A creative workbook brings excitement & relevance to tznius!

tzniutfashion

Tue, Mar 17 2015, 12:16 am

ynadell wrote:

Thanks for the input. I don't mind at all! I appreciate you taking the time to comment.

Unsolicited ideas for future versions of your book.

Since you are promoting tznius, which applies to all body types, perhaps you could include models that are not always skinny and fair and of a certain height. You could project tznius on girls of any skin & hair color and body type and height and reach a wider audience. This is not for political correctness but for the emes of the rich and varied Jewish demographics.

Speaking of reaching a wider audience, perhaps some of your models could have neater hairdos, and not loose untied long hair.

Wishing you much hatzlacha in your work!

ynadell

Tue, Mar 17 2015, 12:31 am

CatLady wrote:

This reminds me of the fun I had as a kid playing with paper dolls and making clothes for my Barbies. It kindled my love for sewing and crafts, which I enjoy to this day. Thanks so much for having a creative outlet for girls that will lead them to discovering who they are as people. That's Girl Power at its best!

Thanks for the positive feedback.IYH my Hope is just that, a positive tool to help discover who they are as people!!!

oliveoil

Tue, Mar 17 2015, 12:31 am

tzniutfashion wrote:

On the other hand, if she follows your version of tznius she will probably be narrowing her audience rather than widening it.

[ETA: Since someone seems to have reported me, I want to clarify my comment was not with regards to body shapes. I agree with that. But to most of the frum world there is nothing wrong with some glitter, chevron stripes or loose hair, and this poster has, many times in the past, shown herself to be very extremist in the tznius arena. ]

DrMom

Tue, Mar 17 2015, 1:46 am

Great job!

I think the suggestion about depicting a wider range of body/skin/hair types is a good one.

I don't understand the problem with chevrons (I actually liked the chevron prints on the maxi skirts), and I don't think eliminating all glitter and fun hairstyles is necessary. It's for little Jewish girls, not old Amish ladies.

tzniutfashion

Tue, Mar 17 2015, 2:21 am

I am confident that Mrs Nadell is doing this project l'shem shamayim.
Because she's open to opinions about her book, she's thankful to mine.
It's up to Mrs Nadell to decide the direction of her publication and how wide her audience she wants to include.

Don't make this thread about me, please.

There is nothing wrong with the chevron print, except when it's designed to point to certain provocative areas of the body. I am sure all opinions on tznius will agree that provocative areas of the body should not be highlighted.

Not all opinions hold that excessive glitter on a garment is tznius, in fact, some hold that it is antithesis to tznius as it attracts. And this is commonsense knowledge, not exclusive to Jewish modesty. A little bit of glitter is ok, as you will find on snoods and such.

My opinions may sound extreme to some of you, but I did not make them up. You can look them up.

ynadell

Tue, Mar 17 2015, 2:42 am

I really appreciate the dialogue! A lot of thought went into what the best way to design such a book would be.

Just to share with all of you a bit of the process that went into making Adina:My Design Sketchbook. I was priviledged to have the invaluable advice of my Rav to help me develop this book. The first iteration had much more eidel looking girls. We decided that in order to have an appeal to the girls that would really benefit most from this product, they had to look cool and appealing to those girls. So many girls love to draw and create, but there is a large group of really good frum girls that are having trouble connecting to tznius because of how it's being presented to them. Those are the girls that will get the most out of this. They can see here how they can relate to tznius clothing. From my experience B"H girls that thought they couldn't relate to tznius, in general, are just fine with it when presented options that speak to them.

I think when peple are able to take on chumras in tznius it is praiseworthy. My goal is to appeal to those beautiful Jewish girls that have a different way in their avodas Hashem, which is also amazing.

I appreciate all the comments.

Great dialogue, thanks!

Last edited by ynadell on Wed, Mar 18 2015, 7:29 am; edited 5 times in total

FranticFrummie

Tue, Mar 17 2015, 5:26 am

I love, love, LOVE the idea of this book, and I will be buying it for DD.

For the next edition, I would really like to see different body types and ethnicities. I've spent a lot of time showing DD that Jews come in all shapes and colors, from all over the world, and she gets very excited when she finds out that someone who isn't caucasian is Jewish.

ynadell

Tue, Mar 17 2015, 5:45 am

FranticFrummie.
Thanks for the all the loves Smile

I heard from another person on Imamother that they would like to see different body types and ethnicites. I like the idea. It sends a positive message to the girls about beauty coming in lots of flavors. IYH when I start to work on the next one I will think about that.

FranticFrummie

Tue, Mar 17 2015, 5:55 am

ynadell wrote:

FranticFrummie.
Thanks for the all the loves Smile

I was thinking about the Chabad communities all over the world. How great would it be to have different books for different cultures?! A shlucha in an African country could use it to teach girls about tznius, and they could actually picture themselves dressed in those outfits. Same thing with Japan, China, etc.

One thing the Barbie industry and American Girl got right was making different skin colors and hair textures, and lots of variety in clothing. Every girl should have the opportunity to see themselves looking modest and beautiful.

When American Girl introduced the "Girl of the Year" Julie, DD rolled her eyes and said "Great, just what the world needs. One more blond haired, blue eyed doll." Rolling Eyes

DD has blond hair and blue eyes - she just craves diversity! Very Happy

I realize you're just getting this project off the ground, but the possibilities are endless. A Kickstarter fund for expanding your line could give you a real boost in investment capital. I'd be happy to send a link around my social network, and I'm sure everyone else here would help boost the signal and get you some financial support!

Ilovechoumous

Tue, Mar 17 2015, 6:33 am

As soon as I heard about the book, I ordered it and I received it the next day! That has never happened before.

I really LOVE this book, so does my daughter.
The process of how you went to a Rav for his input on the design strengthens my love for this book.

I only read about it on facebook, I think you should put advertisements in shuls all over the world. This is a great activity for girls that especially promotes tzniut.

I wish you much Hatzlacha!!

ynadell

Tue, Mar 17 2015, 6:50 am

[quote="FranticFrummie"]I was thinking about the Chabad communities all over the world. How great would it be to have different books for different cultures?! A shlucha in an African country could use it to teach girls about tznius, and they could actually picture themselves dressed in those outfits. Same thing with Japan, China, etc.

First of all thanks for taking the time to write out your idea. Secondly, please excuse my ignorance, but who is DD. I just had to ask-hope that's ok.

I love the idea and I 100 percent agree with you. It would be great to personalize the idea.

This is the problem is as follows. It was really important to me when creating this book that the quality of illustrations and actual material quality of the book be just as good (if not better) than the non Jewish versions. I want the girls to have a beautiful toy to play with, not think the non Jewish ones are so much nicer. In order to create such a product, the initial time and money investment is really huge. To do different versions, I am afraid, would be really a challenge. I say a challenge becasue Hashem can enable anything. But derech hateva it sounds pretty huge Smile

I realy like the idea of cultural diversity and hope to incoorporate it into the next book. I am going to sit with the rest of your ideas though. You never know, once the seed is planted, it can start to take shape.

By the way, I so much appreciate all the input and feedback from the Imamother group!

Last edited by ynadell on Tue, Mar 17 2015, 2:58 pm; edited 1 time in total

ynadell

Tue, Mar 17 2015, 6:55 am

Ilovechoumous wrote:

I am glad you got it so quickly! I am even happier that you and your daughter love it! I am very blessed to have a Rav that helped me develop this idea. B"H I saw so much siyata dishmaya in the whole process. I learned a lot about tznius and some of my own personal misconceptions along the way. Still much more to learn Smile

FranticFrummie

Tue, Mar 17 2015, 7:39 am

DD (or Dd) means "Dear Daughter", and we use it instead of posting our kid's names.

DS is Dear Son, DH is Dear Husband, etc. You'll get used to it after a while.

I still get MIL "Mother in Law" and ML "mikva lady" mixed up! Wink

I think that once you get your illustration style down and are comfortable with it, you'll find that the following books will go much faster. You just have to find your groove. I'm a jewelry designer, and when I'm starting a new line for the season, the first few pieces are always the ones that drive me crazy - and after that the rest of the line just falls into place easily. Very Happy

PinkFridge

Tue, Mar 17 2015, 10:24 am

FranticFrummie wrote:

What exactly do you have in mind? There's a really wonderful new kids series, The Young Lamplighters series, Menucha Publishers, featuring kids in interesting places, such as Mendy of Siberia, Tamar of Venice, Rivka of Thailand and a few more (I'm pretty sure that all the families are shluchim). I'll have to take a look at the books next time I go the Jewish library if they're in. But I think the kids dress fairly standard, not impacted by their locations. Though I guess Rivka's the most exotic so far. Standard of course being US standard Wink

I just skimmed Rivka of Thailand. There were girls wearing lightweight, light color skirts with some interesting, pretty smocking/embroidery that might be local. So I guess there may be some local influence.

Last edited by PinkFridge on Wed, Mar 18 2015, 12:03 pm; edited 1 time in total

ynadell

Tue, Mar 17 2015, 11:32 am

happybeingamom wrote:

What ages is this good for? I have a few girls B"H and think I might want to get it for them. One of my DD's likes to draw so I think this would be nice.

We recommend it for ages 8 and up. The younger girls enjoy the stickers the coloring and can follow the tutorials on a basic level. Older girls that like drawing interact on a different level. They learn really drawing and design skills. It was created keeping in mind the different levels so each should be able to enjoy it.

tzniutfashion

Tue, Mar 17 2015, 11:45 am

ynadell wrote:

By the way, I never thought about the chevron stripe that way, thanks for pointing it out.

Great dialogue, thanks!

You are most welcome.

A lot of prints and pattern designs on fabric are influenced by Parisian-style designers whose goals are to flaunt the human body and antithesis to tznius. You probably know that as a student of fashion. What we learn in fashion school are not about tznius at all but all about how to accentuate the "beauty" of the human body according to the schools of Yafes, Esav and Amalek. The tznius of Klal Yisrael is unique and should stay unique in that it should not copy the ways and styles of the non jews that are contradictory to tznius.

I'd like to point out another thought. Jean-skirts as you know are adaptations of the jean-pants, and adopt the fly front and the back hip pockets. In some communities which your book may or may not reach, the fly-front is an issue as it highlights provocative areas of the lower torso.

For the love of G-d, I highly encourage you to revisit your objectives with your Rav whose writings I highly admire and follow in the areas of Chinuch HaBonim, since the distribution of your publication is now wider than your original intended audience.

Brocho v'hatlzacha! Let me know if I can be of help to you in anyway off-list.