Tel Aviv Fashion Week Puts Positive Spotlight on the Holy Land

Israel put itself on the fashion map once again with its very own Tel Aviv Fashion Week, luring leading fashion designers and journalists from around the world, reviving the show after 30 years of not hosting it in the coastal city.

For one week, the international spotlight on Israel focused on its cultural and touristic qualities as the event featured 18 shows by foreign and local designers at Tel Aviv's trendy Hatahana neighborhood by the old railway station. The festivities opened at the residence of the Italian ambassador with a cocktail reception honoring Italian designer Roberto Cavalli who showed his 2012 summer collection during Tel Aviv's Fashion Week, an encore performance having been originally staged in Milan, Tel Aviv's sister city.

"Israel is in my heart," Cavalli said at a news conference. "I'm hoping that Tel Aviv fashion week will show the world the Israel that I love. It's a beautiful city full of life with people full of life who enjoy fashion and culture just like Europeans, Americans, the Japanese. I'm happy I could support this new venture by showing in Tel Aviv."

Summer 2012 collections put together by Israeli designers like Sasson Kedem, Mira Zwillinger, Dorin Frankfurt, Galit Levy, Gideon Oberson, Shai Shalom, and Alon Livne were displayed along with student lines.

“Who knows, fashion could turn out to be a better ambassador than the country's politicians - not hard,” wrote fashion reporter Lisa Armstrong of the British newspaper, The Telegraph. “It may seem far fetched or idealistic, but when someone's enthusing about an H&M outfit, or sharing their views on what makes the perfect bag, you have the start of a common language.”

The Fashion Wire Daily reported that the collections “featured an eclectic blend of design concepts, fabrics, and color palettes, from the delicate lace and intricately beaded confections of evening and bridal gown designer Galit Levi; to 'street couture' reminiscent of 'Desperately Seeking Susan'-era Madonna by Sugar Daddy; to a bold interpretation of the flapper-meets-rocker aesthetic, coupled with graphic patterns with a decidedly surrealist influence by Yosef Peretz; to a black and gold spectacle of Middle-Eastern inspired garb by Dorit Bar Or, whose Pas Pour Toi show culminated with a perfectly timed belly dance performance set to Sarit Hadad's 'Do You Love Me.'"

Italian fashion gurus from Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, the Italian Fashion Chamber, worked with Israelis in the industry to help plan Fashion Week.

In line with the ministry’s new focus on lifestyle and niche tourism, the Ministry of Tourism was a major partner in the venture and brought 60 leading international fashion and lifestyle journalists to Israel to cover fashion week and tour the country to see how what is portrayed about Israel on the news back home isn't all it seems.

“Fashion Week gives us a chance to show the other side of Israel, which we would like the world to recognize,” said Silvan Shalom, minister for the development of the Negev and the Galilee, at the opening reception.

From now, the industry plans to host two Tel Aviv Fashion Weeks each year – one spring/summer and the other fall/winter. The next one could be as soon as April 2012.

"I feel that fashion today... is international because all of you read the same magazines, we watch the same movies and fashion is there. From there you get an idea what to buy," Cavalli said

Photos: Avi Valdman