“Designing for our frum world involves looking for the outside trend and refining it for our community” says fashion designer Mrs. Silky Rosenberg owner of Frills & Freckles a children’s and women’s clothing company in New York. In other words it’s not so much setting the trend as translating the styles already on the market to fit the frum community’s particular needs.

To get ideas for her designs Silky is always looking at what people are wearing. She’ll hit upscale stores in Manhattan to see what’s in as well as trade shows.

Mrs. Yiddes Miller owner of Headlines an accessories store selling hats gloves scarves and special-event hair decor in Boro Park and Williamsburg clearly has fashion fever — a good thing when you need to work on new fashion lines every season.

“I feel like I’m captain of color war for 30 years!” Yiddes says. “Every few years I have to reinvent myself and come up with new ideas. People aren’t interested in buying something that was in a few years ago. I’m constantly on the lookout for what’s new. I’ll notice an afghan at a high-end store in Manhattan and my antennae go up. I’ll think How can I recreate it as a knit scarf?

“I was sitting at a simchah with a friend last night” Yiddes continues “and noticed an interesting appliqué on her sweater. It was a unique design made from velvet outlined with a novelty yarn accented with tiny glass beads. She was in the middle of talking to me and I snapped a picture. I said ‘I’m sorry I didn’t hear a word you said. I just love the way that appliqué looks and I think it would look great if I changed it to two hearts and put it on a newborn baby hat.’ I couldn’t wait to e-mail it to my manufacturers and my yarn suppliers to see if they could work something out.