Fashion Week brawl, this time in March
Producer Motty Reif announces Gindi TLV Fashion Week in the spring; competitor Ofir Lev follows suit
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
Looks like fashion entrepreneurs Motty Reif and Ofir Lev are at it again, this time, however, they’re dragging out their Fashion Week competition until March.
Reif announced during a celebratory press conference this week that the next Gindi Tel Aviv Fashion Week will be held March 9 through March 12, 2014. Lev, meanwhile, settled for a lower-key announcement, posting the March 3, 4, and 5 dates of his alternate Fashion Week on the TLVFW website.
The two have been at it since late 2012, when they parted ways following the first Tel Aviv Fashion Week in November 2011. They held separate fashion weeks in 2012 — Lev’s in November, featuring younger designers, and Reif’s in December, with a more experienced designer crowd.
The 2014 Gindi Fashion Week will be held at the TLV Fashion Mall, a development owned by the Gindi Tel Aviv real estate company, with the support of the Israel Export Institute, Israel Manufacturer’s Association, Tourism Ministry, and the City of Tel Aviv-Jaffa.
Lev, who recently showed local designs at the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Moscow, also has the support of the Tel Aviv municipality and Israel Export Institute.
Given the aim of bringing in foreign buyers to the four-day fashion week, with the hope of further exposing Israeli fashion design to markets abroad, Reif thought March would be better timing than November, said a spokesperson for the event.
“There are other fashion weeks taking place in November, and the goal is really to bring the buyers and take a step forward,” said the spokesperson, who asked to remain anonymous.
Twenty-two local designers will be participating in the Gindi Fashion Week event, including Gideon and Karen Oberson, Dorit Bar Or, Ronen Chen, Sasson Kedem, Dorin Frankfurt, Comme Il Faut, Alembika, Josef, and others. They’re the “best designers,” said the spokesperson, those who can put together a show and be able to stock enough inventory for interested buyers.
“We’re prouder than ever this year to continue to create, develop, and bring the best designs from our country to the audience that loves fashion,” said Reif at the press conference.
Lev’s list of designers was shorter, but will include Maskit, the comeback story of 2013, as the vintage embroidered designs of Israel’s first fashion house are being brought back, as well as Yaniv Persy, who worked with John Galliano, and Gershon Bram, one of the country’s few menswear designers.
