Posted September 9 2007
Bring in da Funk, Bring in da Frum
There was a teacher from a particular institution I attended who once preached,
“It doesnt matter how you dress. You should dress plain. It doesn’t have to be trendy. Trendy is hevel, it is the inside that counts.”
Au contraire… what’s on the outside may reflect what’s on the inside. If you feel good about your appearance you feel good about yourself and have greater self esteem. Dressing sharply, trendy and in a put-together manner can help a person exude confidence which is an important character trait to have. Not haughtiness — confidence.
Thankfully, in today’s day and age the fashion world has the almost-anything-goes attitude as long as you wear it proudly. With that comes oodles of tznius choices for the modern cool girl who only wears skirts below the knee and shirts that come below the elbow. This group of women have creatively and successfully set out to wear the trendy look all while adhering to halacha. While we all have a good time sifting through the racks at H&M, picking out a skirt from Banana Republic and a shirt from Macy’s, I wish finding the stuff I want to wear were a bit easier.
Enter a cool website I stumbled across while clothes shopping on the internet. Funkyfrum is a website I found that offers tznius skirts and shirts without the worry of having to wear a white long sleeved shirt underneath, or worrying that the hemline on the skirt is just an inch too short.
Don’t get me wrong — I still love going to the mall any day to peruse the latest styles and coming up with my own creative combinations, but it’s nice to see that someone created a website out there for those days when we want to stay funky and frum, and I now can do all that with just a few clicks of my mouse.
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I agree that clothing is an integral aspect of an individual’s self-esteem. The adage of “dressing for success” is not just good advice. It is a truism that the way you dress impacts your attitude, specifically how confident you feel amongst peers.
After teaching for a number of years, I am continually amazed at how much students (read: parents) will pay for a wardrobe. The pressure to dress trendy is considerable and for most Jewish teens that are not highly affluent, this pressure is shifted between the child (Mom, I have nothing to wear!) and the parents (I am not paying for another pair of shoes!).
I am not sure what the happy medium is but FunkyFrum, while seemingly very stylish, is quite pricey. One skirt should not cost $85. It just shouldn’t. I am not an advocate for a concrete dress code (e.g. white shirt, black pants…everyday). However, in a democratic dress code the losers every time will be those who already have less. Keeping up with the latest fashions shouldn’t have to be an additional pressure for teens and parents already struggling to keep financially afloat.