Castro launches Fall/Winter 2013 collection

Israel’s fashion elite pile into a giant hangar in north Tel Aviv for glimpse of country’s most successful retail chain coming collection.

By ORI J. LENKINSKI
Castro Fall/Winter 2013 collection 370 (photo credit: Avi Feldman)
Castro Fall/Winter 2013 collection 370
(photo credit: Avi Feldman)
On Sunday morning, Israel’s fashion elite piled into a giant hangar in north Tel Aviv for some mini-quiches, sparkling wine and a glimpse of Castro’s Fall/Winter 2013 collection.
The country’s most successful retail chain, Castro certainly knows how to put on a show. Live music by Metropoline set the tone for what promises to be a nice-looking season.
Eti Rotter, daughter of the Castro founders and the current CEO of the company, welcomed the crowd with an opening speech. She expressed her pride at being Israel’s biggest fashion house and divulged that Castro will soon unveil its newest endeavor, Castro Kids.
As the lights came up on the runway, Castro presenters Gal Gadot, Yonathan Wagman, Liraz Dror and Arik Mor sauntered, pack-style, toward the crowd. Gadot charged the runway, cool as a cucumber in a voluminous grey, animal-print gown with a cropped leather vest and high-heeled boots. Beside her, Dror sported a strapless jumpsuit in leather. Wagman and Mor flanked the two ladies wearing sweaters and jeans.
If the first looks in a fashion show are meant to summarize the upcoming season, we can expect to see a lot of leather (or pleather), animal prints and knits from Castro’s Red line come fall.
The first line shown, the Red line, looked like a hodge-podge of everything that has been really trendy in the past few years. There was an overall glam-grunge sensibility to the glittery skirts topped with men’s t-shirts and safari jackets. We saw plaid shirts, leopard mini-dresses, athletic tunics and leather jumpsuits during the first few minutes of the show, followed by the menswear answer to those looks. The innovation here was in the kaleidoscopic effect that seeing all these colors and styles put together created.
It was the second round of the show that truly stood out. Straight from Castro’s Blue line came an array of snazzy jean shirts, including one truly fabulous oversized denim dress. Both men and women were treated to jeans in a bunch of charming prints. Here the Castro designers parted ways with the overdone trends of the decade and headed in a softer, more sophisticated direction.
A voluminous skirt was paired with a cowgirl- esque blouse and an oversized men’s shirt layered with a short-sleeved leather jumper. The men’s section of this line featured soft knit sweaters and cotton jodhpurs, dressed down with hi-top sneakers.
Finally, headed up by Gadot in a knee-length white coat, the Black line made its way down the long runway. Here the animal prints returned, only in the grown-up version. With a nod to 1940s and ‘50s glam, the models strutted their stuff in Lolita-style sunglasses and high-wasted pencil skirts. It was all a bit Mad Men and a touch Lana Del Rey. For the gentlemen, two-tone button- downs and loose slacks dominated the fanciest of Castro’s three lines.
Regardless of the line, Castro’s show was truly enhanced by the creative eye of house stylist Limor Zohar-Shavit.
To view the Fall/Winter 2013 Collection, visit www.castro.com.