Fashion and Style

That Magical Word, “Fashion”

All women have something to express, but not all express what is truly within them. Many copy what they see around them, imagining, under the influence of advertising, that this will help them express certain feelings and convey a particular “message” (message, signal) to the world around them. But the truth is that what we really want to say cannot always be “read” from the way we dress. And it is not always read correctly. It is worth thinking about what we truly want to convey to the world around us. When I—and no one else—put on this particular item, what do I want to say to the world? And what am I actually saying? 

A woman who succeeds in finding the right outward expression of what is within becomes a “style icon.” She is admired and emulated.

Nor does this necessarily mean that she dresses in the very latest fashions… Rather, she creates those fashions! Others copy HER style, unaware that copy-and-paste will not make them equally captivating personalities… Her elegance inspires designers to create new looks… She goes through life leaving a deep impression on other people’s minds—simply because her inner world finds harmonious expression in her outward appearance, creating a complete image. Isn’t this what we, too, aspire to when choosing our wardrobes?

We should not assume that Judaism rejects or prohibits fashion. 

The difference lies more in the approach: our Tradition does not substitute the means for the end. Fashion is not inherently good; it is good as long as it serves a positive purpose. A woman who strives to be attractive to her husband—that is the ideal toward which Jewish fashion directs its efforts. 

A woman must be attractive and well groomed, desirable to her husband—her other half—and treated with respect by others.

In the Torah, we find remarkable examples of concern for women’s attractiveness and comfort: the takkanot (enactments) of Ezra, requiring sellers of cosmetics and jewelry to travel throughout the country so that every woman has the opportunity to care for herself properly, and the instruction of the Talmudic Sages that if women in a particular town customarily wear shawls of a certain color or pattern, a husband is obligated to buy one for his wife, even if he has shawls made from another fabric, so that she does not feel uncomfortable… And there are many other examples.

A Jewish woman has an additional standard by which she chooses her wardrobe. If a nonreligious woman wears her outfits regardless of how comfortable they are for her personally, as long as they are fashionable, a religious woman considers the moral aspect as well as how current the style is. 

One of the world’s leading fashion designers once remarked in an interview, in words worth considering: “When developing new clothing styles, we try each time to draw the eye to a different part of a woman’s body.” This is the main purpose of fashionable clothing in the non-Jewish and secular worlds: to attract attention. The Torah warns us that such tactics stir impure thoughts in men. This approach is unacceptable within Judaism. 

A Jewish woman follows fashion only if it is based on the laws of modesty rather than contradicting them. Her aim is to master the art of dressing beautifully and tastefully, expressing her inner beauty through her outward appearance.

Kol kevudah bat melech—penimah: All the glory of the king’s daughter is within

What is the ideal for a Jewish woman’s appearance? To be attractive without drawing excessive attention to herself. Does this seem impossible to you? Do these two things seem contradictory? Yet our Sages said in Tractate Berakhot: “A beautiful home and a beautiful wife uplift a person’s soul,” and they also said: “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the L-rd will be praised” (Proverbs). 

So is beauty necessary or not? The answer is that Judaism speaks of inner beauty, for that is true beauty. Even someone born beautiful can become ugly if their soul is not beautiful. Conversely, as we adorn our souls with goodness, we become increasingly beautiful on the outside as well—we become people who radiate a gentle, captivating inner light, in whose glow one longs to spend all one’s days.

“A woman’s perfection lies within her; we need only avoid standing in the way of its expression.”

Modesty in Fashion!

As the wisest of men, King Shlomo (Solomon), said, there is nothing new under the sun. We may think that the current situation is the result of recent changes in the world, the product of the “sexual revolution” and similar trends… In fact, this “new development” is already many thousands of years old. Our Sages named three reasons why the First Temple was destroyed and the Jewish people suffered a terrible exile and the Babylonian captivity: “idolatry, bloodshed, and sexual immorality”… What does sexual immorality mean? It is a lack of modesty in clothing and behavior. This is how our sources describe the events of the First Temple era: “The daughters of Zion have become haughty. They walk with outstretched necks and painted eyes, moving with a graceful gait and tapping their heels” (Isaiah, 3:16). 

Fashion-conscious women of that time had the following tricks in their repertoire to draw extra attention: a tall girl would try to walk alongside a short one; long hair extensions were woven into hairstyles to make the hair look fuller; eyes were lined with special eye shadow; the hollow heels of shoes were filled with aromatic substances—when a man appeared beside one of these elaborately made-up “fashionistas,” she would strike her heels against the pavement, releasing fragrance all around her. Their contemporaries testified that these scents affected men like a love potion, stirring impure thoughts in them. What did all these “innovations” lead to? The destruction of the First Temple, a bloody tragedy for the entire people, exile, and the loss of everything the Jews of that generation held dear.

All things considered, the main direction of our Jewish fashion must be precisely this: making modesty fashionable.

Read about Jewish modesty on the page “Modesty—Inner Beauty”