A rainbow tie-dyed sport coat hangs near tufted-leather club chairs. An Art Deco bar cart with crystal decanters sits next to a rack of dark jackets. Usually, when one sits down with a rabbi, the meeting takes place in a book-lined synagogue office. But not when the rabbi is Yosel Tiefenbrun, who holds court at his stylish East Williamsburg men’s-wear atelier, Tiefenbrun.
Tiefenbrun grew up in Stamford Hill, London, “the heart of Hasidic fashion,” as he describes it. The oldest of 10 and the son of a prominent rabbi, Tiefenbrun was naturally drawn to clothing from a young age. The insular communities of Hasidic Jewry may not be renowned for their fashion sense, but they are filled with suits. For Tiefenbrun, men’s wear was always more than a uniform.
