Fashion of equals – Weekend – Kommersant
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Kornit Fashion Week lives by its own rules, set by itself, but this does not prevent it from producing its main product – fashion. There is no seasonality here, but there is diversity, and the entire time-based agenda – social, humanitarian, cultural and even political – is on the podium.
“I have already listened to two lectures on menopause and one on psoriasis,” says my kind Moscow friend, who used to do fashion in Moscow and now does it in Israel, in response to my question if they always do this. I myself didn’t get either one or the other, but I got the human papillomavirus – a professional researcher talked before the show about how the modern scientific community relates to this problem. My good friend is not at all surprised at how Kornit Fashion Week is organized, but I, of course, am surprised – going to an event called “fashion week”, you usually do not expect lectures and public talk on social topics and in general such involvement and strong connection with modern agenda.
What you still don’t expect is, for example, such a diversity of the public – here you can meet anyone, from fashionable boys and girls to their grandparents, who are clearly not connected with fashion in any way. And when I start asking what is here and how, it turns out that from this year tickets for Tel Aviv Fashion Week are being sold – anyone who is interested can buy them. Judging by the composition of the audience, it is interesting to a variety of people, and a rather motley mixture of types, ages and genders does not bother anyone here. Moreover, no one here perceives the fashion industry, at least the local one, as something outlandish, elitist and inaccessible, and although local stars come to the shows, there is no glamorous veil around it. To come to the show is an event of the same kind as to go to a performance, so this trip is treated as cognitive and emotional. The idea with tickets, of course, has already arisen in the latest fashion history, mainly during the New York week, but it has not received much development, in Milan and Paris they didn’t even think about it, of course, but Tel Aviv successfully mastered it.
“Not every fashion brand wants to associate its name with such complex and painful topics,” I cautiously tell Moti Reif, entrepreneur, businessman and producer of Tel Aviv Fashion Week. “Why should we do like everyone else? We are not Milan or Paris – we want to do it our own way, the way we need it. We believe that fashion should be related to important social topics, that people who come to us should be interested in it.”
We’re talking after the Genish show, created by young designer Aaron Genish. Aaron is called the “Israeli Galliano” here, and if you look at the models in outfits reminiscent of both traditional Jewish and traditional children’s clothing – white shirts with wide soft collars, wide sleeves with soft cuffs, richly decorated with hemstitching, embroidery and lace, wide black jackets, cropped trousers, different caps and hats – then this similarity can really be seen. The children’s theme, as an echo of the trauma experienced, connected different parts of the collection, and it was obvious how personal it was for the designer himself. In general, this mixture of traditional Jewish clothing, a very light Middle Eastern flair and the same Galliano was quite curious. At the end of the show, the famous Israeli model and presenter Galit Gutman and her daughter Emma, a sort of Israeli Kate and Lila Moss, came out holding hands, and both wore dresses that looked like baby doll dresses, but of a completely different volume and proportions, which removed any tenderness and playfulness, but added melancholic beauty.
And before the show, there was a public talk dedicated to child abuse. It was attended by the same Galit Gutman, and with her the famous Israeli news anchor Dalia Mazor and Ronit Rafael. The latter has a serious business in Israel, a network of beauty salons under the Ronit Raphael brand, as well as a SPA salon under the Swiss brand L. Raphael in one of the best hotels in Tel Aviv, The Jaffa Hotel. But, in addition to all this, she also created the Global Army Against Child Abuse Foundation and deals with this topic not only seriously, but with great passion. “This is my battlefield and I will not leave it,” says Ronit. She has spoken several times at United Nations invitations to events dedicated to this topic, and she sponsors a special educational program for children to help them recognize abuse and tell adults about it.
Ronit became the sponsor of the Genish show, she also participated in the implementation of the public talk format itself. “A year ago, Moti Reif came to me with the idea to choose some important social topic and take part in its discussion – then we decided to talk about the role of women in modern society. Everything turned out well, and we decided to continue.” So, in fact, the unique format of Tel Aviv Fashion Week arose, which they are now very proud of and which they are going to develop in every possible way in the future. I must say that after the first surprise, you understand that for the Israeli public, and especially for Israeli women who have gone through the army, such a clear and open format is absolutely organic.
It also immediately catches the eye that a maximum of 30% of the models at each show correspond to traditional ideas about models – that is, thin, tall and young. All the rest look in the most diverse way, but far from model standards: they can be not only over 50, but also over 70, they can be short, not thin, and in different ways short and not thin, with limited capabilities. Moreover, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai walked down the catwalk at the opening gala, and opposition leader Lihi Lapid, the wife of opposition leader Likha Lapid, walked out that evening with the Israeli flag, which has become a symbol of recent protests against judicial reform.
“Diversity is our rule,” says Moti Reif. “If for some reason you don’t want plus-size models, choose older models, a model with disabilities, queer models, etc., but you there should be different models, not just tall, thin and young.” I must say that this diversity of human types already by the second show begins to be perceived quite naturally, as if it should be so on the podium and, moreover, as if it does not happen otherwise. Such quotas, positive discrimination – you can call the work with the social agenda whatever you like – have a positive impact, at least at the fashion week here: its visitors, who are not directly connected with the industry, told me how proud they are of this format.
How do all these practices affect fashion? Probably not directly, because the collections here, their alignment, their orientation fully reflect the international picture. There are designers here of a completely arthouse type and even quite avant-garde, in whose work there is no focus on current trends, but only the desire to express themselves and their vision, like, for example, the same Genish. And there are those who see these trends very well and follow them, for example, Mother of All, which is made by Golan Taub and Noah Pasternak. Their tight elastic dresses, revealing various parts of the body and worn, of course, on various bodies, are just perfect for Instagram, they seem to have come to the podium from influencer accounts and, obviously, they will end up there after the podium.
In general, Fashion Week here looks like such a celebration of local life, and the show of students from the Shenkar Design College, the one that Alber Elbaz graduated from, was the liveliest and most fun on this holiday. The teacher of this college, fashion designer Anat Kheyfets, who worked for international brands for many years, and recently opened her own, Kawayan, black and white, minimalist, made from the most luxurious materials, knew him from her student years, kept a warm relationship with him all her life and told me before the show that the way we knew him, that is, kind and open, Elbaz was from his youth.
The Shenkar student show is the best confirmation that fashion is the same for everyone, that despite all the local specifics, this is a global phenomenon. Students of different courses presented here what students always show – radical non-conformism in the form of dresses-hangers and sheath dresses adapted to the bodies of models on special designs, behind all these hangers built into clothes, Jonathan Anderson and his Loewe are visible. You could see the study of the history of fashion, at least this century – ubiquitous references to Margiela or Ann Demelmeister, besides Galliano. There are those who would obviously like to work for Demna Gvasalia at Balenciaga and are literally applying for it. There were also hard avant-garde guys making models of radical proportions and silhouettes without direct quotes, just as there were others, quite obviously now oriented towards commercial fashion.
All these are very international types, with good training and a completely natural desire to shine. But at the same time, there is so much life, so much joy, so much freedom, so much energy and so much diversity in themselves and in their entire community, which came out on stage in the final, that this makes the local also unique. The thirst for life, the ability to enjoy it, to appreciate it and in general to do everything with maximum efficiency – to dance, cook food, sew dresses – is a very Israeli property, and it was shown in full at Kornit Fashion Week.
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