Your own style: "If you take away the wrinkles, the map of your life changes" 

Almost every day I get on the treadmill at home (yes, for me it is not a piece of furniture for hanging towels and coats;)) and I look for a company to walk with. Sometimes I will choose a documentary about anything and space that will help me in writing my book of the month, other times something complementary to my cultural studies at the Open University and sometimes anything that will interest me and inspire me on the days it is hard to get to.

Those who have been reading me here for the second year know my love for fashion and the aesthetics of clothing. Like our personal belongings with which we chose to fill our home, so what we chose to hang or fold in our wardrobe, has an effect, I think, on us. What we choose to spend the day with us has meaning. A garment for me can lift and lower my mood, whether I'm out wandering around Haifa or whether it's just me and the computer at my desk in the kibbutz.

So, welcome to fashion's visit to my literary column. And yes, don't worry, after reviewing the TV shows, I will also get to the book. After all, words are the real story.

Anyway, I started this fashion marathon from a series that went up to Apple TV in September 2023, remember what our days looked like before that October? Well, The Super Models (Apple TV), caught my eye and brought me back to my teenage days when Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington starred in the late George Michael's Freedom music video in 1990. The hundred percent rating days of the previous thousand will not find anyone who had television at that time or read magazines and does not know who the super models mentioned above are. Thus, from joint to joint, I hugged my right hand and walked a little straighter on the treadmill.

It seems that I am not the only one who is a fan of fashion and its history, because since then the programs and films have not stopped appearing. You don't want to miss the fun series on Vogue magazine from the 90s to the present day In Vogue: The 90's. I watched it twice. On the other hand, I did not finish Becoming Karl Lagerfeld (Disney). I don't know why, but I was not attracted beyond the first half hour of the first episode. Although Lagerfeld as a designer interests me, something didn't work for me. I did not feel the inspiration from the story that I had hoped for. I also neglected Halston (Netflix) in the second episode. Maybe due to my expectation that I would see them, the ones who tell the stories of the fabrics I love so much and feel a little taller after I got off the treadmill, so when I didn't get what I wanted - I left.

But pay attention! I eagerly devoured the six episodes about the story and life of Cristobal Balenciaga (Disney), there was an excellent balance between the difficult history of World War II, his private life that did not fit the spirit of his time, and the fashion, oh the fashion, how beautifully they conveyed the production process of haute couture , the cutting, the sewing, you can literally touch the fabric through the screen, and dream.

Thus, when the series The New Look (Apple TV) about the life of Christian Dior came out, I came with the expectation of a series that would give me the beauty created from the chaos of that time, since Dior, Chanel and Balenciaga were from that time. So although the game, the tension and the plot did not allow me to cut in the middle, but do not expect much fashion there, but rather the difficult story of the occupation of Paris by the Nazis and the consequences for Dior's life and Chanel's choices.

I concluded the viewing with a real surprise that I did not expect to enjoy it so much. When I first saw that there was a movie about DVF, aka designer Diane von Furstenberg, I didn't rush to watch it but one morning I said oh, well. The documentary "Diane von Furstenberg: A Strong Woman" (Disney) is surprising and fascinating and tells much more than the person who invented the sheath dress and married a German prince. And sorry to spoil the surprise a little, but it already appears at the beginning of the film and I think it's worth giving it a chance. Lily, Diane von Furstenberg's mother survived Auschwitz, but the doctor did not believe she would survive her. "God sent me Diane, she was a gift," she says and her daughter repeated and said during her life: "God saved me so I could give you life. Thanks to the fact that I gave you life, you gave me my life back. My torch of freedom.'

And now I came to visit the beautiful regional library and next to Richard Feynman's book about which I wrote to you last week, I found the book of Royer singing, your own style. Apparently there is no reason for these two to share a shelf, neither the surname nor the literary subject. It seems that what connects them is simply... me. Because today I enjoyed both the musings of the scientist about Dumas and the musings of the fashion reporter who shares her experience and travels in the world of style, how to improve your appearance and, moreover, to love and work with what you have.

Breuer testifies to herself that "The more I delved into looking at clothes and the more I matured myself, I realized that it's not fashion that interests me, but the complexity of the relationship between women and clothes." (p. 12). From this point of view, she presents the book and touches on the sensitive points that concern us when we come to choose our appearance for the world. I loved the spotlight she shines in, with the help of Helit Yeshuron, you "The connection between the word "garment" and the word "betrayal"... this request, in the eyes of the women who come out of the measuring rooms: that the garment will not betray, will not betray". I read the book as a guide that you can apply from. Even when I was young I felt like tidying up the closet, so he did the job.

Stay or free?

I knew the book would interest me given its subject matter, but I didn't expect to leave It's on the bookshelf. I'm pretty sure my daughters will also enjoy it and that I myself will want to go back and read again some of the chapters in the future. If so, I will add it for purchase later and return the library copy with a recommendation for lovers of the genre.

Book details:

Your Own Style, Shira Breuer, Beit Sharifim Estate, 2019.

A final word about chic and style that also work in the kitchen. I am writing this column while on vacation with my soldier in Eilat. The desire to pamper her and give her respite, even if momentary, from risk level A of her life in the last months, became a profit for me as well. In general, years ago I discovered that a query in the winter is worldly fun. I could write a whole column about this city alone, but I will focus on one thing - the French cuisine and style.

In my very personal opinion, there is no style and elegance that can be compared to the French women. A visit to Paris will satisfy me even if I just sit in a cafe and watch the comings and goings. And what is the connection to Eilat and food? Well, hungry from long hours of wandering, while I was walking up Sderot Hatamer, I caught sight of the sign: onion soup served in bread. In the French deli and restaurant Stephanie, I met a beautiful woman with chic, whose name is the name of the restaurant. And nothing was wrong, not the food, not its taste and not its packaging, which you will see in the picture below. Thanks to the southern city and its warm people for the hospitality. I will come back again.

And if there is one thing that stays with me and I want to leave you with from this fashion column, it is what Diane von Furstenberg says at the beginning of the film: "Age indicates life... if you take away the wrinkles, the map of your life changes. I don't want to erase anything from my life.'
Cut and save.

Pleasant reading and may good words be by your side always,
Lily