TLV Fashion Week falls flat on the runway
After months of delays, a small selection of local designers show small or archived collections for troubled event
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center

It took three tries before Tel Aviv’s annual Gindi TLV Fashion Week was finally pulled off this week, shortened to just three days, missing some big names and underwhelming.
The event, held from March 13-15, included a roster of some of the more familiar names of presenting designers, including evening wear designer Yosef, casual wear designer Tovale, swimsuit company Gottex, retro label Maskit, Keren Wolf, and father-and-daughter pair Gideon and Keren Oberson, as well as student designers from Shenkar.
But the presenting designers don’t include many of the veteran names, such as Sasson Kedem, Dorin Frankfurt and the Sample label, or any of the newer, up-and-coming designers.
“It’s a pretty boring showing,” said one young designer, who preferred not to be named, nervous, as everyone seems to be, of Motty Reif, the Fashion Week producer who worked hard to get the shows off the ground. “It doesn’t feel like Fashion Week does anything practical for the designers’ themselves.”
According to several industry insiders, the annual fashion show was postponed because of disagreements with the Gindi TLV Fashion Mall, the Hashmonaim Street mall where the show is held, and which was meant to open in conjunction with Fashion Week.
But numerous postponements caused Reif to schedule and reschedule the fashion shows over the course of the winter, until it was finally set to open on March 12.
On Tuesday morning, fellow designers, fashion writers and fashionistas showed up to see Yosef Peretz’s collection of white linen casual wear, a departure from his more traditional use of crepe, organza and silk.

Peretz reportedly told Xnet that he has undergone a three-year period of deep internal reflection, shown in his current use of simple linen fabrics and cuts, although a number were painted with his signature horse etchings.
The crowd seemed underwhelmed by the collection, clapping only for the one swimsuit, adorned by a loose, white mesh hoodie.
That was in stark comparison to the previous night’s salute to Gottex and its founder, Lea Gottlieb, who created the swimsuit company 60 years ago. The show included a capsule collection of swimsuits from the Gottex archives, worn by 75 models who have worked with the label over the decades.
video #2 from Israel Fashion Week. this time it's a tribute to #gottex 👙 and #leagottliebwith models from then and now on behalf of Motty Mordechaie David Reif#fashion #israel #video #telaviv #fashionweek #gindi
Posted by Michal Chitayat on Monday, March 13, 2017