Jonathan C. Kaplan-Wajselbaum is an honorary adjunct fellow at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia, and education officer at the Sydney Jewish Museum. He holds a PhD in dress and design history from the Imagining Fashion Futures Research lab at the University of Technology Sydney, and has published on the intersections between dress, acculturation, and Jewish identity.
A pleasure to read … Kaplan has, with very real skill, produced a close analysis of the design and wearing of men’s clothing in 19th- and early 20th-century Vienna … This text has left me sadder and wiser – with a far greater understanding of the roots and depth of anti-Semitism in Austria in this period. * Lou Taylor, University of Brighton, UK * This highly original study of Viennese Jewish men recreates their culture of clothing with clarity and imagination … Essential reading for those interested in men’s dress and modernism. * Peter McNeil, University of Technology Sydney, Australia * This book offers fresh, new perspectives on the critical role of men’s clothing in fashioning modern Jewish identities. Jews in Suits presents a thought-provoking examination of the sartorial habits of rabbis, politicians, authors and scientists, who granted themselves the authority to shine in the cultural scenes in Vienna and beyond. * Elana Shapira, University of Vienna, Austria * Jews in Suits is an erudite, handsomely printed, and substantial book, by an emerging voice in Jewish and Fashion Studies. * Australian Journal of Jewish Studies *