The house that Tobi built. How faith and fashion became the foundation for a media mansion.
Tobi began her esteemed career in fashion recruited by an exclusive manufacturer for Victoria’s Secret and JC Penney. She then moved on to partnering with Nicole Miller for Childrenswear and developing Crunch Gym’s activewear line.
In 2001 she and her partners created “CHEDDA”, an innovative men’s urban hip hop brand specifically designed for mass-market giant K-Mart and the first women-owned urban brand of its kind. In 2009, The House of Faith and Fashion was her step into reality TV with a series for NBC and a successful lecture and radio series. She is a lifestyle, fashion and faith commentator with multiple appearances on WABC, WNBC, Lifetime, I24, Huffington Post, Page Six, and other national and international media outlets. The goal was to consistently fuse spirituality with fashion and other creative outlets, interviewing industry personalities as Patricia Fields, Badgley Mischka, Jonathan Adler and others about their faith within their craft. In 2014, The Tahor Group was founded upon the idea that fashion needed to step off the traditional runway onto the more creative ground.
Closing Central Park South for a moving fashion show with horses and carriages during NYFW was the start of many “out of the box” collaborations. Most recently Tobi created “Haute and Holy Fashion and Talk”, a series with Mana Fashion Services, the forum debuted during NYFW 2022. It allowed her book to come to life through runway shows combined with panel discussions around modesty practices within all religions. This new direction led to becoming an advisory board member of St. Thomas University Fashion School (Miami) and the building of the Faith and Fashion Museum on their campus. Stitched along this path, as an Orthodox Jewish woman, after becoming a Rebbetzin, she stepped out of the box and was ordained, finding deeper meaning by an in-depth study of Jewish thought and teaching. It led to the combination of her loves into one solid purpose. This led to becoming an author of “The House of Faith and Fashion; what my wardrobe taught me about God” the best-selling book which will become a series as her quest to elevate the creative process to divine heights continues to be explored. Her newest book, Haute & Holy; The House of Faith & Fashion II, in collaboration with Fashion Week International during Paris Fashion Week during a runway show at Westin Place Vendome. The cover is a manifestation of a dream that
started with her modelling debut at The Ritz during Paris Fashion Week in 2021. The success of the book series is now seen in her new TV show for CW Network WSFL and Connect Network TV called “The House of Faith & Fashion” which has completed season one. Fashion Week Online has picked up the show for its lifestyle page. Season 2 begins filming before NYFW this fall.
Our editor caught up with Tobi recently and continues her story.
Tobi, your career in fashion has taken many exciting turns, from working with major brands like Victoria’s Secret and JC Penney to launching innovative lines for K-Mart. What motivated you to transition from mainstream fashion to creating your unique brand, “CHEDDA”?
The Cheddar brand for Kmart was my master’s degree in business, my greatest accomplishment and my greatest failure. To take a brand that was inherently urban wear, street wear, or hip-hop wear at the time, and take it straight to mass market to be the first one and the first female-owned company against all those men was really a great accomplishment. But working for a manufacturer that dealt with private label for Victoria’s Secret was also extremely educational, understanding the concept of bringing an item to a page and merchandising it and into pagination within a catalogue. It’s interesting because I read in the Wall Street Journal that J. Crew is jumping on board, bringing the nostalgic catalogue back. So, it would be interesting to see how this generation deals with catalogues!
The concept behind “The House of Faith and Fashion” is quite unique, merging spirituality with fashion. Can you share the inspiration behind this idea and how your personal journey led you to this intersection of faith and creativity?
The concept behind the House of Faith in Fashion is quite unique. It merges spirituality and fashion but it’s really a home that I built for myself. Your brand is only as authentic as it is and really it is the home that I live in, having the combination of being in the fashion industry for 45 plus years and being a Rabbi while raised as an Orthodox Jewish woman and still always learning, the combination really was very uniquely built for me. I’m finally comfortable being the unique self that I am.
Tell us more about your TV show, what do you enjoy most about hosting the show, and some of your incredible guests.
The TV show with The Connect Network TV, with Natalie Cargile, CEO and founder is a show with conversations that kind of jump off the pages of my book onto my show where I can speak to somebody like Ty Hunter who has been Beyonce’s stylist for many years. I can talk to him about fashion but yet I can also talk to him about God, and I think that really is my purpose, that’s my mission, to fuse these things together. The examples of who I could talk to is a testament to the wide range of people that I reach.
You’ve collaborated with and interviewed some of the biggest names in fashion, such as Patricia Fields and Badgley Mischka. How have these conversations shaped your understanding of the relationship between faith and fashion?
I have interviewed the biggest and the brightest and my second season will be even bigger and brighter. So yes, I could talk to Fern Mallis, I could talk to Laura Geller, I could talk to Nolé Marin, I could talk to Kobi Halperin, I could talk to Faith Evans, I could talk to so many people in the industry in the utmost faith that I know what I’m talking about within fashion and business, but also I know what I’m talking about when it comes to God or a higher being, especially when we think that we’re the only inhabitants on earth, I just pay tribute to the fact that God is the master couturier.
Your fashion shows, like the one that closed Central Park South with horses and carriages during NYFW, are known for their “out of the box” creativity. How do you come up with these innovative ideas, and what message do you hope to convey through them?
The fashion show that I had in Central Park South was another breakaway idea because I like to crash glass ceilings, I don’t know, maybe that’s my real superpower, but I wanted to take it out of the shows that are just restricted to a certain amount of people and bring it to the streets of New York. I thought that New York needed to be celebrated as a fashion capital, and it must behave like an opening ceremony. I can see the direction that NYFW has taken this year and it seems to be in agreement with celebrating fashion as a part of New York’s landscape . In 2014 I closed Central Park South, a main thoroughfare and included the horse and carriages as an opening ceremony for NYFW. In 2024, the shows are being broadcasted on a big screen at the Rockefeller Center Ice Rink. I think at the time it gained 90 million media hits. So, I knew that I was onto something.
Your book, stemming from “The House of Faith and Fashion,” explores spirituality through essays with fashion editors, designers, and influencers. What was the most surprising or enlightening discovery you made while writing it?
From my book and my television show, my continued conversations with a wide range of people, and being able to ask them my three major questions. Do you think that your talent is God-given? Do you need a lot of faith to be in business? And what should somebody dress like for a house of worship? It’s been quite eye-opening to talk to everyone, especially since talking to a designer who really has a creative soul. I’m having the conversation with that part of them, not what did you do for me lately? What does your show look like? What does this season look like? There’s so much more to a creative person, especially a fashion designer, than the garment that you think that you should be shopping for now. So that’s what I’m talking to. I’m talking to the soul of the designer.
Looking back at your diverse career, from fashion to reality TV and media appearances, what advice would you give to aspiring designers and entrepreneurs who want to infuse their personal values into their professional work?
I think that’s my best piece of advice, authenticity in a very, very fake world that we live in now, especially now, where you could artificially generate any kind of image that you want from AI and filter anything that you want. I think authenticity screams the loudest. And I think that goes for a brand that you develop, a direction in life, who you are. Authenticity is key to anything, but it’s key to a brand. It’s key in fashion. Stay true to who you are.
“I confirm that Tobi Rubinstein is our honorary Fashion Rabbi. As a student of the GREAT BOOK, she shows us that the LORD GOD was truly the original couturier.” Iris Apfel.
“Tobi Rubinstein can renew anyone’s faith in fashion. Her love of shopping, styling and clothes is truly a religious experience and is equal only to her love of her faith. I’m blown away by her knowledge of Judaism and her vast understanding of the fashion industry. Tobi is our Fashion Rabbi.” Fern Mallis.
@tobi_rubinstein
