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