Clara Perlmutter of Tiny Jewish Girl
Clara Perlmutter, a 23-year-old with an encyclopedic knowledge of fashion history and an explosive personal style, was an NYU student when the pandemic hit and sent her on her way back to her parent’s house in Connecticut. For Clara, dressing was a performance that improved her mood, wellbeing, and brought her incredible joy. Alongside the many other lifestyle shifts the pandemic brought, dressing up was suddenly deemed unnecessary, even superfluous.
But then she got on TikTok, with the name Tiny Jewish Girl and a mission to post her outfits as a way of coping with the pandemic, encouraging like-minded people to have fun with their dress and use personal style as a form of self-expression. Now, Clara’s TikToks have racked millions of views, she’s been profiled in Paper Magazine, and “Tiny Jewish Girl” is a highly-utilized Depop search term. We can’t wait to see what’s next.
DRESS UP: We love Clara’s approach to finding your style.
NAME: Clara Perlmutter
CITY: NYC
WHAT KEEPS YOU GOING DOWN THE FASHION RABBIT HOLE: The thing driving my entire career is that I need visual stimulation for my sanity. I scroll through Poshmark, Ebay, The Real Real — you name it — like it is social media. That kind of leads to shopping, inevitably, which leads to wearing, you know? And the scrolling through these sites leads to brand discovery. I have a curious mind, so that leads to research. That results in more buying and more wearing. And so on and so forth.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR TINY JEWISH GIRL: I don't know! The entire rest of my life, I would hope. More writing, I am thinking. I wrote a full length novel and I finally want to edit it to a place where I feel confident trying to get it published. I took a semester off of college during the pandemic and wrote it, but finished it the day before my next semester of classes start, and I went straight from graduating into working, so I haven't had time to look back on it. I am hoping to somehow make some time soon!
WHAT YOUR YOUNGER SELF’S TUMBLR LOOKED LIKE: OH, God. So embarrassing... I just looked through all my first Instagram likes and they were all shirtless pictures of Tom Daley and pictures of the 2012 Great British diving team. My first fandom was Tom Daley. I moved on from that quickly, and had a somewhat successful Supernatural blog. But, you know how that kind of expands into memes and SuperWhoLock. I also had a hipster/grunge blog. I would mostly reblog things or make edits. I was not confident enough to be posting pictures of myself.
GIVE US A 5-SONG PLAYLIST THAT DESCRIBES YOUR CURRENT MOOD: I'm REALLY jet-lagged, so this is a harrowing glimpse into my psyche:
Don't Let Us Get Sick - Warren Zevon
The Indifference of Heaven - Warren Zevon
The French Inhaler - Warren Zevon
Splendid Isolation - Warren Zevon
She's Too Good For Me - Warren Zevon
I'm so stressed right now. I oscillate between Charli XCX for happy and Warren Zevon for everything else, and there is no in between. My Spotify Wrapped is going to be insane.
TELL US A FEW OF YOUR FAVORITE BRANDS RIGHT NOW: OGBFF (Duh), Dorian Who, Saint Sintra, Anna Bolina, Cowboys of Habit, Syndical Chamber, Tyler McGillivary. Mia Vesper
Follow @tinyjewishgirl