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Nov. 3, 2006
Israel's "Designer to the Stars"
Galit Levi creates sumptuous frocks for her clients – even
in the middle of a war zone.
WENDY ELLIMAN ISRAEL PRESS SERVICE
Her evening wear and wedding gowns fly off the rails in stores
in New York, Paris and Riyadh. They are fast-selling items in Harrods
of London, they are regularly featured in Manhattan Bride,
Sposa and Wedding Style and they dressed The Apprentice
finalists in Donald Trump's reality TV show in 2005.
In 12 busy years, Galit Levi's market has become global, but the
Israeli designer's psyche remains nonetheless firmly rooted in the
country where she was born, lives and works. Five years ago, for
example, with suicide bombings at their height, she designed a "dress
with a message" for Miss Israel to wear at the Miss Universe
contest in Puerto Rico – a floor-length gown of camouflage-colored
silk studded with diamonds and pearls, under a standard army-issue
flak jacket, also adorned with diamonds. "It signalled to the
world," said Levi, "that everyday life must go on despite
the violence."
This past summer, with violence once again convulsing the Middle
East, Levi's heart went out to the couples in northern Israel forced
to cancel their weddings because of missiles thudding into their
hometowns in their hundreds.
"I felt really bad for them," she said, "so I volunteered
to make their wedding dresses. That set the ball rolling. Someone
donated a Tel-Aviv nightclub as a wedding venue, another provided
the wedding feast and so on."
Fifty couples from Israel's north married in the mass ceremony in
mid-August.
"It was a real rush finding a dress and veil that matched the
personality and figure of each bride, and then fitting them to get
a perfect total look," said Levi. "But we did it!"
These 50 young women joined more than 10,000 brides who have married
in Galit Levi-handcrafted gowns since 1994, when Levi opened her
design house in Tel-Aviv. That opening was itself triggered by a
wedding – her own.
"I'd always loved fabric and clothing, and often sewed outfits
for my friends," she said. "When I got married, wedding
dresses were still fairly ordinary, so I decided to design my own.
It was made of pink lace and gold threading, and stunned everyone
who saw it. Within two months of my wedding, I decided to establish
my own business."
Then, as now, she imported all the fabrics she used from Paris and
Milan, employed expert cutters and had weaving and twining artists
delicately hand-thread the gowns with pearls, precious stones and
beads. The designs, however, were and are entirely Levi's.
"I work 12-hour days, and they're never long enough!"
she said.
Levi believes that the key to the popularity of her designs is what
she delicately calls "small corset architecture.
"Each of our special corsets is engineered to emphasize the
bride's assets while hiding the less flattering parts," she
noted. "Whereas a regular corset is made of five bones of material,
ours are constructed with 90. They decorate and support the body
so securely and comfortably that the wearer doesn't even feel it."
Today, Levi's wedding and eveningwear fashions are at the top of
Israel's fashion industry, and have carved an undisputed place alongside
the creations of international design superstars such as Dolce &
Gabbana and Jean-Paul Gaultier. For Israel's well-dressed –
actresses, singers, TV hosts, beauty queens and career women –
Galit Levi designs have been a must-have item for several years.
In 1998, for example, model Galit Gutman created a local sensation
wearing a black net Levi dress at Israel's beauty queen pageant,
Israeli singer Dana International won the Eurovision Song Contest
in a classic dress designed by Levi and Linor Abergil became Miss
World in a stunning white Galit Levi dress.
Since then, crowned with the soubriquet of "Designer to the
Stars," Levi's designs dress Israeli beauty queen contestants
year after year, as well as Eurovision Song Contest contenders,
television presenters and, this year, the outfits for all the finalists
of Israel TV's Born to Dance.
At Eurovision's 50th anniversary pageant in 2005, International
shunned the gown specially designed for her by Jean-Paul Gaultier,
instead performing in a Levi creation. Levi has twice been named
Israel's Designer of the Year, contributes fashion columns to Israeli
magazines and online sites and regularly serves as a fashion specialist
and beauty pageant judge.
Busy though she is, Levi is still expanding her business. Last year,
she opened a showroom in New York and launched Galit Levi Beach
Couture.
And if you're spoiled for choice among her sumptuous lacy, flowery
or sparkly fabrics in every imaginable shade and design, here's
some advice from the Designer to the Stars: "When you go shopping
for that special dress, go with a good friend or even with your
mother, but never take more than two advisors along."
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