Despite the extraordinary harsh wintry weather with snow and ice in January, it
was a spring-like day when Yigal Azrouel (pictured), an accomplished Israeli
fashion designer, showed his 30 collections on the runway at the Mercedes- Benz
New York Fashion Week which started on February 10.
The Studio, one of
four theatres at the Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park, was packed with more than
500 people, enthusiastic to see the popular designer’s new creations. “Strength
and power of artistic femininity and the discovery of seductive sensuality,” as
Azrouel puts it, “My clothes for this season were inspired by men’s wear that I
started a few seasons ago,” he explained during a brief backstage interview with
The Jerusalem Post before the show. Azrouel just finished his first presentation
of his men’s collection in Paris and took playful variations to make women’s
clothes for this season, such as women’s suits based on tuxedo and dresses with
ties.
Azrouel has been participating in the NY Fashion Week for more than
a decade. He owns a Manhattan boutique in the fashionable meatpacking district,
where many high-end designers’ boutiques, such as Stella McCartney, Matthew
Williamson, Tracy Reese and Diane Von Furstenberg are located. In 2004,
Azrouel’s name was included in Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA)
together with big names like Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Donna Karan. These
days he spends most of his time working in New York but he visits Israel
regularly twice a year, saying, “I am an Israeli and I have a family there,” he
says.