In my new life at my old country, I am actually doing what I love as a fashion journalist for the israeli web-site Fashion Forward.

In the occasion of the new (jewish) year, we have asked 13 fashionistas to give us a list of their Top 10 local fashion designers. The winner of our holiday rank is Anya Fleet, a young graduate from Shenkar  (Israel’s most prestigious  school for fashion design). My interview with Anya was published in hebrew this week. I tried translating parts of it to post on issues but it doesn’t really make sense so i’ll just tell you about our encounter.

I’ve seen Anya’s work in a fashion fair just a few weeks before the rank. The high quality of her finish impressed me. Sadly, the israeli market suffers from lack of standards when it comes to fabrication. The reasons for that are mainly economic but also social, i’ll explain it all in a different post, I hope, once I get to the bottom of the issue. Anyway, Anya’s work is not a part of the problem.

She produces women’s ready-to-wear, jewelry and couture (evening and bridal)in small quantities in her studio. Her line is pretty somber, mostly black, and yet romantic with lace touches and applicated beads.

“A designer can not be a mass-production fashion chain and shouldn’t try to compete against it”, says Anya, “The two should complement one another. The market is saturated with everything, everybody have enough clothes and no one come to my studio because they need pants. So I try to do something more, something exciting, for self-expression. The people who buy my work do it in order to indulge themselves”.

In her current winter collection Anya took the idea to the next level, “I thought of the garments as if they were jewelry”. She calls it Unique Ready-to-Wear, “you don’t have to be nuts to wear with my stuff but every item has a statement”.

Photos by Michael Topyol for Fashion Forward

Living and working in Tel Aviv, Kobi Levi juggles a  footwear collection for men (Design Kitchen), a second line for women (Shoola) and a teaching job in “the Guild” – shoe design and production school.

When he does get a minute to rest, Kobi enjoys working some more, creating artistic footwear and publishing it in his blog.

“I always loved shoes and saw in them an interesting sculptural object. As a piece by itself and attached to legs or the body”, Kobi explains his unusual approach to shoes. ”I wanted to create a styling language of my own and show a humoristic way to look at shoes design. Also, the technical aspect of building these 3 dimensions forms gives me an opportunity to execute my creative fantasies with no compromises…”. Unleashed, Kobi’s fantasies do go a long way. Examples:

Some of your work can be interpreted as a certain critique on society, about women. Is there a hidden message behind your designs?

“In every work there’s a message and multiple layers…. Some will interpret “Blow” as turning the woman into a sexual object, but you can also look at it as a grotesque product that dishonors the user, not women. One way or another, it’s about society”.

Is there a demand to commercialize the “Crazy Shoes”? Are you planning on doing so?

“A lot. Many people are asking to buy or order these designs. Right now, I’m looking into making  limited editions. These are very complicated pieces so I don’t know really when it could be done. But in any case, I won’t give up the essence of the design just to increase production. The two will have to go hand in hand”.

By the way…  This is how Kobi’s “Normal” designs look like:

Goodbye sun, beach and shopping… My two-weeks-long vacation had reached its brutal end, but on the way back to Paris, my suitcase is filled with some of the work of Israel’s finest.

The Tel-Avivian people are very fashion-alerted, but the unforgiving sun of the Middle East forces them to make some compromises in their outfits (flip-flops – yes, shorts – yes, jeans – Oh no! Black – are you suicidal or what?). As a result, the Tel Avivian chic is very different from the European poised allure. The Israeli touch is colorful, eclectic and eccentric, and so are the talents emerging from the city’s streets.

During my visit, the annual Accessories Festival took place. There, in a forest of leather bags, belts, hats and shoes, something out of the ordinary caught my eye; Glued together and bound on a necklace, there they were – Snow White and her seven dwarfs.

Generous, beautiful and humoristic, this piece represents with success the woman standing behind it – Liat Ginzburg.  Three years ago she was still teaching art and photography in schools. Today, her unusual designs are starring on Israeli magazines covers, on celebrities’ necks and in prime time TV shows. «As a girl, I took apart my mother and grandmother’s dresses and shoes and assembled my jewelry”, Liat explains the radical change of career, “I always knew that something big has to happen to me in this field. It was burning Inside of me».

Something was burning alright… Enough to design and sell a Lego-house head-band, or a parrot necklace. “It doesn’t seem THAT bold to me!”, the designer defends her creations, “My sources of inspiration are colorful… Frida Kahlo, Almodóvar… Poetry, art and literature… So I just started doing what felt right. I was sincere, and people accepted it”.

For the moment, Liat’s jewelry is mostly available in Israel. Some of her designs are sold in the Parisian stores Franck et Fils and Victoire (hoping to expand soon…).
Prices: Neck pieces 180-430 euros, earings 80-150, braclets 90-170.

Holding up to its name, in the headquarters of Stiletto magazine you see shoes everywhere you look. On the walls in frames, on the shelves as decoration, as book-holders, in miniature figures and, of course, on the feet of the employees.

The 7 years old french magazine had made itself a home in a classic parisian apartment situated in the popular neighborhood Strasbourg Saint-Denis. From there, Stiletto covers the world of the Luxe and the french know-how, developping an on-growing international public of readers and surpassing its French competitors worldwide. It built itself good reputation by paying attention to the details – from the quality of the paper, to the quality of the image, putting in the front of the stage the most beautiful articles the season has to offer.

Every semester Stiletto comes out from the printing house with a perfume of a work well done.

Issues : How is Stiletto different from all those other magazines ?
Laurence Benaïm : Stiletto is an independent magazine, it doesn’t belong to a big group. Therefore, we don’t yield in front of dictations and trends. We are choosing ourselves the most beautiful pieces, with the most personality. Stiletto is trying to capture today’s spirit, of this time and period by celebrating the beauty and the luxury. We are not a Platform to showcase everything that is new, we sort out the collections and publish a selection of pieces.

Besides the beauty, we try to transmit emotions through portraits, through encounters. In every issue we give an artist a “free pass” to photograph a pair of shoes, for example. Behind each issue there is real fondamental work and reflection.

You’ve mentioned the spirit of our times. What is it about, in your opinion ?
Today is about dealing with the overflow of information on the internet. Everything is changing constantly. We are currently looking into ways to use IPad applications, to present a new experience of the magazine to our readers. Yet, in print there are certain qualities that don’t pass on the screen. The paper, the hot ink impression…

Today is also about the return to the imaginary. It’s a joyful side effect of the financial crisis. People maybe spend less on clothes, but they’re putting more emphasis on the make-up, the hairdo… They are drawn back to the fantastic, the theatrical, the extravagant.

There’s a contradiction between the influence of the luxury industry, on which you focus in Stiletto, and the percentage of people who can actually afford buying these objects.
Stiletto is not a catalogue, it’s not made for people to flip through and  then buy what they see. We want to make our readers dream. The beauty holds a message of love, of magic. It is not the property of the rich, it doesn’t belong only to those few who can buy  themselves a bag for 3,000 euros.

We don’t sell or censure anything, we show what’s pretty without judging.

Do you have any red lines – something you will never publish in your magazine ?
I will never put a photo of a 10,000 $ dress in the mud just because it’s “interesting” or to satisfy someone‘s ego. At the same time, I will never put that dress in a golden cage to show it’s unattainable… It was done a lot during a certain time, gladly, magazines are over that trend now…

Also, the girls photographed in the magazine can’t be trash. I hate trash. I hate showing a sick or a drugged girl in beautiful clothing. I want to transmit beauty and I hate that “snobbism of the garbage can”.

Are there any figures in the world of the Luxe who inspire you again and again ?
Yes. The artisans – the workers in the ateliers. The time seems to stop when they are focusing on a piece.

… I’ve read that your grandfather was a milliner…
That’s why i’m so fascinated by these workshops. I take it from my childhood.

Last question – Why shoes ?
It’s a fine symbol. It’s an obsesion.

How many pairs do you own ?
Quite a few…

Stiletto Magazine (France), 4 Issues/year, Price: 5 euros