Israeli fashion designer Kedem Sasson has been teaching his vision of fashion to students at the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design for more than a year and a half. Come next week, he’ll be able to extend his audience even further, to the entire country.
As the mentor for the first season of “Project Runway: Israel,” Sasson will use his 17 years in the fashion industry to help guide the 13 contestants through a series of challenges, from designing an outfit inspired by a song from Israeli pop singer Rita to creating lingerie from items purchased at an open market in Jaffa. The show premiers on June 17 in prime time on Reshet TV, Channel 2.
“I do fashion differently, feel
it differently,” said the designer, whose creations are worn by such varied personalities as Whoopi Goldberg and world-music bandleader Idan Raichel. (Sasson’s clothes are sold at Rosebud, the Soho boutique that specializes in Israeli fashion.)“Fashion for me is not just being a designer — it’s culture, art, civilization.”
Sasson was one of 100 Israeli designers who auditioned for his position in the show, Israel’s equivalent of Tim Gunn, the stylish mentor and fashion expert on “Project Runway.” Israeli model Shiraz Tal, who once modeled for Versace, Gucci and Victoria’s Secret, will host the show and serve as a judge along with Victor Bellaish, a designer who once worked with Roberto Cavalli before starting his own line, and Gal Apel, an Israeli stylist to the stars.
“This is a small window to see fashion from the other side — the industry, to see the pressure the designers are under,” Sasson said.
A show like “Project Runway” is a departure from the television shows Israelis are used to seeing in the evening, according to Oren Gazit, head of program development at Reshet TV.
Unlike reality televisions shows like “The Amazing Race” and “Beauty and the Geek,” which are running on Israeli TV right now, “[‘Project Runway’] is about talented people. We love to see creative people doing their job,” Gazit said. “It’s about pure talent, not how you look or if the audience likes you.”
More than 400 designers showed up to audition at the Reshet TV offices six months ago. Most, Gazit said, had studied at the Bezalel art and design school or Shenkar, but a few were “self-made designers, who had never studied. It shocked the judges.”
With every contest comes a prize, and “Project Runway: Israel” is no exception. At stake is a line of clothing in the Castro shops, Israel’s equivalent of Zara or Mango, and the designer’s own shop, with one-year lease, at the Arena Shopping Mall in Herzliya.
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