Weekend Israeli Fashion Buzz: 12/31, 1/1/, 1/2

Currently celebrating my 60th post on this blog! Let’s make 2010 a year to remember for Israeli fashion!

It’s the busiest weekend yet! A slew of sales in time for Sylvester, for your viewing pleasure.

Run, don’t walk to Iluchka.  Last day of the Christmas to Sylvester sale.  All collections between 10 to 20% off! Moldovian-born Ilana Bronstein creates sophisticated combinations in a stylish corner boutique in south Tel Aviv.  Iluchka.com 19 Levontin, Tel Aviv.  Sunday – Thursday: 11:00 to 19:00, Friday: 10:00 to 15:00. 03-5660588. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=229863278816&index=1

Sylvester

Today, I throw on my American Apparel latex leggings, a sharp-shouldered green shirt from a label I scouted at the Urban Fair called Begadim, and my new pair of silver two-tone All Black ankle boots from ShoeShoe.  Then I’ll join my friends at a fish restaurant in North Ben Yehuda, where I’ll probably tackle fish fillet while my friend battle fish with bones (I can’t stand it!) and after we’ll hope to party the night away.  No, it’s not the New Years hoopla I’m used in America, but it’s Sylvester and I like it.

Oh yeah, and all the clothes were bought in Israel. How about that? I didn’t even realize when I put the outfit together.

Here’s to bringing a new and improved year of the latest in Israeli fashion.

I never wear latex and I’m ready to give it a go especially for NYE.  As one of my favorite style blogger, Taghrid Chaaban said in a recent post, “I’ve got a pair of black & silver striped sequin shorts and I think NYE is the only day of the year I can wear them out while keeping my dignity intact.”

Here’s to outrageous style.  See you in 2010.

Power Fashion

The gossip pages of Ynet’s Culture section featured a gathering of Israeli celebs (deemed “the power players of Jerusalem”) who came to check out a new bar there called Ernest Hemingway opened by Tommy and Tal Yarok from Israeli Survivor.

But it wasn’t the new bar that caught my eye. More so, it was the great Euro meets rocker-inspired style from some of the stars. In a society where the street fashion is better then most of the ensembles worn by the rich and famous, I found it quite refreshing.

Yehuda Levi (sans sometimes fashionable girlfriend/singer Ninette Tayeb) in his trademark blazer and black trousers, looked a little bit trendy, a little bit grunge in the logo rocker worn underneath.

Israeli Fashion Blog Buzz

Yes, while you may have noticed that I skipped this weekend’s fashion buzz entry (currently in the process of moving to a new apartment in Tel Aviv and there’s a lot on my plate!) I’ll have to make it up to you all by including a new series being posted every week to top off the one about fashion events and news I already have going.

Model Israeli Style Bloggers

Well, I’m in awe.  How about you?

Three of Israel’s most well-known style bloggers got together this past month to model styles that are going to be sold at this weekend’s “Wear It” designers bazaar to benefit the Tel Aviv Rape Crisis Center.  In hopes of promoting the event,whose proceeds will be donated to the Center, Dar Mashiach (FashionPea), Ofer Yeger  (Fashion Cupcakes) and Shelly Peleg (Shelly’s Private Collection) got together with photographer Shay Filosof and  Efrat Oppenheimer, a coordinator from the Center,  to model the latest looks to be sold this Friday and Saturday at Ganei Ha’atarucha in Tel Aviv. They met in Shelly’s graphic design studio

Israeli Fashion Inspiration: סטודיו rupa

It all started with the shoes in the last post.  I have a new thing for Mary-Janes and bows and those had the two paired in an amazing green color.  But as it turns out, it wasn’t about the shoes.

As I was doing a search to find out where I could get those heavenly beauties, I cam across a new Israeli brand and realized it wasn’t about the shoes at all.  It was about the socks! More so, it was about where the socks came from.

Thus, in a new series I created based on Israeli fashion items and looks that inspire me, I’d like to introduce all of you to a funky little brand called Studio Rupa (סטודיו rupa.)

Weekend Israeli Fashion Buzz

*4th Vintage Market. Sellers, designers include: Pola Raxa Vintage, Flora Vintage, Cafe Boutique, Naftalin, Lost & Found, Mesh – New Vintage from Inbal Raviv, Roni Kantor, Meary K, Maital Toledo, La Sak, Lola, Lala BeShnia, Sheli Dahari, Adi Sadeh. Where: Lima Lima club, Lillenblum 42. Friday, Dec. 18, 10am-6pm. Saturday, Dec. 19 10am-7pm.

*Cala Fashion Holiday Sale. Monday December 14-Sunday December 20. Dizengoff 218.

Good Fashion Sense

Thank you Daria Shualy! Because of you and your fabulous fashion site, Sense of Fashion, open to shoppers, designers, trendsetters, photographers, and style lovers, I’ve become privy to taking daily outfit style photos of myself every single day.  I’ve also become more fashion-conscious, despite working in a start up office setting where the bosses are prone to “dressing up” in faded jeans and Gap sweatshirts. (Did I mention it was outside Tel Aviv in a sandy little village called Kfar HaYarok, where I walk amongst little kids and animals?)

Daily Outfit Photo from Sense of Fashion

DeeZee Fashion Photos

Daniel Aloni, who you may remember as the one who took those highly stylized photos from the themed Yeoshua party I posted about a few weeks back, is becoming quite the professional photographer.  If this is how she is in the quote unquote “amateur” part of her career, I can’t wait to see what she comes up with when she starts studying the craft for good.

For fashion, the photographer is just as important as the model and the clothes.  The photographer decides what goes where, what pose looks best, and what fits and doesn’t fit the camera.  They can often make their model appear ten times better looking, thinner, prettier, or more important with the right stance, the right location, the right clothes.

Here’s what I mean:

Daniel recently took some professional photos of her friend Racheli Tzairi in a meadow, but told me specifically that these weren’t fashion photos.  I said, “What are you talking about? They so totally are!” Look at those black opaque tights, the floral patterned dresses, the posing.  What she’s wearing is obviously very important to the picture and you had to make sure that it looked good.

“That is true,” Daniel told me, “I had to make some decisions about her clothing.  For example, she brought this awful black shirt [to the photo shoot] and I said, ‘No way, we can’t use that on camera. It wouldn’t look good.’”

Luckily, the final product looked just right.

Visit Daniel “DeeZee” Aloni’s photography page here.

Fashion Blogger Meetup

In my first meet up with an Israeli fashion blogger (with hopefully many more to come!) I had the chance to spend a day with Angel Cutsforth, a Brit with the best Israeli (Hebrew) fighting skills I’ve ever heard! Better yet, she’s a fantastic vintage blogger who really knows her stuff.  (She, too, posted about our experience!)

It’s about time I learned something about vintage and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Angel was very vintage femme in a black top with a tan print skirt that hit below the knee, black opaque tights from American Apparel (which I seriously coveted the entire day) and a pair of brown Oxford booties from Zara, which she said were seriously comfortable.  The black Mary Poppins-inspired medicine bag was also thrifted and Angel says it’s going into her Etsy shop very soon. (Not if I buy it first!)

I wore a black Anat Mikulinsky romper (only 100nis!) over a pair of gray tights and a black Michael Stars turtleneck, and paired it with a graphic belly shirt from American Apparel and a beaded gray necklace. (It just goes to show that you don’t have to have enviable six-pack abs to wear a shirt that’s supposed to be cut at the midriff.) The outfit went with my knee-high faux-suede from Alloy, a tweenish store with H&M like prices (At only $40, the boots were quite a steal!)

I awoke at the ghastly hour of 8am for a last minute doctor’s appointment.  We were supposed to meet at the corner of King George and Allenby, but like the ever-ready shopper she is, Angel changed our entire route when we realized it would be easier to meet on Ibn Gvirol for breakfast.

Our first stop was my favorite hyper-color boutique Cafe Bizarre.  I have been, without a doubt, enamored with the store for quite some time now, but this was Angel’s first excursion to this retro, neon palace.  Owner Tal Holtzman gathers quite a collection from some of the best indie names like colorful patterned shirts from Easy Innocence, bold technicolor frocks from Inbal Gvili and The Hellers, and the amazingly stylish Anglomania collection from Vivienne Westwood, which Tal says is pretty much the reason she started following fashion in the first place.

Angel was quite infatuated with the store and scooped up this pair of  beautiful pair of lace-draped turquoise high-waist shorts and while I couldn’t actually afford any Vivienne Westwood, I had to try on this red and blue striped military jacket with brass buttons.

At 4000nis, it’s equivalent to spending an entire two months rent.  But it’s Vivienne Westwood!  Would you expect anything less?

For my first Tel Aviv vintage shopping experience, we headed over to Mugrabe on TK and were met with an array of classic Oxford lace-up flats, floral dresses, and black and white blouses.  I eyed a structured beige menswearish jacket and decided to snap it up–it was only 60nis!

The perfect addition to a black pencil skirt and my black patent Oxford booties from Target.

We headed on to Eshet Chail, where I eyed some white grandma owl frames and a pair of green clip-on-earrings.  While neither of us bought anything there, we both went a little bit stir-crazy at Shoe Shoe, a more expensive shoe shop on Tchernikovsky that comes highly recommended for the most comfortable, albeit pricey boots and heels.

We urged each other on and I swiped a pair of square-pegged, two-tone, blue-tinged glittery leather ankle boots while Angel (with some light coaxing from me), tried on Mary Janes from Shelley’s in the Uk that had amazing bows on the T-strap front.  They fit well and looked great on her and hopefully, didn’t put her in the poorhouse. (All we can say is thank god Israel offers monthly payments on clothes and shoes!)

We continued on to places like Ahava L’Shnia, HaMachteret (The Underground), Guluaz, and other places on Shenkin.  It was there that Angel spied the covetable Melissa shoes in a window.  These rubber babies are a collaboration with shoe designer Melissa and Vivienne Westwood and they’re waterproof heels! Angel had been researching them online for quite some time and couldn’t believe that a Shenkin shop carried them! She tried on a pearlised black Ashanti boot and white peep toes with hearts on the front and bought the Ashanti pair, which fit her well.

I asked her later if they were worth it and she said, “You should always spend more on a good pair of shoes. I do. ” How right she is!

While we were on the hunt for a good pair of black opaque tights for me (American Apparel has run out!) we stopped to buy them at the local Shenkin SuperPharm.  I have to tell you, Angel, the tights aren’t as opaque as I would like, but I do thank you for urging me to buy them–unlike most tights which are nylon (these are microfibered), you can tell it will be a long time before they rip.

No, neither of us will be shopping for the next month, but we did make some fine purchases.  But fortunately for me, it was an extremely pleasurable and highly successful first-time vintage shopping experience, and more so, I know I’ve made a true friend that I will be shopping with for many more years to come!

You must check out her blog and always go to her for the very latest and greatest news on all things vintage. Thanks Angel!