Israeli fashion designer Azrouel likes Katie Lee just the way she is

June 18, 2009 - 8:41 AM by

A photo that appeared in GQ of Katie Lee and Yigal Azrouel at a party in New York in February

A photo that appeared in GQ of Katie Lee and Yigal Azrouel at a party in New York in February

If you’re an Israeli who likes Billy Joel, then you may have to decide between dual loyalties. The 60-year-old piano man has separated from his 27-year-old wife, celebrity chef Katie Lee.

Lee, apparently, has settled on someone closer to her own age, and he’s Israeli -36-year-old celebrity fashion designer Yigal Azrouel. As expected, with a three-way celebrity thing going, the gossip columns are in heaven, and everyone is pointing to Azrouel as the dark, handsome lothario who has stolen Lee’s heart.

According to the NY Daily News, which was first to break the story, Lee, the first host of Bravo’s “Top Chef,” has been spotted out regularly with Azrouel. The two were seen dancing closely in Miami earlier this year and sources told the paper the designer has called Lee, “my girlfriend.”

However, a rep for the Joels said that Azrouel had no role in the separation. “Their breakup has nothing to do with Yigal,” Joel’s spokeswoman, Claire Mercuri, told the NY Daily News. “Their decision to separate was absolutely unrelated to Yigal.”

So, who is Azrouel? According to a 2006 feature on the designer in ISRAEL21c, everyone from Natalie Portman to Sarah Jessica Parker to Lenny Kravitz (and Katie Lee) have stepped out in Azrouel’s body-contouring creations, and magazines like Vogue, Interview, and Harper’s Bazaar regularly splash his designs across their pages.

Not bad for an Ashdod boy. Azrouel did not attend design school or enroll in formal education back in his hometown, but instead, taught himself.

“I bought a sewing machine and a mannequin and I started de-constructing garments and then I’d make new pieces for myself, my sisters and my friends. I would drape the mannequin with a de-constructed jacket I had made and then I would make a new one,” Azrouel told ISRAEL21c.

In the late 90s, he left his sewing machine in southern Israel and headed for Manhattan’s trendy, meat packing district. Almost instantaneously Barney’s, Oxygene and Joyce Hong Kong snatched up his wears. Nowadays, Azrouel’s name is tossed around alongside Calvin Klein’s and Anna Sui’s.

Despite his rapid ascent as a favorite of the jet set, Azrouel maintains close ties to his roots and his family in Israel – parents, five brothers and two sisters all residing in Israel – one sister living elsewhere.

“My best friends in the world are in Israel and so is my family. I visit about four times a year and family and friends meet me when I’m traveling around the world,” he shares. “I love Israel. It’s a very emotional place for me. I can live anywhere in the world but Israel is always home.”

He attributes his success to his background and upbringing. A sense of independence, confidence and willingness to follow an un-paved road are consistent with his Israeli roots.

As is apparently his ability to woo beautiful woman like Lee. I interviewed 1980s pop soulster Paul Young a few months back, and his wife had also left him for an Israeli living in London. It looks like the Israeli Zohan charm is rubbing off around the globe.

Tags: , , , , • Category: design, General, Music, Pop Culture 

Comments

One Comment on Israeli fashion designer Azrouel likes Katie Lee just the way she is

  1. Larry in L.A. on Fri, Jun 19th 2009 1:49 AM

    2. Zohan and charm in the same sentence? I saw that movie…

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