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Brazen: My Unorthodox Journey from Long Sleeves to Lingerie
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the star of the Netflix reality series My Unorthodox Life,a riveting, inspiring memoir of one woman's escape from an extremist religious sect and an extraordinary rise from housewife to shoe designer, to CEO and co-owner of the modeling agency Elite World Group
"An irresistible read . . . Written with great intensity and rare candor, Brazen is a story of longing for more and manifesting that vision."-Tommy Hilfiger
Ever since she was a child, every aspect of Julia Haart's life-what she wore, what she ate, what she thought-was controlled by the dictates of ultra-Orthodox Judaism. At nineteen, after a lifetime spent caring for her seven younger siblings, she was married off to a man she barely knew. For the next twenty-three years, her marriage would rule her life. Eventually, when Haart's younger daughter, Miriam, started to innocently question why she wasn't allowed to sing in public, run in shorts, or ride a bike without being covered from neck to knee, Haart reached a breaking point. She knew that if she didn't find a way to leave, her daughters would be forced into the same unending servitude that had imprisoned her.
So Haart created a double life. In the ultra-Orthodox world, clothing has one purpose-to cover the body, head to toe-and giving any thought to one's appearance beyond that is considered sinful, an affront to God. But when no one was looking, Haart would pore over fashion magazines and sketch designs for the clothes she dreamed about wearing in the world beyond her Orthodox suburb. She started preparing for her escape by educating herself and creating a "freedom" fund. At the age of forty-two, she finally mustered the courage to flee the fundamentalist life that was strangling her soul.
Within a week of her escape, Haart founded a shoe brand, and within nine months, she was at Paris Fashion Week. Just a few years later, she was named creative director of La Perla. Soon she would become co-owner and CEO of Elite World Group, and one of the most powerful people in the fashion industry. Along the way, her four children-Batsheva, Shlomo, Miriam, and Aron-have not only accepted but embraced her transformation.
Propulsive and unforgettable, Haart's story is the journey from a world of no to a world of yes, and an inspiration for women everywhere to find their freedom, their purpose, and their voice.
"An irresistible read . . . Written with great intensity and rare candor, Brazen is a story of longing for more and manifesting that vision."-Tommy Hilfiger
Ever since she was a child, every aspect of Julia Haart's life-what she wore, what she ate, what she thought-was controlled by the dictates of ultra-Orthodox Judaism. At nineteen, after a lifetime spent caring for her seven younger siblings, she was married off to a man she barely knew. For the next twenty-three years, her marriage would rule her life. Eventually, when Haart's younger daughter, Miriam, started to innocently question why she wasn't allowed to sing in public, run in shorts, or ride a bike without being covered from neck to knee, Haart reached a breaking point. She knew that if she didn't find a way to leave, her daughters would be forced into the same unending servitude that had imprisoned her.
So Haart created a double life. In the ultra-Orthodox world, clothing has one purpose-to cover the body, head to toe-and giving any thought to one's appearance beyond that is considered sinful, an affront to God. But when no one was looking, Haart would pore over fashion magazines and sketch designs for the clothes she dreamed about wearing in the world beyond her Orthodox suburb. She started preparing for her escape by educating herself and creating a "freedom" fund. At the age of forty-two, she finally mustered the courage to flee the fundamentalist life that was strangling her soul.
Within a week of her escape, Haart founded a shoe brand, and within nine months, she was at Paris Fashion Week. Just a few years later, she was named creative director of La Perla. Soon she would become co-owner and CEO of Elite World Group, and one of the most powerful people in the fashion industry. Along the way, her four children-Batsheva, Shlomo, Miriam, and Aron-have not only accepted but embraced her transformation.
Propulsive and unforgettable, Haart's story is the journey from a world of no to a world of yes, and an inspiration for women everywhere to find their freedom, their purpose, and their voice.
Editorial Reviews
"Through her poignant memoir, Julia Haart shows readers that it's the journey rather than the destination that will fulfill us. Written with great intensity and rare candor, Brazen is a story of longing for more and manifesting that vision. While deeply personal, it reveals universal truths about humanity and womanhood. . . . An irresistible read."-Tommy Hilfiger
"Julia Haart is a hustler. Her story is an inspiring, believe-in-your-dreams, never-give-up, anything-in-life-is-possible story of hope. She is a very smart businesswoman who also loves women! Run, don't walk, to get this book!"-Lisa Rinna
"Julia Haart lives her life with an exhilarating fervor that's contagious to anyone lucky enough to be around her. Never willing to accept the status quo, she has time and again fought for her place in the world and demanded her seat at the table. As a woman and business owner, I'm incredibly inspired by her stories, which are always told with candor, honesty, and heart. This book is a must-read!"-Coco Rocha
"Julia Haart is a hustler. Her story is an inspiring, believe-in-your-dreams, never-give-up, anything-in-life-is-possible story of hope. She is a very smart businesswoman who also loves women! Run, don't walk, to get this book!"-Lisa Rinna
"Julia Haart lives her life with an exhilarating fervor that's contagious to anyone lucky enough to be around her. Never willing to accept the status quo, she has time and again fought for her place in the world and demanded her seat at the table. As a woman and business owner, I'm incredibly inspired by her stories, which are always told with candor, honesty, and heart. This book is a must-read!"-Coco Rocha
Readers Top Reviews
S. CohenSteven Kaczm
I am familiar with this story, I have watched the show. I was curious about her backstory. The book’s timeline jumps around and gets confusing. I also think the book could’ve used a better editor. So much rambling. I also believe she wants to paint a specific image of herself to present, but I am not buying that image. She spends much of the book tooting her own horn. There’s a lot that doesnt ring true (not the religious stuff, i get that) So much whining and whoa is me. It gets hard to read. Anyway, I will finish the book because I’m curious, but overall, it is not a great book.
Patricia Glick
I am in awe of Julia Haart and all that she has accomplished and all that she had to overcome. Her determination to succeed in the fashion world and her dedication to het children is extremely admirable. Highly recommended.
EmilyErik Ramos
This book is quite interesting in some places: I liked learning about Julia’s relationship with her husband and her first experiences with dating after leaving the Black Hatter community. But it could have benefitted from an excellent editor: 400 pages later, it’s clear that Julia expounds on some of herself in detail and leaves the most interesting parts of her story out. I still don’t understand how she learned to construct a shoe, or what happened with her parents and family after going “off the derech. On a more disappointing note, if you are looking to this book for feminist inspiration like I was; it seems that Julia’s journey to wealth starts and ends with men who either desire a sexual relationship with her or end up in one. While her intelligence and drive is clear, this is not the one woman path to success that the series makes it out to be. That said: this book is a decent read. Don’t let the angry members of the Chasidic community who leave bad reviews deter you if you like memoirs and are curious about fashion; it’s a worthwhile read.
Short Excerpt Teaser
Chapter One
Our lineage is the ultimate prequel to our lives. To truly understand oneself, you must understand your history, the intricate thoughts and lives that brought yours into existence. My parents come from Russian "royalty." On my father's side, my grandfather, a decorated general in the Russian army during World War II, was a very influential Communist after the war. When my father was nineteen, he was named head of the Komsomol (the young-adult arm of the Communist Party).
My mother too had some helpful lineage. Her mother was a ballerina in the Bolshoi Ballet, and her dad was an inventor who created a chemical that restored old photos. Her family lived in Bender, Moldova, in the largest house in the center of the city. Sometimes Moldova was part of Romania, and sometimes it was part of the Soviet Union, and my grandfather managed, by some miraculous wrangling, to get a patent for his invention in a country that neither allowed personal business initiative nor recognized individual accomplishment. Yet, somehow, he did it. They both lived very privileged lives.
Lina, my mom, had one sister. My mother was considered "the smart sister" while her sister, Elena, was "the beautiful sister." In photos of them as young women they look almost identical, both extremely smart and lovely, but there it was. Throughout my life, whenever anyone would compliment my mom on her looks, she would look at them with disbelief and shake her head.
My mom took her role of "the smart sister" very seriously. In her entire education, from kindergarten all the way through her two PhDs, one in mathematics and one in philosophy, she never got anything less than an A. She even received a gold medal from the Soviet government, for never getting a single test answer wrong.
When she was nineteen, she met a very handsome and charming young man named Michael. My dad is charismatic and great with people. Everyone always loves him. He's the life of the party. On top of being brilliant, and an engineer (he and my mom both worked for IBM on the first PC computer), he's also a concert pianist and guitar player and a fantastic dancer.
My mom is quiet and thoughtful and very serious-his polar opposite in every way. She is intense and somber. She loved his liveliness and he fell for her indifference. She was the only woman who wasn't instantaneously charmed by him. She was tough and she challenged him and he loved it.
Within six months, they were inseparable. He was a committed and faithful Communist. She, however, had serious doubts. Eventually she would become more ideological and fundamentalist in her religion than my father ever was as a Party member, for it would be her faith that became the driving force in all our lives.
Due to my dad's high standing in the Komsomol, he was given the unique task of traveling around the country preaching the Communist gospel, with the hope that as a bright and vivacious young man, he would inspire others to strengthen their faith in the system. Brezhnev was running the country at that point, and travel was verboten except to the very connected, because they didn't want people seeing that the Communist reality was far from the Utopia Karl Marx had promised. My father, however, was deemed so completely committed that they were unconcerned with him being disillusioned and felt that his positivity and charm would keep the faithful strong. He, of course, was ecstatic, and invited his girlfriend to accompany him. Lina, always curious though already doubting the truth of Communism, eagerly joined him. But what ensued was not at all what the Party had in mind. What Lina and Michael found was a country in complete disarray, where most of the people they met were drunk until noon from the night before and living intolerable lives. My mother, already disillusioned because she had been fighting anti-Semitism her whole life in a country not known for being kind to its Jews, lost the last vestiges of faith in Communism. My father's faith, already broken during that fateful journey, crumbled completely under her irrefutable arguments.
My young parents were believers by nature and went looking for something to replace Communism. They found Judaism. Being Jewish had always hampered my mother, and she had felt its nagging presence since she was a child. She wanted to know more, to understand what it meant to be a Jew.
Of course, religion was illegal during that time, and the Gulag and prisons were full of people who had risked it all to practice their faith. Even reading a religious book could land you in jail, yet they embarked on a harrowing journey of learning about their heritage. Meetings of like-minded, curious Jews happened in basements in the dead ...
Our lineage is the ultimate prequel to our lives. To truly understand oneself, you must understand your history, the intricate thoughts and lives that brought yours into existence. My parents come from Russian "royalty." On my father's side, my grandfather, a decorated general in the Russian army during World War II, was a very influential Communist after the war. When my father was nineteen, he was named head of the Komsomol (the young-adult arm of the Communist Party).
My mother too had some helpful lineage. Her mother was a ballerina in the Bolshoi Ballet, and her dad was an inventor who created a chemical that restored old photos. Her family lived in Bender, Moldova, in the largest house in the center of the city. Sometimes Moldova was part of Romania, and sometimes it was part of the Soviet Union, and my grandfather managed, by some miraculous wrangling, to get a patent for his invention in a country that neither allowed personal business initiative nor recognized individual accomplishment. Yet, somehow, he did it. They both lived very privileged lives.
Lina, my mom, had one sister. My mother was considered "the smart sister" while her sister, Elena, was "the beautiful sister." In photos of them as young women they look almost identical, both extremely smart and lovely, but there it was. Throughout my life, whenever anyone would compliment my mom on her looks, she would look at them with disbelief and shake her head.
My mom took her role of "the smart sister" very seriously. In her entire education, from kindergarten all the way through her two PhDs, one in mathematics and one in philosophy, she never got anything less than an A. She even received a gold medal from the Soviet government, for never getting a single test answer wrong.
When she was nineteen, she met a very handsome and charming young man named Michael. My dad is charismatic and great with people. Everyone always loves him. He's the life of the party. On top of being brilliant, and an engineer (he and my mom both worked for IBM on the first PC computer), he's also a concert pianist and guitar player and a fantastic dancer.
My mom is quiet and thoughtful and very serious-his polar opposite in every way. She is intense and somber. She loved his liveliness and he fell for her indifference. She was the only woman who wasn't instantaneously charmed by him. She was tough and she challenged him and he loved it.
Within six months, they were inseparable. He was a committed and faithful Communist. She, however, had serious doubts. Eventually she would become more ideological and fundamentalist in her religion than my father ever was as a Party member, for it would be her faith that became the driving force in all our lives.
Due to my dad's high standing in the Komsomol, he was given the unique task of traveling around the country preaching the Communist gospel, with the hope that as a bright and vivacious young man, he would inspire others to strengthen their faith in the system. Brezhnev was running the country at that point, and travel was verboten except to the very connected, because they didn't want people seeing that the Communist reality was far from the Utopia Karl Marx had promised. My father, however, was deemed so completely committed that they were unconcerned with him being disillusioned and felt that his positivity and charm would keep the faithful strong. He, of course, was ecstatic, and invited his girlfriend to accompany him. Lina, always curious though already doubting the truth of Communism, eagerly joined him. But what ensued was not at all what the Party had in mind. What Lina and Michael found was a country in complete disarray, where most of the people they met were drunk until noon from the night before and living intolerable lives. My mother, already disillusioned because she had been fighting anti-Semitism her whole life in a country not known for being kind to its Jews, lost the last vestiges of faith in Communism. My father's faith, already broken during that fateful journey, crumbled completely under her irrefutable arguments.
My young parents were believers by nature and went looking for something to replace Communism. They found Judaism. Being Jewish had always hampered my mother, and she had felt its nagging presence since she was a child. She wanted to know more, to understand what it meant to be a Jew.
Of course, religion was illegal during that time, and the Gulag and prisons were full of people who had risked it all to practice their faith. Even reading a religious book could land you in jail, yet they embarked on a harrowing journey of learning about their heritage. Meetings of like-minded, curious Jews happened in basements in the dead ...
