Another day, another international fashion spread that caricatures a minority group.
Today's subjects: Hasidic Jews, in Harper's Bazaar Indonesia. Fashionising tipped our kippahs off to the glossy's story, allusively titled "Black Code," which stars a blonde, braid-crowned seductress who goes on a rendezvous with an Orthodox Jew. The male model, who Fashionising identifies as Niko Ohlsson (a name that probably indicates he's not of the faith he depicts), plays a traditionally-clad religious devotee, payos and all, who holds hands with his co-star and helps her to undress, migrating from city streets to bedroom.
The mag's site headlines the black-and-white video as "Bazaar Antwerp," where the editorial was shot, but our focus is on the figure wandering the Belgian city's winding streets, not the Antwerp landscape. Hasidic Jews are famously conservative, so this could be taken as a spoof or a new imagining. Orthodox Jews' idiosyncratic style has been highlighted in fashion spreads past, yet this one still has the potential to get both Gentiles' and Jews' tallis in a twist, so to speak. Do you think this depiction of a religious group is in their honor, or at their expense?
We've reached out to Harper's Bazaar Indonesia for comment and will update when we hear back. In the meantime, check out the photos over on photographer Nicoline Patricia Malina's website.
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