Fashion on the Firing Line

Published: Glamour, UK, France, Spain, Russia

Fashion on the Firing Line

How one fashion house is trying to heal the Arab-Israeli conflict. With shirts. And it’s working.

On a cold evening in December 2003, the founder of Israeli fashion label Comme Il Faut, sneaked illegally from Jerusalem into the Palestinian territory of Bethlehem. Armed with nothing more that fabric samples, Sybil was on a mission to unite women from both sides of the conflict.

Even though it is extremely dangerous to cross the border (particularly since the Israeli government erected an 8m-high wall around the west bank in 2002), she was determined to create a fashion collection that would be designed in Israel and embroidered in Palestine.

Once she had successfully entered Bethlehem, Sybil was met by a peace activist called Mary and was taken to her house. “I was shocked by their surroundings,” she says. “I’d been to Palestine before and it was beautiful and full of life. This time there were bullet holes everywhere and whole streets had been destroyed.

Sybil and Mary talked about Palestine’s traditional embroidery techniques and how the venture would work. “When our meeting was over we embraced. I feltwe were united as women and as human beings who want to libe peacefully. When I launched my fashion label Comme Il Faut (which means ‘As it should be’) 17 years ago I saw it as a way to support women, whoever they were,” says Sybil, who is bit like an Israeli Anita Roddick – a businesswoman with a conscience.

Sybil and Mary’s clandestine meeting marked the beginning of Project ‘Shalom Banot’ or ‘Peace Women’. Comme Il Faut is one of Israel’s most exclusive fashion houses with six shops in Tel Aviv selling clothes, accessories and bath products. Yet it revels in shaking up Israeli society with its blend of fashion and politics and found itself in trouble on more than one occasion, especially when one of its controversial catalogues featured models posing in front of the dividing wall.

“When peace activist Manuela Diveri came to me with the idea of working with Palestianisn, I knew immediately that I wanted to do it. Then my designers Maya Arazi, 33 and Limor Dianna, 33, came up with the concept of the border crossing shirt.” Maya, who trained at London’s Royal College of Art and has designed in Italy for Valentino and Max Mara, says:” It was an opportunity to bring the east and the west together in one stylish piece. We wanted to design a shirt that would then be embellished with traditional Palestinian embroidery.”

On paper - no problem. In practice, Maya and Limor were obviously not allowed to go into Palestine. However, after negotiations with the Israeli army, Hanna Al-ama, the woman appointed as the projects Palestinian co-ordinator, was given a permit to attend a meeting at the American Colony Hotel based on the Israeli side of the wall.

“We found out that the Oslo peace plan was first discussed in the hotel room where we first met, which felt symbolic,” explains Limor. “We had no translator and communicated with hand signals and drawing – fashion really bridged the language barrier.

The taxi driver who had brought Hanna spoke a little Hebrew and it was funny to see this man trying to explain about patterns and threads. He knew Hebrew but not the language of fashion.

“I wish we had been able to talk more of the Palestinian women,” she adds. “We never meet them and I didn’t realise how restricted their lives are, or that because of their religion (Islam) they have to work from home.”

It’s been an education for Limor, but not always an easy one. “Of course many people disagree with what I’m doing. My brother says He’s never do it and I’ve fallen out with a friend over it. But we are proving that it is possible to work in harmony with Palestinians and that is what’s most important to me.”

But perhaps what’s more important to the Palestinian women working in Shalom Banot is that it’s providing them with an income. The dividing wall makes it very difficult for Palestinians to work in Israel, so salaries are scarce. “With no money for food my life is very bad,” says Erma Babish, a 28 years old embroiderer and mother of three. “I heard about the Shalom Banot project through friends and approached Hanna for some work. It’s been a lifeline and that money now supports my family.

Embroidery is taught at school here and is part of our heritage,” Erma and her family live in a small but homely rented house. A few pieces of furniture sit against white walls and a spotlessly clean white-tiled floor. Every day she look s out from her balcony at the row of modest concrete homes- lining the roads while bombed-out buildings barely stand against the skyline.

For Erma, being involved in the project was risky. “One woman warned me not to work for the Israeli’s,” she explains. “She said I was a traitor to the Palestinian people and I was betraying my country.” It didn’t deter her: “She was wrong – this project has a peace message. Israeli’s or Palestinians, we’re just the same people trying to work and provide for our families. We’re all hoping for peace and want the border to open – and I hope that one day to meet the Comme Il Faut designers. At the moment with the wall, we’re living in a prison without a roof. Sometimes peace comes from the little people. Not Sharon or Bush or Blair but when people begin working together.”

Idit Nirel, from the Peres Centre for Peace in Tel Aviv, agrees: “Peace-building projects such as these are important because they encourage communication and cooperation between Palestinians and Israeli’s.

Today Maya is scouting Tel-Aviv for a suitable location for a fashion shoot. Happening upon an old building daubed with political graffiti Maya steps inside to chat to the owner. It turns out the building is owned by the Young Guard, a mixed-sex political group similar to the Guides or Scouts.

On hearing the name Comme il Faut one young man launches into a loud tirade in Hebrew, ‘Why did you shoot that catalogue in front of the wall?’ he demands. ‘You are just exploiting the Palestinians’ situation, using them for cheap labour to make clothes they could never afford.’

Although Maya is a little taken aback it is criticism she has heard before, ‘We wanted to raise awareness of the wall to get people talking about it,’ Maya replies calmly. And with global coverage including the BBC and CNN, talk about it they did. The catalogue ‘Women across frontiers,’ sparked fierce debate about their motives but with global coverage really drew attention to the issue.

Many felt that Comme Il Faut was exploiting the wall’s controversy and the Palestianina situation to spark interest in its collection. Although Comme Il Faut will not reveal its wages, Sybil insists its fair and 10% of the profits go to Palestinian families. Eventually the Young Guard agrees they can use the building for a photo shoot.

“That particular catalogue prompted people to come into the shop and start talking politics,” explains Sybil. “They said, ‘Why do you have to spoil it ?’ We have notebooks in the shop to allow everyone to express their opinions, but not everyone respects those. People have come in and shouted things like, ‘Why don’t you do a photo shoot ina bombed-out-bus? Or use models that have lost limbs as a result of suicide bombing?’ We thought about getting guards but so far nobody has been violent towards us. We’ve received lots of angrey letters and one member of the Israeli parliament went on television and radionto ask people to boycott our clothes.”

In addition to a chain of shops throughout the Tel Aviv, Comme il Faut also run a café, attached to their flagship store.  As well as grabbing a juice you could also attend a lecture on feminist issues, or just pop in to debate the politics of the day.

The Café is nestled in between designer shops located on the tree-lined Dizengoff Street, Israel’s equivalent of Oxford Street. Today Nirit Tayas, 25, and Noa Barer, 23, have come for a spot of lunch. ‘It is nice to see clothes on a normal women,’ explains Noa, a statuesque medical student, ‘Everything always looks great on these skinny women and it makes you feel a little jealous. But Comme il Faut is more than just fashion, I couldn’t afford the clothes if my mum didn’t treat me but I really support their political edge. The conflict in Israel is a reality you live everyday. I am a student and have to take the buses that are often targeted by suicide bombers. I am nervous and watch everybody getting on wondering, “are they terrorists”?

‘I have lost a lot of friends because of the bombing,’ adds Nirit, a therapist, her eyes betraying a mixture of sadness and defiance as she stirs her cappuccino and reflects on life in Tel Aviv. ‘Life here is very intense; you can feel it in the air that there is something going on. I have switched on the news and seen friends of mine who have been caught in bomb attacks and it is not nice – but you learn how to manage. Everybody hopes that there will be peace and it’s important to know that while I am shopping, in a small way I am doing my bit.’