Jewish Dress


Book Description

A Cultural History of Jewish Dress is the first comprehensive account of Jewish clothing, both profane and sacred, from its origins through to the present day. Fascinating and accessibly written, it will appeal to anybody with an interest in the central role of clothing in defining Jewish identity.




The Clothes On Their Backs


Book Description

Orange Prize winner and shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2008, Linda Grant has created an enchanting portrait of a woman who, having endured unbearable loss, finds solace in the family secrets her estranged uncle reveals. In vivid and supple prose, Grant subtly constructs a powerful story of family, love, and the hold the past has on the present. Vivien Kovacs, a sensitive, bookish girl grows up sealed off from the world by her timid Hungarian refugee parents, who conceal the details of their history and shy away from any encounter with the outside world. She learns how to navigate British society from an eccentric cast of neighbors -- including a fading ballerina, a cartoonist, and a sad woman who wanders the city and teaches Vivien to be beautiful. She loses herself in books and reinvents herself according to her favorite characters, but it is through clothes that she ultimately defines herself. Against her father's wishes, she forges a relationship with her uncle, a notorious criminal and slum landlord, who, in his old age, wants to share his life story. As he exposes the truth about her family's past Vivien learns how to be comfortable in her own skin and how to be alive in the world. Grant is a spectacularly humanizing writer whose morally complex characters explore the line between selfishness and self-preservation.




Fashion Metropolis Berlin 1836-1939


Book Description

AT HAUSVOGTEIPLATZ Something unique emerged in the heart of Berlin in the nineteenth century: a creative centre for fashion and ready-made clothing. The hundreds of clothing companies that were established here manufactured modern clothing and developed new designs that were sold throughout Germany and the world. This industry reached the height of its success in the 1920s. Freed from their corsets, sophisticated women of the time dressed in the "Berlin chic" sold by Valentin Manheimer, Herrmann Gerson, or the Wertheim department stores. After 1933, however, most Jewish clothing industrialists were confronted with hatred and violence. Many of their companies were "Aryanized" while they themselves were robbed, displaced, and murdered. Under new Aryan management, these companies created conservative clothing that represented an entirely different image of women.




The Rag Race


Book Description

Winner, 2016 Best First Book Prize from the Immigration and Ethnic History Society Finalist, 2016 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature Winner, 2015 Book Prize from the Southern Jewish Historical Society Finalist, 2015 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award from the Association for Jewish Studies Winner, 2014 National Jewish Book Award in American Jewish Studies from the Jewish Book Council The majority of Jewish immigrants who made their way to the United States between 1820 and 1924 arrived nearly penniless; yet today their descendants stand out as exceptionally successful. How can we explain their dramatic economic ascent? Have Jews been successful because of cultural factors distinct to them as a group, or because of the particular circumstances that they encountered in America? The Rag Race argues that the Jews who flocked to the United States during the age of mass migration were aided appreciably by their association with a particular corner of the American economy: the rag trade. From humble beginnings, Jews rode the coattails of the clothing trade from the margins of economic life to a position of unusual promise and prominence, shaping both their societal status and the clothing industry as a whole. Comparing the history of Jewish participation within the clothing trade in the United States with that of Jews in the same business in England, The Rag Race demonstrates that differences within the garment industry on either side of the Atlantic contributed to a very real divergence in social and economic outcomes for Jews in each setting.




Stylelikeu


Book Description

Stylelikeu, created by mother-daughter team Elisa Goodkindand Lily Mandelbaum, goes way beyond the now ubiquitousand static poses of street-fashion bloggers The Sartorialist,Face Hunter, and all the rest, and instead, brings us into thehomes-and more importantly the closets-of the most stylishpeople on the streets of New York, Los Angeles, London, andmore. Not interested in celebrities and the stylists who dress them,Elisa and Lily have an uncanny knack for finding and gainingthe trust of people who march to the beat of their own, verychic, drummer. Often spending up to three hours with themost daring and original dressers they can find, Stylelikeuphotographs each fashionable person in several different looksof the subject's choosing. To probe deeper into each subject's personal style, theyconduct intimate interviews on their ambitions, influences, anddreams, making each portrait so much more than yet anotherstreet photograph. From the most personal pieces in theirsubjects' wardrobes, to the favorite books on their shelves,to the most precious objects in their houses, Stylelikeu goesfar beyond mere appearances to showcase how creativity isfostered and manifested by living in the most stylish way of all:true to oneself. Trumpeted in the press for Elisa and Lily's departure from thetop-down nature of mass-market fashion, where the editorsof popular fashion magazines tell consumers what is stylish,Stylelikeu represents the vanguard of a new, DIY, fashion-mediaparadigm. It is a bold and inspirational experiment,documenting fashion at its source-the individual. A few of the 1000+ comments left by fans of the Stylelikeuwebsite: "Was just talking about how he NEEDED to be on thissite. So amazing." "I find her absolutely mesmerizing. She isso full of life and charm. She has a wonderfully contagiousspirit. She is such an inspiration and I would love to be like hersomeday." "I love that you guys feature such a diverse group ofpeople-all ages, races, sizes, budgets. It shows how everyonecan have style." "I don't have any words to describe howamazing those two girls are! They are the true inspiration forall the girls in this entire universe!"




Wardrobe Crisis


Book Description

Who makes your clothes? This used to be an easy question to answer it was the seamstress next door, or the tailor on the high street—or you made them yourself. Today, we rarely know the origins of the clothes hanging in our closets. The local shoemaker, dressmaker, and milliner are long gone, replaced a globalized fashion industry worth $1.5 trillion a year. In Wardrobe Crisis, fashion journalist Clare Press explores the history and ethics behind what we wear. Putting her insider status to good use, Press examines the entire fashion ecosystem, from sweatshops to haute couture, unearthing the roots of today’s buy-and-discard culture. She traces the origins of icons like Chanel, Dior, and Hermès; charts the rise and fall of the department store; and follows the thread that led us from Marie Antoinette to Carrie Bradshaw. Wardrobe Crisis is a witty and persuasive argument for a fashion revolution that will empower you to feel good about your wardrobe again.




Dressing Sydney


Book Description

Dressing Sydney tells the missing story of fashion dreams and innovations. This book showcases many generations of Sydney Jewish designers, including the exciting new generation of young designers who love and live fashion.




Dress in Mediterranean Antiquity


Book Description

Insights from anthropology, religious studies, biblical studies, sociology, classics, and Jewish studies are here combined to provide a cutting-edge guide to dress and religion in the Greco-Roman World and the Mediterranean basin. Clothing, jewellery, cosmetics, and hairstyles are among the many aspects examined to show the variety of functions of dress in communication and in both establishing and defending identity. The volume begins by reviewing how scholars in the fields of classics, anthropology, religious studies, and sociology examine dress. The second section then looks at materials, including depictions of clothing in sculpture and in Egyptian mummy portraits. The third (and largest) part of the book then examines dress in specific contexts, beginning with Greece and Rome and going on to Jewish and Christian dress, with a specific focus on the intersection between dress, clothing and religion. By combining essays from over twenty scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds, the book provides a unique overview of different approaches to and contexts of dress in one volume, leading to a greater understanding of dress both within ancient societies and in the contemporary world.




House of Glass


Book Description

Writer Hadley Freeman investigates her family’s secret history in this “exceptional” (The Washington Post) “masterpiece” (The Daily Telegraph) uncovering a story that spans a century, two World Wars, and three generations. Hadley Freeman knew her grandmother Sara lived in France just as Hitler started to gain power, but rarely did anyone in her family talk about it. Long after her grandmother’s death, she found a shoebox tucked in the closet containing photographs of her grandmother with a mysterious stranger, a cryptic telegram from the Red Cross, and a drawing signed by Picasso. This discovery sent Freeman on a decade-long quest to uncover the significance of these keepsakes, taking her from Picasso’s archives in Paris to a secret room in a farmhouse in Auvergne to Long Island to Auschwitz. Freeman pieces together the puzzle of her family’s past, discovering more about the lives of her grandmother and her three brothers, Jacques, Henri, and Alex. Their stories sometimes typical, sometimes astonishing—reveal the broad range of experiences of Eastern European Jews during the Holocaust. This “frightening, inspiring, and cautionary” (Kirkus Reviews) family saga is filled with extraordinary twists, vivid characters, and famous cameos, illuminating the Jewish and immigrant experience in the World War II era. Reviewers have asked: “is there a better book about being Jewish?” (The Daily Telegraph) Addressing themes of assimilation, identity, and home, House of Glass is “a triumph” (The Bookseller) and a powerful story about the past that echoes issues that remain relevant today.