[ad_1]
Designer Shahar Avnet has a way of turning dreams into reality. The 30-year-old Israeli has only created her mark last year, but has already designed the multicolored kimono worn by the winner of the Eurovision Netta Barzilai and a dress for the queen – Queen Bey, that is to say.
For young Avnet who, 18 months ago, fantasized on Instagram about Beyoncé wearing one of her drawings, watching the singer perform in her bad tulle creation during her world tour with her husband Jay -Z a defining moment.
Kyle S. Mackie
Not bad for someone who could not even draw six years ago, before enrolling at Shenkar College in Tel Aviv.
"Beyoncé is the biggest source of inspiration in my life," says Avnet, while she serves coffee and bourekas in her studio in South Tel Aviv. "It was an opportunity to say without words how much I love and appreciate his work."
The designer was born at Kibbutz Eilon, in northern Israel, and grew up near Kfar Vradim. She says that she first knew that she wanted to become a fashion designer at age 15, when her grandmother taught her how to knit.
When she finished her first scarf, she recalls, she was shocked and excited that the finished product was revealed exactly as she had imagined it in her mind. Showing a natural talent for the unusual color combinations that now characterize her couture looks, Avnet used a combination of golden and brown threads after running out of pink.
But it is only after finishing his military service and the Israeli previous sabbatical year (spent traveling around India and Nepal) that Avnet has had the chance to put his plan into action. At 23, she moved to Tel Aviv and got a job as a bar hostess. It was at that time that she enrolled in her first sewing clbad and decided to pursue her fashion design career by applying to Shenkar.
Even then, Beyoncé helped her get through what is commonly considered one of the best fashion design programs in the world: the aspiring designer spent long nights sewing and to listen to the song "Formation"; Avnet even studied how the pop icon and his team predict trends and adapt them.
In addition to learning the trends, Avnet studies sketching, embroidery and the use of color at Shenkar: all now contribute to the unique work that stylists like Zerina Akers, who works for Beyoncé, and Itay Bezaleli of Barzilai.
Akers reached out to Avnet a few months after a dress from his Shenkar collection was featured in a W magazine's photoshoot in July 2017 with American singer-actor Zendaya – after Avnet had sent the dress to Zendaya's stylist, Law Roach ("Next Top Model of America").
The photoshoot kicked off Avnet's career and helped give her the confidence to launch her own brand in September, despite the fact that she had been working for three years. month at Israeli fashion house Maskit. (The Zendaya dress is now on display in the exhibition "Fashion Statements: Decoding Israeli Dress" at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, until April 2019.)
Initially, Beyoncé's stylist only asked Avnet for designs for the R & B duo Chloe x Halle. But later the same day, Akers added a request for Queen Bey, without ever seeing the Instagram post where Avnet had dreamed of designing for her.
"The first thing that crossed my mind was fear," says Avnet. "It's the biggest dream of my life!"
Avnet called one of her five brothers and sisters – her brother, or, with whom she is particularly close – and confessed to having panicked by not knowing what Beyoncé would want to carry. Or reminded him that no matter the fame of the client, the job of a designer is to give them what the designer knows they should wear. "You know Beyoncé so well," he says, "it's sure it'll be great for her."
There is no "good" black
When you enter the Avnet loft in an old industrial building, you realize that you need a richer vocabulary for color. From the bright pink sofa to the orange, pbading by the peach and blue kimono worn by the designer, everything challenges the hegemony of black haute couture.
"When I go to a celebration, for a wedding or a gallery opening or a party, I do not want to wear black," says Avnet, explaining the inspiration of his largely colorful and radical creations.
But she admits that her confidence varies and she sometimes chooses the color to wear according to the attention that she wants to receive – a deeply ingrained calculation that will be familiar to many women.
"Unfortunately, women sometimes think of themselves and prefer not to be the ones everyone will watch," says Avnet, noting that this leads to the safe choice of wearing black. "If you are going to wear yellow, maybe someone else will say," Look at this color! Why is she dressed in yellow? It's so strange – it's not at the right time, or the right trend, and it's not the right yellow. "There is no good black," she says.
Still, Avnet wants more women to ask, "Who am I today?" While dressing, instead of "What will they think of me?
"Wake up in the morning and say," Wow, I'm beautiful! What will I wear today? Let's celebrate, "Avnet encourages.
This is also the spirit behind the "Love Yourself" message registered on all Avnet's clothing labels and a ubiquitous hashtag on his Instagram account. More than a marketing plan for the age of body positivity and #MeToo movement, the motto is also a mantra that Avnet strives to live.
"I think today we are seeing big changes in the world of fashion – both in professional collections and in the image of women's bodies," Avnet explains. its mark a 38 (US size 8). the smallest standards for most brands. Avnet also creates her creations up to size 44, which she says is larger than the maximum of 42 available in Israel.
"In the Middle East, we have curves, so it's important not to deny it," she says.
Avnet also defies industry standards by choosing to work in the Middle East instead of more obvious fashion capitals like London, Paris or New York. Several factors influenced this decision, including her desire to stay close to friends and family and the dream of starting her own family in Israel someday.
But Avnet also realized that in today 's global and digital economy, the physical location of its business does not count as much of the quality of the work.
Moreover, she attributes to her Israeli identity an essential ingredient in her daring creations.
"I have the courage of the Israeli people – do not be shy, say it aloud, in your face," she says. "I'm pretty proud to be Israeli and to be from Tel Aviv, I think it's one of the places [where] everything is going very fast, and we have a lot of" Inspiration because we have a complicated situation. "
Israeli fashion designers are innovative because they must be, and because of the many influences that converge in a small country of diverse immigrants. Large-scale textile factories are no longer supported by the Israeli government – as they were in the 1960s and 1970s, before the industry collapsed during the economic crisis of the 1980s. And while the industry has seen a modest resurgence since the 1990s, Avnet says the fight continues for designers still operating from Tel Aviv just leading to greater creativity.
Working with a small team of three, Avnet takes on advertising and communications internally, and is heavily involved in the adaptation and creation of each of his creations. For the time being, she works mainly on dresses that are only available to order, but hopes that New Yorkers, Londoners and Parisians will one day be able to buy Shahar Avnet ready-to-wear outfits.
But a word of warning for all those hoping to join Zendaya, Netta and Beyoncé: The drawings are for women who can enter a room and not be afraid that everyone turns their heads and look. In other words, they will need some of the chutzpah Avnet has already shown in his short but promising career.
[ad_2]
Source link
