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The Jewish Chronicle

No, Israel doesn't just mean Gottex

Israel's designers are making more creative contributions to the world of fashion.

December 29, 2009 14:10
Op art shift by Avsh Alom Gur

ByJan Shure, Jan Shure

2 min read

Israel’s fashion industry may once have been best known for stunning swimwear but today the country’s designers are making much more creative contributions to the world of fashion.

The most feted and talented is, of course, Alber Elbaz, design director at Lanvin, who has helped oversee a dramatic turnaround in the fortunes of the Paris fashion house with his brand of luxe, sexy-yet-refined evening and cocktail wear. But for those of us for whom the £1,000-upwards creations are a fantasy, there are still some highly talented Israeli designers whose clothes we can buy here or when we go to Israel.

Alongside bridal designer Pnina Tornai, who opened her first shop in September, and Ronen Chen, whose West End shop opened in November, London has nurtured other Israeli talent.

Avsh Alom Gur, who was briefly design director of the revived Ossie Clarke label, has now turned his talent for exuberant, mashed-up couture-meets-street to an own-name collection. Autumn/winter 09 showed a fresh maturity, more suited to the European market than his earlier, frankly strange, paintbox bright pieces. For winter he displayed a grown-up and confident collection with fabulous eveningwear, like the salmon pink silk playsuit with strapless, sculpted bodice; a stunning black georgette one-sleeve number emblazoned with “Credit Crunch” around the waist in gold and crystal embroidery; and an exquisite long-sleeve jacket of perfectly crafted origami folds, worn over a bell-shape skirt, both in fruit-and-flower print in rich autumnal shades.