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Row over Fashion Week on Yom Kippur

July 15, 2010 14:17

ByJan Shure, Jan Shure

2 min read

A leading fashion editor has criticised the British Fashion Council for the scheduling of some 20 catwalk shows on Yom Kippur, declaring that she will not attend a key event because it coincides with the end of the fast.

Suzy Menkes, influential fashion director of the Paris-based International Herald Tribune, said: “I am sad that the British Fashion Council ignores entirely the importance of Yom Kippur to the many Jewish people who are involved in the fashion trade.”

Her comments followed the release today (July 15) of the provisional schedules for London Fashion Week, which runs from September 17 to 22. LFW incorporates both an exhibition and six days of catwalk shows. In previous years, because of pressure on the calendar from the show schedules of the other major fashion capitals, Paris, Milan and New York, LFW has spilled across Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but key collections have never been shown on the first day of the New Year or Yom Kippur.
Designers showing on Yom Kippur include House of Holland, John Rocha, Charles Anastase and the directional Fashion Fringe event where the work of new, young designers is unveiled.

Ms Menkes added: “I am especially shocked that the Fashion Fringe event is scheduled for the time of the breaking of the Fast. I myself will not be attending the shows on Yom Kippur. The International Herald Tribune will try its best to cover collections on that day. But why should Jewish people have to make this personal decision, which will no doubt turn into a public tabloid debate?”