"Israel Fashion Art" - An Exeptional Gift for the Holidays

"Israel Fashion Art" Book-cover. Photo by Miri Davidovits

Hi, Looking for a unique gift for the coming holidays? The book "שיכרון עיצובים - אמנות האופנה בישראל"
might be exactly what you are searching. This album-book holds over 400 exceptional color photos that manifests the creative fashion designs of Israel from its inception till our time. It's been called "Israel's Fashion Bible", "A masterpiece", "A gift that looks like a million dollars". 

The book takes the reader through the development of the rich, colorful, authentic identity of Israeli fashion, inspired by the arts and crafts of the Hebrew tribes gathered together from over 100 diasporas. These crafts were applied to cosmopolitan fashion creations by the outstanding designer, Fini Leitersdorf, in the Maskit fashion house established by the remarkable visionary Ruth Dayan.

The book illustrates how some of the region's cultural aspects, like the kafiya and the hood, were interpreted by designers such as the creative Rozi Ben-Yosef as a bridge between the biblical past and the present. The book also emphasizes various other aspects of wearable art such as the use of seashells, hand-paint and sculptural designs, conceived by world swimwear queen Leah Gottlieb of "Gottex", haute-couture master Gideon Oberson and many other gifted designers. In addition, the book sheds light on imaginative-futuristic creations by students at leading Israel design colleges such as Shenkar, Bezalel and Wizo-Haifa. 

Finally this fashion-art book embodies the fabulous success of Israeli designers abroad, topped by international star Alber Elbaz who made the distinguished "Time 100" list, and according to "Vogue" magazine, "transformed Lanvin into the fashion world's most-wanted label". 

  Here are some of the latest enthusiastic responses the book received:

 מאיר קדוש                 Meir Kadosh, FB. June 23, 2012                                      

בספרך המעולה אפילו מופיעה עבודה שעשיתי לדניאלה להבי בלי קרדיט לי כמי שביים והגה את הצילום

• (;

פרח ראובן    Perach Reuven, designer. June, 26, 2012                           

נורית היקרה

אני קניתי שני עותקים של הספר שלך בהתרגשות רבה, תודה לך שאני נכללת בתוכו

דבר חשוב, רק את עם הידע המדהים שלך ויכולת עתונאית מקצועית בנשמה , יכולה להרים פרוייקט שכזה,

אני תמיד הערכתי אותך ועכשיו עוד יותר

אשרי לך יקירתי

פרח

          July,6 2012 FB            מוריה שמיר       Moria Shamir   

למי שפנוי בשעה זו
נורית בערוץ 2,
עם הספר המדהים,,
אצל שמעון פרנס.
שבת שלום מלאה באהבה לכולללללם,

אטי יעקובסון                    Eti Yaakobson, designer, FB. July,10, 2012 wrote:‏ ‏"

אמת ,מרגש ומשכר".

(בתגובה להקדמת רות דיין לספר שפורסמה בפייסבוק)

תמר פרימק, אישתר פשון               Tamar Primack, Ishtar Fashion. Aug,6,2012
מה שלומך?
זכורה לי שיחתנו משנת 2008, בעניין ספרך "שיכרון עיצובים".ֿ
אני מאוד אוהבת את הספר אני מלמדת במכון הטכנולוגי בחולון (היט)
ואני משתמשת בו בשיעורי.

‫

Noa Shoshany, FB. Aug.7, 2012                                                    נועה שושני

לכבוד הוא לי נורית - הספר שלך עומד מעל ראשי כרגע במדף הספרים שלי:) ולא רק כי כריכתו עוצרת נשימה אלא כי תוכנו הוא כזה:)

לינור נבטי Linor Nabati, FB. Aug. 18, 2012                                                  היי נורית,
הספר מונח על שולחני מהשבוע הראשון שיצא לאור.
אני מאוד מעריכה את הספר וחושבת שהינו בעל חשיבות רבה
ומשמש מעיין שליחות לתיעוד הסטורית האופנה והתרבות הישראלית .
רק שירבו עוד אנשי מקצוע כמוך שיחקרו וישמרו את נושא האופנה ותרבות בארץ ישראל.
תודה
לינור

Anat Segal, FB. Sept.1 2012                                    ענת סגל ‏"‫נורית בת יער , אנציקלופדיה של תרבות הלבוש של עמנו . וכיוון שעמנו מגיע מכל העולם אז גם של תרבות הלבוש העולמית . תודה על שאת קיימת ! "‏

מיכל סדן    Michal Sadan, FB. Sept. 6, 2012                                               

נורית את אישה ייחודית.הספר מדהים !

This is the 20th bunch of responses to the book I'm uploading. The previous ones were posted on  Feb, 20, 2010,on Aug, 3, 2010, on Aug, 13, 2010, on Sept. 16, 2010, on Oct. 6, 2010, on Oct.23, 2010, on Nov. 26, 2010 ,on Dec. 16, 2010, on Jan.2, 2011, on March 16, 2011, on May 20 2011 on June 27, 2011 and on Aug. 1, 2011 posts. Oct. 3, 2011 , Dec. 1, 2011 on Jan.22, 2012, on March 21, 2012, on June, 3, 2012..and on June 21, 2012.

Responses from the Academy were posted on (May 3, 2010 ), Museum Curators (July 18, 2010), and the Press (June 15, 2010) .

Shimon Peres, Israel's President's so highly appreciated, heart-warming response was posted on Oct. 15, 2010
 

The Royale Wedding and "Israel Fashion Art 1948-2008"

Hi, I had the pleasure and honor to view the fantastic Royal wedding of Prince charming William and his beautiful Kate Middleton from Israel's Channel 1 television broadcasting studio since I was invited by the broadcast producer Maya Talmon to join the channel's two major stars David Vitstum and Oren Nahari and commentate alongside them about the wedding's guests' fashion.

Upon returning home I was very happy to see the great responses my Facebook friends left me on my wall about the "excellent" and "captivating" way my comments were presented. The next day another pleasant surprise awaited me at the Walla website

מצב רוח מרוממה: ערוץ 1 - המנצח הגדול של סיקור החתונה המלכותית
http://e.walla.co.il/?w=%2F269%2F1819198   in which Avner Shavit announced that
channel 1 gave the winning royal wedding broadcast mentioning me as well as the best among the various t.v. fashion commentators of the wedding.

What does all this has to do with my album book "Israel Fashion Art 1948-2008"?
Firstly, I was introduced on the t.v's screen as the author of the book. So, the book participated in the celebration too.  The book was also on the commentators' table since
I was hoping to show during the broadcast a lovely photo of the mother of the groom, Princess Diana, which is featured in it. The reason being: Diana Queen of Hearts was a fan of Israel's Gottex beachwear and in all her beach and yacht pictures published in all of England's newspapers during the months prior to her tragic death - she was wearing the Lea Gottlieb for Gottex swimsuits.


A 92 beachwear by Lea Gottlieb of Gottex in a Patrick Demarchelier photo modeled by Naomi Campbell



Princess Diana with Lea Gottlieb of Gottext in an exclusive photo
of "Israel Fashion Art 1948-2008" album book by Nurit Bat-Yaar
Photo: Pauline Lewis.

The photo appears in the book's chapter about the success stories of Israeli fashion around the world while the story about Princess Diana and Mrs. Gottlieb's meeting, as it was told to me by Mrs. Gottlieb in her fantastic garden-like Tel-Aviv apartment, opens the beachwear's chapter. Although, finally I didn't show the photo during the broadcast - I did mention the fact that my father served in the British army during WWII and that several years ago the three medals he was granted for it by the British government were incorporated in a special military inspired jacket which designer Shalom Hai Halevi designed for me. This being another British story mentioned in the book
"שיכרון עיצובים - אמנות האופנה בישראל".
Now, I'm trying to put my hands on a recording of television's channel 1 broadcast of the Royal Wedding so I can share with you guys at least a part of it.

Ancient Egypt and "Israel Fashion Art 1948-2008" - Album-Book fit for Passover.

Photo from "Israel Fashion Art 1948-2008". Designed for Gottex by Lea Gottlieb. Photographer: Nira David Dror.

Hi, Passover, the holiday in which families recall and commemorate the exodus from Egypt, is around the corner so what would be a better time to share with you the fact that "Israel Fashion Art - 1948-2008" "שיכרון עיצובים - אמנות האופנה בישראל 1948-2008"
includes a chapter about the influence of Ancient Egypt on Israeli fashion design.
The chapter is called "From Pharos daughters to Sadat peace visit to Israel".

I have always believed that one of the important attributes of great original fashion designers was the fact that they drew inspiration from their cultural heritage, be it Cristobal Balenciaga who inserted Spanish elements in his famed Parisian creations, YSL who was inspired by the coloration and richness of exzotic Algeria of his early years, or Issay Miake whose Japanese heritage is evident in his work.

Hence, I've decided to emphasize in my album-book Israeli fashion designs which also drew inspiration from the country's cultural heritage. And Ancient Egypt certainly played a very important part in this heritage. One of the most prominent designers who expressed her enchantment with the artistic elements of Egypt was Lea Gottlieb of Gottex who created the beachwear seen in the picture above. As soon as the peace treaty with Egypt was signed Mrs. Gottlieb also sent photographer Nira David-Dror along with a couple of models, Tami Ben-Ami (seen here) and Hani Perry to have her designes photographed near the Sphynx and the Pyramids.

In the relevant chapter I traced various aspects of our Egyptian history starting with Pharos daughters, one of which discovered and saved the life of Moses and another who became King Salomon's wife. I continued by mentioning one Egyptian historian's theory according to whom Moses was in fact one of the Pharos.

It occurred to me that this link of Israeli fashion design to Ancient Egypt as described and elaborated on in this chapter of the book makes the album-book a proper holiday gift for Passover. Certainly an un-expected, original one. Don't you think?