Designer Cavalli launches Israel's first fashion week in over 30 years

Italian designer Roberto Cavalli kicks off Tel Aviv Fashion Week, the first in over three decades. 


 TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (NOVEMBER 21, 2011) (REUTERS) - Italian designer Roberto Cavalli kicked off the first Tel Aviv Fashion Week in more than 30 years, in a boost to Israel's fashion industry.

Cavalli, one of Italy's leading fashion luminaries, presented his spring 2012 collection on Monday (November 21), fresh from the Milan runways last month.

Cavalli's "barely-there" animal prints, sheer chiffon and backless straight line dresses were amongst some of the styles displayed on the catwalk to a crowd of over 500 spectators, journalists, local and international celebrities.

Cavalli, who has visited Israel several times in the past, said nowadays fashion has become international and Israel is no different than other leading fashion countries.

"I feel that fashion today is no Israeli, Italy, American, England. It's international. Because all of you read the same magazines that all of what you're reading...We watch the same movies. And fashion is there. From there you get idea what to buy," Cavalli told a group of reporters on the eve of the launch of the event.

"You have to realise what you're showing, and...to show your fantasy together with the fantasy of the designer. Maybe I ask too much but exactly what we want from fashion? To be different...with us, people that interpret it, with us, our fashion. That is the most important," he said.

Featuring 18 foreign and local fashion designers, Tel Aviv's old Jaffa Railway Station turned into a lifestyle hub and major attraction for journalists, designers and other notables, such as Milan fashion celebrity Mario Boselli, as well as fashion figures from Russia, Japan and the United States.

Leading Israeli fashion designers will showcase their collections over the event, supported by Israel's tourism ministry and local business.