The Jewish Wardrobe

A gorgeous catalogue with dozens of high-quality photographs of beautiful - and beautifully preserved - extant garments from throughout the Jewish world. It doesn't skimp on explanatory writing, either. I only wish there was more coverage of clothing from the Ashkenazi world, as this area was treated minimally relative to rest of the Jewish world. I believe this was in large part due to the paucity of extant Ashkenazi garments from Europe in general and especially in the Museum's collection, whereas the Museum has in its collection any number of stunning articles of clothing from SWANA (Southwest Asia and North Africa). Still, the disparity was noticeable. Rights to images notwithstanding, the dearth of Ashkenazi costume in the collection could have been allayed by the use of paintings - Maurycy Gottlieb, Maurycy Minkowski, and other artists who created genre paintings of Jewish life are great resources for those of us interested in, for example, the shterntikhl.

I understand that this is something of a reversal of the usual in the Jewish world, where Ashkenazi lifeways are (unfairly) presumed to be some sort of universal or default, and given undue privileged treatment. Nevertheless, historical injustices can't be righted by deliberate sidelining (not that this was what the book intended to do by any means - as mentioned, I believe it's a limitation of the collection), so I feel entirely comfortable mentioning my disappointment here. My hope is that with time, more information about the Ashkenazi wardrobe (beyond taleysim and shtreimels) will emerge and be valued by lovers of historical costume and the anthropology of dress.