Fashion Enthusiast Sports Jewish Prayer Shawl at N.Y. Fashion Week Event

JTA - Has the Jewish prayer shawl become a fashion statement?

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An unidentified men’s fashion enthusiast was spotted wearing a real tallit — not of the faux H&M variety — last week outside a Tommy Hilfiger event in Manhattan, Racked reported Monday.

Vogue photographer Phil Oh captured the New York Fashion Week Men’s participant on Thursday wearing a black wool coat and a black beanie to go with the dark-striped prayer shawl.

The tallit has long been an inspiration for retail fashion. Last month, H&M offered a near-tallit scarf that it subsequently apologized for. The company also sold a tallit-esque poncho back in 2011. Old Navy had a similar cardigan last year.

But real Jewish prayer gear hitting the fashion circuit in New York — not to mention the webpages of Vogue — seems like a new development.

So when New York Fashion Week, the main event, starts next week (February 10-18), can we expect to see tefillin on the runway? Anything’s possible in fashion — as Jean Paul Gaultier’s 1993 Hasidic-chic winter collection proves.