The Department of Fashion at the University of Haifa’s School of Design held its fashion show on Monday. Twenty-five graduating students presented their final collections in an event that, for the first time, was held on the university campus.
Against the backdrop of Israel's complex reality, many of the collections drew inspiration from deeply personal stories of family, heritage, love, loss, immigration, and faith, reflecting a search for roots, identity, belonging, and meaning.
The designs are the culmination of four years of study, research, and creative exploration in the University of Haifa's Department of Fashion Design, located on the German Colony campus. It is the only fashion design program in Israel that awards a university degree.
As part of its commitment to training the next generation of fashion designers, the program includes collaborations with universities around the world and international field seminars, including exposing students to a wide range of design traditions, techniques, and creative approaches.
Among this year's featured projects were a collection inspired by love letters exchanged between a couple during wartime; a project based on an unfinished tapestry left behind by the designer's mother after she developed dementia; a collection exploring the Druze belief in reincarnation; and a collection reflecting the sense of alienation experienced by an immigrant from the former Soviet Union in her search for belonging.
Alongside these deeply personal and social themes, this year's collections were distinguished by extensive use of handcraftsmanship, including embroidery, knitting, textile development, and traditional techniques, combined with innovative technologies.
Dr. Rachel Getz-Salomon, Head of the Department of Fashion Design at the University of Haifa, said, “This year's graduating class presents its final collections through a nuanced lens on a generation of designers creating within an ever-changing and deeply challenging reality. Many of the works explore themes of loss, identity, memory, and belonging, demonstrating how fashion design can transform personal experiences of pain and fracture into a visual, material, and social language. Together, the collections present a vision of beauty that is inseparable from the reality in which it is created, shaped by that reality rather than detached from it. Through the body, the garment, and the material itself, these projects offer a contemporary interpretation of fashion as a space for research, cultural commentary, and critical thought.”
The NB School of Design is headed by Prof. Leah Perez, who has pioneered fashion design education in Israel and is recognized as a leader in this field both in Israel and internationally. As head of Shankar’s Department of Fashion Design for 22 years, Perez developed innovative and interdisciplinary programs of study that have won worldwide recognition. She was one of the first to link design, art, engineering, and technology and to establish interdisciplinary educational frameworks.
Perez explained that being part of a research university enables faculty members to pursue research-based academic careers. “What makes us unique,” she said, “is that there are hardly any design schools—either in Israel or elsewhere—that are part of a major research university.”
In addition, she noted that students in the NB School of Design take courses across the university’s wide array of subjects, including marine sciences, literature, language, art history, and others. “Students are exposed to an extraordinary range of academic subjects that are not available in a traditional design school,” she added.
Perez added that the Department of Fashion Design—along with the school's other departments—has fostered a culture of coexistence, where Muslim Arab, Druze, and Jewish students have studied side by side over the past two years in an atmosphere of mutual respect and open dialogue.
In recent years, she said, Haifa has become an increasingly attractive city for young people, both because of its affordability compared to cities such as Tel Aviv, and its vibrant cultural scene, particularly around the Talpiot Market area. The city is also home to both the Technion and the University of Haifa, as well as several other academic institutions, giving it a large and dynamic student population.
“The NB School of Design collaborates with a wide range of organizations throughout Haifa, including the municipality,” said Perez. “We work closely with local museums, where we exhibit our students’ work and participate in art exhibitions across the city.”
Since her arrival at the University of Haifa, Perez has assembled a faculty that includes some of Israel's leading designers, including Aharon Genish, Anat Meshulam and Dor Chen, founders of the HOLYLAND CIVILIANS label; Tal Medina; David Wexler; Golan Taub of the brand Mother of All; Shahar Avnet; and others. Dr. Rachel Getz-Salomon heads the Department of Fashion.
This article was written in cooperation with the University of Haifa School of Design.