Image via jewishrosaries.com
I always get a little too excited when I get another free issue of Nylon in my mailbox. (Thanks free trial offers!)It's all so silly: the neon fashion trends! The ugly but somehow irresistible shoes! The long-haired guys with jeans so tight they look like grungy ballet dancers!
I was especially excited when I saw a small feature on Carlen Altman's Jewish Rosaries that seem to be slung around everyone's necks these days (the guys from MGMT, English model Agyness Deyn, musician Adam Green, are just a few of the usual hipster suspects). And the likes of Elle, InTouch and Heeb have all found a place in their pages for the jewels.
Some priests in the Catholic church have said they're disappointed to see traditional rosaries used as a fashion statement, but the trend made popular by Madonna seems to be going as strong as ever. Now that there's a Jewish equivalent, even I want one-- and I'm not even Jewish. They remind me of the super-pretty beads my grandma had (and the sky-blue one I kept tangled in my sock drawer with my rarely-used prayerbook.)
I can see the Catholic church's caution against using the beads as a date-night accessory. When you think about it, the fashion angle can detract from rosary beads' spiritual and practical use the same way decorating with prayer flags in Boulder detracts from their actual sacred purpose. But the let's-play-dress-up side of me wonders why rosaries have to be so darn gorgeous if they have to stay zipped in a carrying case or Sunday-best pocket.
Check out Altman's spazzy, tongue-in-cheek Web site here for the full scope of her awesome rosary madness.
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