Harrisburg, PA – Modesty Doesn’t Have To Be Boring

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    Arielle SalkinHarrisburg, PA – Arielle Salkin has a large supply of black, stretchy, long-sleeved shirts. Worn under every outfit, they allow her to dress modestly, in accordance with her Orthodox Jewish faith.

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    But dressing modestly can conflict with dressing fashionably, and Salkin, a Susquehanna Twp. native and sophomore at Parsons the New School for Design in New York City, hopes to bridge that divide.
    “As a religious Jewish person, we have stricter codes of dress, more modest codes of dress,” Salkin said. “Once I’m out of school, I’d like to design for women who would like to be fashionable and maintain some sort of modesty. It’s not just for Orthodox Jewish women but for anyone who wants to dress more modestly.”

    During the weekend, Salkin’s more conceptual designs walked the runway at the high-profile Fusion Fashion Show, the 10th annual showdown between Parsons and rival NYC design school the Fashion Institute of Technology.

    Salkin’s avant-garde, five-outfit collection, titled “Exoskeleton,” depicts clothing as social armor, with spikes and heavy beading reflecting the way porcupines and puffer fish use their outer defenses. The collection was one of 15 chosen from 100 submissions to represent Parsons.

    Last night, judges named Parsons the winning school, for its sixth win in Fusion’s 10-year history. The victory means that Parsons students will “continue to have a superiority complex” over their Fashion Institute peers, Salkin said.

    Salkin learned to sew when she was young.
    “She always wanted to make things, but she never wanted to use a pattern,” said her mother, Oleasa Salkin of Susquehanna Twp.

    After graduating from Beth Tfiloh High School in Baltimore — a school attended by a number of the Harrisburg area’s Orthodox children — Salkin spent a year in Israel. Her rabbi in Israel was “wary” about her decision to enter fashion, she said.

    “We’ve continued to talk about it in the past few months, and he really is very supportive of me and has a lot of faith that I will do well and be able to maintain my religious identity,” she said. Salkin believes that her idea for modest, fashionable clothing will fill a niche. Some Web sites offer modest clothes, “but they’re not very interesting,” she said.

    “All of my friends — we all have a thousand long, black, spandexy shirts that we wear under everything,” she said. “It’s so ridiculous. You shouldn’t have to wear these black stretchy shirts under absolutely everything.”

    The trick will be incorporating texture into her designs and understanding proportions, she said.
    “This is one area where I think she can make a difference, and that’s one reason it’s important to her,” Oleasa Salkin said. “Modest dress is very important to us, so there’s a little bit of a struggle. How you can be fashionable and do it in a way you can stay covered up?”

    Arielle’s mother and father, Jon Salkin, plus 20 friends from the Salkins’ synagogue, Kesher Israel, went to New York on Sunday for the show. They included Niema Schertz of Harrisburg, a 1998 Parsons graduate who worked in the New York fashion industry for eight years. Schertz called Salkin’s career goal “a good idea.”

    “If you look dowdy and dull, you can come off that way,” she said. “What you wear definitely affects how people see you.”

    Reality television fans recognize Parsons as the home of “Project Runway,” the fashion designers’ competition. Last year, Salkin was a dresser for the program’s final runway competition. That was valuable experience, because Fusion designers had to dress their own models.

    Fusion judges also named a best designer, but Salkin called that award “so not important” for her.
    “The whole journey of making this collection has been amazing,” she said. “People my age don’t get this opportunity.”


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    36 Comments
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    Duvy
    Duvy
    15 years ago

    Could some one please explain to this innocent girl, that “modesty” (hopefully English for “Tznius”) by definition means not dressing “interestingly”or “fashionably”. You are not supposed to want people to look at you!!

    Smart Bubby
    Smart Bubby
    15 years ago

    If this young lady can mass-market affordable clothes that are tznius, pretty, feminine, & use nice fabrics & COLOR (gasp!!) I say go for it. It’s depressing to see the boring clothes out there that are tznius. The really lovely things are out of most people’s price ranges, but when young people go into “regular” stores the clothes are beyond untznius.

    You can dress fashionably AND be tznius. They are not mutually exclusive, unless you are fahfrumpt & dowdy, & the only way you think women should look is like they did in the 18th century shtetl. I wish Ms. Salkin a lot of luck. Just don’t forget the older generation, like me! We may be old, but we like to look nice, too!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    modesty or tznius is not just covering your elbows, or making sure you dont mention a woman’s name in the newspaper.
    it is also living modestly: not buying too fancy of a car, not having too big of a chandelier, not spending $3,000 on a human hair wig or a real fur shtreimel.

    baron
    baron
    15 years ago

    for all generations of all shapes and sizes jewish women like all others appreciate a good outfit!

    why isnt there a worldwide frum fashion society with the walks and publicity and models and all and originality an it can bridge anyone who holds dear the culture of our ancestors

    it should be started now litvish chaseedish lubav modern anyone and it should be big!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    This is excellent!

    I’m a father of a teenage girl, Arielle, and I hope you will be very successful. Your fellow Jewish women need your talents to be brought to fruition because, as you already know, tznius is lacking at present.

    Bless you! Bless you! Now go to it!

    tzavuah
    tzavuah
    15 years ago

    black in many societies is a sign of mourning including a segment of jews from themediteranean basin it is pathetic to see a sea of ladies wearing only black when did this start my chasuna pictures are so beautiful and colorful even the men wore differnt color hats when did this meshugaas start kol hakovod to this lady if indeed her designs are takeh tziusdic kmo shekosuv

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Since when does it say that you are not allowed to dress fashionably?????? Yes, it is true that one should not copy the “latest trends and fashions” from Italy and Paris, or wherever else fashion “laws” come from, but that does not in any way mean that woman cannot dress interestingly or fashionable. It is more “screaming for people to look at you” when u are wearing a back to front wig on your head…………

    Malka
    Malka
    15 years ago

    Is it automatically immodest to care about how we look? Because if that’s the case, my meticulous attention to tznius is just as immodest, because that’s just another way to care about how I present myself and what that reflects about my family… Please, someone wiser than I – help!

    Miss Williamsburg
    Miss Williamsburg
    15 years ago

    I wish Ariella Salkin lots of Mazel.

    I don’t see though where Modesty and Fashion clash. I see many many women looking very Fashionable yet Tznius.
    I don’t see where Tznius prevents one from dressing fashionably or where Fashion prevents one from dressing Tzniusly. I don’t have a problem combining the two and neither do the many women who I see on the streets looking fashionable and Modest.

    blondi
    blondi
    15 years ago

    i know i cant stand to wear black from head to toes in the summer time….

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    And since when is wearing clingy tees considered tzniyusdik? Am all for being fashion forward, but remember the point of tzniyus, pls.

    SG
    SG
    15 years ago

    Way to go Arielle!! We always knew you would be a success!! We wish you a lot of mazel with this and your all of your endeavors! From the people who gave you one of your first jobs watching our children, because you are so colorful and tznius in your demeanor all at the same time!

    public service
    public service
    15 years ago

    This is a wonderful public service for Frum women who want to maintain the ideals of Tznius and have a choice of what to wear. The bottom line tznius of the garment will depend on the proper selection of the one that buys the item.

    Hopefully, it will not devolve into a big fashion show but will provide easier access for women to find nice attire for use in the proper manner. It’s a mitzva for women to look nice for their husbands and to dress nicely for Yomim Tovim.

    whatever
    whatever
    15 years ago

    There are many topics of “modesty.” This is just about the way a woman dresses. Why is everyone bringing up all the other ways to be modest? Let this woman have her fashionable modest clothing line, and stop getting on her case already! This is supposed to be a story of jewish optimism, but instead there are so many who have to find something negative about it. Let it be people, and have a happy purim!

    Tznius
    Tznius
    15 years ago

    “Spikes and heavy beading”? “Porcupines and puffer fish”? No my friends, this is not tznius. Tznius does not mean only covering elbows, knees and collarbone. Tznius is about modesty and not causing heads to turn. Dressing like a porcupine or a puffer fish cannot be reconciled with tznius–if you are among the first to do so. If many people dress this way, then it could indeed be considered tzniusdik to do so as well.

    In the 60s and 70s, miniskirts were in style. Because we were frum girls, we wore skirts that covered our knees but not an inch longer. No one would wear a skirt that was mid-calf because it looked dowdy. Today, if I would wear a skirt the length I wore it in school, that would not be tzniusdik because it is totally different than the commonly worn length. All my skirts are mid-calf and it does not look dowdy.

    The first people to wear a new style are not tzniusdik–because heads are turning. However, when the style becomes common, it becomes tzniusdik–if it is within the gedarim of halacha.

    BTW, I don’t think clingy stretch tops can ever be considered tzniusdik.

    Arielle
    Arielle
    15 years ago

    Thanks for all the comments and feedback, it’s certainly been interesting to read. Thanks for all those who have given me support, I appreciate it very much. In response to “tznius”, I just wanted to say that this particular collection, while skirts were to the knees and sleeves were to the elbows and collarbone, I never claimed that it was necesarily tzanuah in spirit and the article didn’t say that (I don’t think.) This collection was purely for the show, it was a conceptual collection based on ideas of defense and had nothing to do with what real women wear. It was the all about the couture and artistic side of fashion. However, my career goal is to create beautiful tzanuah pieces in which women feel covered up and comfortable but also confident and fashionable, and make sure that there are a variety of choices so everyone can find something that they like. I don’t think that this is a problem according to Judaism. In fact, we just read in the Parshah about the beautification of the Temple through the garments that the High Priest wears.
    Many women who are in the process of becoming more religious and many young women are hesitant to embrace modest dress because it often ends up looking drab and uniform. If I can help encourage people to dress more modestly by offering them interesting and fashionable clothing that still fulfills the needs of the ideas of tzanuah then I think I will have accomplished something important.
    Thanks again to everyone who has been so wonderfully supportive!
    Arielle Salkin

    ezras nashim
    ezras nashim
    15 years ago

    go Ariella! You are in the right place and time to make your dream happen. And when you’ve got it made, maybe you can help start a frum design institute where our Bais Yaakov daughters can get the proper training to apply their amazing creative talents to designing us all fine tzniusdig clothing made of real, natural materials (not the polyester garbage they try to fob off on us. They force our daughters into the malls in search of “normal” outfits!

    These medieval-minded Jews who equate style with treif-keit are beyond dialogue. Ignore their dread-full sputterings (They shouldn’t be looking anyway!!) and stay true to your idea of dignified, understated clothing for religious women.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Sounds like a great goal to me! Go Ariella!