Jaffa House designers Golan Frydman and Eddie Gavrillidis brought their brand of casual streetwear to the Hangar 11 Tel Aviv runway on Wednesday evening, unveiling a collection on the final day of Kornit Tel Aviv Fashion Week that embraces fluidity.
The contemporary holiday collection aims to be genderless, softening traditional menswear pieces with fabrics and embroidery reminiscent of the Middle East, with a few short skirts thrown in.
The collection featured mostly male models, all strutting down the runway in shades of cream and khaki, with embroidered camels, palm-shaped hamsa symbols and the odd palm tree.
Some of the more feminine garments achieved the sequential effect, with shimmering tube dresses and summer stripes as well as fringed and tasseled wraps for skirts that were much longer than the men’s mini skim skirts.
Israeli-born Frydman and Greek Gavrillidis met in London and came to Tel Aviv during the pandemic, founding Jaffa House.
Frydman is best known for his award-winning Fyodor Golan label, whose designs have been worn by Madonna, Bella Hadid, Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, and other celebrities.
From the 2023 House of Jaffa collection at Kornit Fashion Week in Tel Aviv, March 22, 2023 (House of Jaffa)
Gavrillidis designed for Alexander McQueen and Tom Ford and founded a fashion development and manufacturing business in London, The Sampling Studio, which works with high-end fashion labels.
The pair aren’t the only local designers aimed at the genderless crowd. David Weksler’s colorful streetwear collection shown on Sunday, the first day of Fashion Week, pushes the boundaries of society, especially when it comes to gender and masculinity.
This was the 12th Fashion Week produced by Motti Reif, featuring 28 shows by leading fashion designers and newer names in the industry.
This year’s Fashion Week was sponsored by Kornit Digital, an Israeli manufacturer that produces industrial jet printers, pigment ink and chemical products for the textile industry.
Many of the participating designers have worked with sustainable fabrics and digital printing processes in their collections.
Alon Livne, perhaps one of the most famous names at the event and known for his Livne White bridal collections as well as his couture pieces worn by Beyonce and other celebrities (including her recent outfit for the film Black is King!”), the second to last show of the event.
A piece from designer Alon Livne’s 2023 collection at Kornit Tel Aviv Fashion Week, March 22, 2023 (Courtesy of Alon Livne)
Livne sent his models down the runway in his 2023 collection, named EXOCET for the French missile used mainly in the Falklands War and known for the extensive damage it causes.
The collection imagines a post-apocalyptic world built from ruins.
All 34 pieces, including tailored jackets, pants, cocktail and evening dresses, will carry the distinctive Livne look, with asymmetric, geometric reductions and its reimagining to create order from chaos.
