Upon reading Michelle Honig’s article “Why This Orthodox Layering Trend Has to Stop”, I felt more worked up than I might have expected about a fashion item, albeit an extremely popular one laden with meaning. In her article, Ms. Honig attacks the “Kiki Riki” brand shell, a ubiquitous clothing trend used to ensure modesty for…
A piece appeared in the fashion section of the Forward a couple days ago by Michelle Honig, in which she deplored the ubiquitousness of the layering shell — a tightly-fitting top that Orthodox Jewish women wear beneath tops that would otherwise not meet Orthodox standards of modesty. She expressed the opinion that these things are…
Wonder Woman is everywhere. For the first time in film history, a woman is the main hero in a big-budget movie that was also directed by a woman. But despite this milestone, it is difficult to ignore the fact that the messages surrounding the film are conflicting and contradictory. Before the film began production, there…
It started with an emoji laughing so hard it cried — or crying so hard that it laughed? Adina Miles, the Orthodox Jewish comedian behind the popular social media brand Flatbush Girl, took out a full page ad in the Flatbush Jewish Journal thanking a local city councilman for his service to the Jewish community….
My daughter Elianna is 7 and a half years old. She loves art, mine-craft, Amelia Bedelia graphic novels and PJ Masks on Disney Junior. As a rising 3rd grader, her and her twin sister Kinneret still fall into a fit of giggles when someone uses the word “tushy” and the greatest excitement is created in…
Who among us would disagree with the suggestion that we “unite to show our children that there is another way”? Out of context, this suggestion seems as if it might relate to climate change, say. Or just something like basic human decency. Sam Kestenbaum reports that a Hasidic girls school in Crown Heights, Bnos Menachem,…
Sometimes a maxi skirt is just a maxi skirt. Over at The Cut, Lilit Marcus describes a very specific fashion and identity conundrum: because she’s got a “Hebrew name” and is “drawn to things that might get defined as conservative — below-the-knee dresses, cardigans buttoned all the way up, tights in nearly every color of…
A Hasidic girls school in Brooklyn is demanding mothers of students appear more “modest” next school year. Some of the things the administration is forbidding? Leggings, denim and “loud” nail polish. In a letter to parents from Crown Heights Girls’ School Bnos Menachem, director Motty Gurary explained the rationale for the changes: to “create a…
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