Fashion and the holy city
Can Jerusalem women be inspired to dress well?
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
There can be a tendency in Jerusalem — where life tends to focus on all things political or spiritual — to overlook one of the more basic interests in life, the art of dressing and fashion. To be sure, there are plenty of stores, including local and international retail chains and the smaller boutiques featuring Israeli designer pieces. Yet with many Jerusalemites focused on religiously modest clothing, or their perennially overdrawn bank accounts, it can be hard to pay attention to what one is wearing.
“To our chagrin, and theirs, Jerusalem women often walk around in terrible clothing,” said Michal Biri, the owner of Pashmina, a favorite boutique of many Jerusalem women, which is located in the German Colony. “I always say, women don’t have to spend a lot to look good. It’s not about money, but I think a lot of it has to do with how they see themselves.”
Naomi Lawson, the co-owner of Osfa, a small shop of carefully selected Israeli and imported designer clothing on Bethlehem Road, takes a similar outlook for her store and clientele, to whom she sells “normal clothing with a twist.”
“There’s clothing for the body and the soul,” said Lawson, who was formerly the administrative principal of the Pelech Religious Experimental High School for Girls. “And it’s a charged subject: What is clothing about? Why do we wear it? Does it trivialize us?”
She, like Biri and other boutique owners in Jerusalem, sells to a mix of clients, some religious, some not, but all seeking a certain Israeli contemporary look with a Jerusalem edge of innate modesty.
“I see clothing as an expression of womanhood,” said Lawson, who initally wanted to call her store Intelligent Clothing. “But some women, particularly in Jerusalem, see buying clothing as spoiling themselves, and it’s not something they’re used to doing.”
For Biri, the ultimate compliment is when a client returns after having worn something unexpected for her, and is filled with amazement at the positive reactions she received.
“They see how great it makes them feel, and they want to feel that way again,” she said. “It has to be all about them.”
Perhaps it’s their Jerusalem longevity that allows them the more critical look at their clientele; Biri is a native Jerusalemite; Lawson, a former Brit, has lived here for many years. Yet Philip Blau, half of the Frau Blau design team, sees Jerusalem as a hotbed of client opportunity.
Blau and his partner in work and life, Helena Blaustein, are best known for their shift dresses and shirts imprinted with intricately lifelike graphics. The Tel Aviv pair call it “ke-ilu” — Hebrew for “as-if” or “pretend” — and the idea is to create flattering dress patterns that look good on most bodies and are an optical illusion for the wearer.
Having opened a store on Rivlin Street in downtown Jerusalem last November, the Russian-born Blau has been amazed by his clientele, and by the neighborhood.
“We’re all about color and it’s clear to us that Jerusalem is not just about black and white,” said Blau, whose collection recently won an award at Russia’s largest fashion trade show. “Religious women love our modestly cut dresses, and so do tourists; they love the prints and we’ve altered certain dresses to have longer sleeves or hems. We also will give extra fabric if they want to make a matching hat for a dress.”
Blau also likes his downtown setting, surrounded by several other clothing and home boutiques, as well as the intimacy of the quintessential Jerusalem street. “It’s not Mamilla,” he said, referring to the nearby pedestrian mall. “It’s not commercial like that; it has flavor.”
Now that they’ve been exposed to the Jerusalem atmosphere, the Frau Blau team is considering different ideas for their whimsical prints, perhaps some Judaica or ancient sites, similar to the one-off stained-glass print they made for a Christian tourist.
“We create beauty, a kind of dream for women,” said Blau. “Women try on our clothing and they see that it’s easy to wear, that it fits them well.”
The essence of dressing, agreed Biri, is feeling good about oneself and buying a few good pieces that will last and always bring a certain pleasure to the wearer. But it’s more than that, echoed Lawson.
“Women have to learn that clothing doesn’t have to be about seduction, that it doesn’t mean you’re not serious about other things,” she said. “It’s about presenting yourself in a certain manner to the world.”
