Jonathan C. Kaplan-Wajselbaum’s Jews in Suits is a study of one potent symbol — the tailored suit — and its role in the formation of modern Jewish identities. The book considers how the suit functioned as a signifier of Jewishness and a particular type of urban, assimilatory Jewish masculinity (other forms of dress, whether distinctly Jewish or not, are also given careful consideration).
Jews in Suits begins by situating Jews in fin-de-siècle and interwar Vienna. It uses Jewish men’s dress as a window into Jewish Vienna as much as it uses Jewish Vienna as a window into Jewish men’s dress. Kaplan-Wajselbaum paints a picture of Vienna in this era as not just an important Jewish city in terms of population — although that was certainly the case — but also as a “Jewish kaleidoscope.”
There was no one archetype capable of characterizing a Viennese Jew. As such, the city’s history provides rich terrain for understanding how many forms of Jewish identity were expressed sartorially. A particular strength of Jews in Suits is that it often focuses on dress as a form of acculturation. Indeed, many of Vienna’s Jews retained a distinct Viennese Jewish identity at the same time that they moved to integrate into broader Austrian society. Throughout much of the book, Kaplan-Wajselbaum dissects the ways in which Jewish men were expressing Jewish sensibilities in fashion, even if on the surface they seemed to be moving toward assimilation.
Readers will appreciate the breadth of identity categories covered in the book. Jews are studied as both consumers and purveyors of fashion; everyday Jews and prominent figures are afforded equal consideration, as are both secular and religious Jews. One chapter explores the tension Jews faced when attempting to assimilate by making case studies of prominent Viennese rabbis and Theodor Herzl. Another investigates the urban/rural divide, and the way that adopting modern urban dress actually reinforced antisemitic perceptions of Jews as “rootless.” In the final chapter, which looks at major Viennese Jewish writers, Kaplan-Wajselbaum uses their public and private worlds to further illustrate the role dress played in the fashioning of the modern (Austrian) Jew.
Anyone interested in the development of Jewish identity in Europe between 1890 and 1938 will appreciate this thoroughly researched, well-argued, and overall compelling book. Vienna is a fascinating city, and those curious about its history will find much value in Jews in Suits, regardless of their level of interest in Jewish dress and masculinity.
Hallel Yadin is an archivist at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, and a host on the New Books Network podcast’s library science channel.
