Seven-Year-Old Jewish Girl Offers to Model for Zara Boys
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Eliza Brichto dreams of modeling for Zara kidswear. But the seven-year-old girl doesn’t want to be photographed in dresses or skirts. Brichto has written a letter to the European fashion brand asking to model for the boys’ line.
Brichto, who is the granddaughter of the late Rabbi Sidney Brichto, former head of the Liberal Judaism movement in the United Kingdom, wrote in her letter: “You might think that it’s quite weird that a girl wears boy clothes but anyway let me tell you the story. When I was four I looked at Zara girls and I wasn’t really sure about the girls’ clothes, but then I had a little look at the boys’ clothes and loved them. I’m your number one fan, please accept my offer for me being a model for Zara boys.”
Along with the handwritten letter, she included photographs of her wearing her favorite outfits from the boys’ clothing line.
Brichto’s mother, Jess, told the Jewish Chronicle, “I didn’t think she would do it, kids say all sorts of things. But then she came to me off her own back with a letter written. I had to send it.”
Weeks after sending the letter, Zara called and invited Brichto to visit their headquarters in Spain. The Brichto family, who live in South-East London and attend St. John’s Wood Liberal Synagogue, plan to travel to Spain this weekend, where Eliza will make an attempt to persuade the company to hire her.
Mrs. Brichto says of her daughter, “She is not afraid of what people think and she is brave enough to speak out about the things that are important to her. Who knows what will happen at the meeting, but what she has achieved already is amazing.”
Contact Haley Cohen at [email protected]
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
