Jerusalem – Tres chic!

May 2, 2007 - 10:13 AM by Israelity

Could it be that the holiest city in the holiest country in the world is fast on its way to becoming the next burgeoning fashion playground? It is—if Jpost has anything to say about it.

The Jerusalem Post reports Tel Aviv and Herziliya are no longer the only budding fashion havens in Israel and Jerusalem is slowly but surely taking their place.

Legendary Jerusalem–Kotel…Kodesh…but COSMOPOLITAN???

Yes, this spiritual capital could be the next fashion capital. Big designers are moving into the neighborhood.

Daphna Levinson for HDL, Ronen Chen, Naama Bezalel, and Dorin Frankfurt are all capitalizing on this new trend, setting up shop in places like the Jerusalem Mall and Jaffa Road.

Levinson even calls the closeness of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv “a very dynamic, fashionable fusion.”

And Dorin Frankfurt, a veteran designer and the owner of 22 stores in Israel, says “I think Jerusalem is a cosmopolitan city.”

Perhaps Jerusalem is the new urban sprawl for the fashionably elite

Jerusalem has a little bit of everything when it comes to clothing. I think that’s what I love about it. You have the Jews in their religious garb and the Arabs in theirs and then you might see a little bit of the inbetween.

You’d just as soon see the girls in frothy lace tops, skinny designer jeans and leopard print flats and many of the guys I’ve noticed wear big aviator shades, Diesel jeans and tight muscle tees and hoodies, many of which have funny American logos (ever seen that Sarit Hadad video where she gets the guy wearing the t-shirt marked Porn Star?)

Maybe I’m generalizing…but Jerusalem is too diverse to pin down one fashion trend. Still, its easy to notice the prominent ones.

Back in August 2004, a blogger by the name of JerusalemGypsy noticed the trends among teens and twentysomethings and categorized them in two types of dress. Hard to believe, but these trends are still going on today.

Either you belong to the “freakim” – and wear hippies clothing, anything that looks like it came from India, long flowing skirts, jeans with beads, long hair, little makeup; or you belong to the “arsim” crowd – for the boys, spiked hair, streaked blond, greased; for the girls – track suits or tight jeans with skimpy tops, very high heels or platforms, clunky looking shoes, hair blow-dried straight or curly and greased to a glossy sheen. I see most “freakim” having ashkenazic heritage – those of European background while most “arsim” come from sephardic background – those from Arab/Mediterranean countries.

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