Clara Perlmutter, aka TinyJewishGirl, a TikTok fashion guru star. Courtesy of Paper Magazine.“For me, dressing up is the most performative act.”
-Clara Perlmutter, aka TinyJewishGirl
There’s something about that quote that really sticks with me. Clara Perlmutter, an internet celebrity better known to her TikTok viewers as TinyJewishGirl, stated this once in an interview with the website Gender Is a Social Construct. A “performative” act. What does that mean, exactly?
For years and years, I HATED going clothes shopping. The number of times my parents had to literally drag me into malls for new clothes as a screaming child is too many to enumerate. Throughout my teen years and even into my 20s, I still disliked clothes shopping. I just didn’t understand it. Why did people find it so entertaining? What was so “exciting” about it? Well, like a lot of hobbies I used to hate but now adore, I’m now obsessed with purchasing new clothes. I believe what changed is that the older I became, the more my self-confidence grew. And the more my self-confidence grew, the more I felt comfortable not taking myself too seriously. There’s something about trying on new clothes in the changing room and looking at yourself in the mirror – posing or “performing” in a funny way – that just feels so empowering. NOW I get it! Now I understand why clothes really can be a healthy way of improving your self-worth. It only took me close to 30 years to realize this.
With her funny and endless array of fashion videos, Perlmutter, who simply describes herself as a “fashion guru,” demonstrates the kind of healthy tool that clothing can be. This is someone who has all the confidence in the world. She confronts gender norms and switches them on their sides. She does what she wants, wears what she wears, and doesn’t care for one second how anyone will react to her appearance. With close to 900,000 followers on TikTok and 130,000 on Instagram, TinyJewishGirl’s carefully self-assured videos revitalize any insecurities we store in our psyche. What started out as a frivolous, fashion TikTok channel has developed into a kind of self-help platform.
“Frivolous,” that is, because TinyJewishGirl’s channel wasn’t exactly planned. What started it? You guessed it. COVID.
“I was getting pretty depressed not putting on outfits every day,” says Perlmutter in an interview with Paper Magazine. “So I just started posting.”
Perlmutter moved from the Lower East Side in Manhattan back to her parents’ Connecticut home during COVID. She eventually graduated from NYU in 2021, during just one of the many heights of the pandemic.
Fashion has been Perlmutter’s forte since she was in high school, despite her classmates disapproving of her style choices. She never let them stop her. Many years later, one thing is super apparent on TinyJewishGirl’s channel: Perlmutter LOVES her body, and no one gets to tell her how she looks.
The irony of all this is how the negative comments further bolster the algorithm of her channel. When she was criticized for having armpit hair, for example, her videos became more accessible after the comments spread online. To me, that’s always been the most hilarious thing about bullies and “trolls” on social media. They think they can tear people’s content down with their harsh words, but all they do is strengthen these channels. When bullies attacked the TinyJewishGirl channel, other users came to the rescue to applaud Perlmutter for both her bold fashion statements and ability to celebrate her own looks.
“I’ve always had a playful, distinctive style. I definitely was ostracized for a while in high school,” she tells Paper Magazine. “I’ve never been afraid to experiment, and I’ve always gone for things that are more eclectic. I aim for things to not make sense together.”
“Traditionalists,” if I may call them, may question Perlmutter’s style and physical appearance altogether. When she dressed up for her first date with her boyfriend, for example, she decided to not wear a dress but men’s sweatpants, men’s sneakers, and her dad’s varsity jacket. Why? No reason in particular. It’s just what she wanted. The same applies for when she shaved her head in one of her videos. She just did it. Need we ask her why she, a woman decided to cut off her hair? Absolutely not. Perlmutter confronts these egregious customs of how women should look and behave and smacks them in the face. It’s OK to identify as whoever you want. It’s OK to wear what you want or get the haircut you want. It’s YOUR body, after all, and YOUR style. No one is stopping you.
“In truth, I don’t feel like I have one concrete identity. Every morning, I get to decide what act of becoming to take on that day,” she tells Gender Is a Social Construct. “I am what I decide to be. As long as I chose to wear it, it still feels like me.”
So what exactly do TinyJewishGirl’s videos consist of? The best example I can think of is that iconic scene from the opening of Clueless (1995) where Alicia Silverstone picks out an outfit to wear for the day. Perlmutter’s videos aren’t as 90s and overly over-the-top, for sure, but they sure are unique. She tries on clothes galore while offering input on what could go best with what, who the designer is, and why it could look good on you.
It’s a very light “topic” for a TikTok channel, no doubt, but TinyJewishGirl continues to make an impact with her videos. It’s not just the fashion content. It’s the overwhelming sense of loving yourself that she brings out in every video.
@tinyjewishgirl adding my silver chainmail chloe purse and maybe a white fuzzy headband! And taking off the makeup. Chag sameach!!!
Follow TinyJewishGirl on TikTok and Instagram.