Bezalel grads flaunt academic fashion

For the jewelry and fashion students at Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, the skill of designing is not only about aesthetic, it’s about interpretation.

The school’s 30 senior students worked an entire academic year to create five original looks to display at their annual end-of-year fashion show, held at the Yaffo 23 gallery.

Each design told a unique story about both the evolution of fashion and its creator’s own personal journey, said Zohar Friedman, a student who opted to design both clothing and accessories for her final project. Friedman said she created jewelry in the shape of horns and flutes to symbolize her childhood love of music and her adult passion for design.

“Fashion is silent, and music is loud, so combining the two was really fun for me,” said Friedman, 26. “I feel like I’m really doing what I like; I’m making my dreams come true.”

Another student, Debbie Abramovicz, 24, said studying fashion at Bezalel was unique because it gave students the chance to take risks with fashion, something they may not be able to do when starting out in the highly commercialized world of fashion.

“In the industry today, there’s not much room for avant-garde designers,” Abramovicz said. “Here we are able to look at the process and figure out what’s behind the clothes.”