Who runs the fashion world?

A man or a woman, it doesn’t matter, as long as you are talented and fabulous.

By ORI J. LENKINSKI

MARCH 16, 2017 10:43

Behind the scenes at a fashion show (photo credit: REUTERS) — Behind the scenes at a fashion show

(photo credit: REUTERS)

On March 8, International Women’s Day, while ladies around the country joined together to celebrate equal rights, the similarities and differences between the two sexes and all that women of the world have accomplished, a couple of dozen workers busily rolled out a long, lush, red carpet.

They polished a runway, hung lights, dotted the Is and crossed the Ts to prepare for the annual Gindi Fashion Week. Last week’s four-day event underscored the bond linking Tel Aviv and other snazzy metropolitan fashion centers like Paris and Milan.

A recent addition to every good fashionista’s not-to-miss calendar, Fashion Week will bring out all that glitters in the White City. The large majority of those on the guest list are women – from fashion-savvy teens to serious buyers to lone wolves hunting to secure their 2017 wardrobe. In Tel Aviv, the dozen shows cater almost exclusively to the female customer, leaving men to find their togs at Zara or H&M.

In an industry so overwhelmingly focused on female clientele, one would expect the reins to be in the hands of women, but in Israel the fashion world’s power hierarchies are evenly split between the sexes – and so it is for the designers showcasing in this fashion week.

This puts the country in the progressive category, as most fashion capitals are dominated by men. From the designers themselves to the buyers, shoppers and producers, Israel’s fashion community is increasingly blind to gender.

Perhaps our start-up nation is more able than most to finesse the tricky boundary between what is classically male and female.

“There’s a lot of play on gender these days, which is a really big change I’ve noticed in the last few years,” says Moti Reif, the king and initiator of Fashion Week. A producer and consultant, he is arguably the most prominent and important figure in Israeli fashion today.

As models strut down Gindi’s runway, Reif stands in the control booth in his iconic T-shirt and black jeans, doling out instructions to the crew. “You’re catching me at a perfect moment for the subject of gender in fashion,” he said in a conversation last week, during the preparations.

“I just left a fitting with Maoz Dahan, [designer of local label Nouveau Riche Dog]. He’s putting together his show and there is an idea to end it with the male and female models stripping and switching outfits.”

For the past two years, Reif has sat on the panel for the fashion initiative of the Israel National Lottery Council for Arts and Culture, selecting the emerging voices that will receive invaluable support for a new collection.

“The young generation of designers, women and men, are all about playing with gender. They use male models who are much more delicate than the older designers choose. In Israel, women feel free to wear whatever they want – suits, menswear, whatever. It’s the men who have been stuck and it’s the men who are changing now. Men are starting to catch on to gender-neutrality and it isn’t about sexuality, it’s about style.”

Elaine Stoleru.(photo credit: EITAN TAL)

A very different figure in the fashion world, designer Elaine Stoleru, has made a career of outfitting classy ladies in perfectly cut suits. Her shop, which inhabits a sprawling open space on Dizengoff Street, evokes the elegance of Jackie Kennedy, as does Stoleru herself.

“If I think about who runs the fashion world around here, I would say gender is not an important factor. I think that women are innately more suited to design for other women and that the men who are drawn to make womenswear are very special. But I don’t think that being a woman positively or negatively impacted my career,” she explains.

Designer Maya Negri seconds this thought.

“I see very strong women leading the fashion world, but there are also powerful male voices,” she says moments before revealing her spring/summer collection.

Standing next to her, the first lady of Israeli public relations, Hila Rahav, nods her head.

“Here, it doesn’t make any difference, being a man or a woman, in how successful a designer is. We are very lucky in that way.”

A man or a woman, it doesn’t matter, as long as you are talented and fabulous.