{"id":612561,"date":"2026-09-11T07:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T07:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/612561\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T07:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T07:00:14","slug":"the-israeli-fashion-empire-hollywood-cant-stop-wearing-galia-lahavs-rise-to-the-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/612561\/","title":{"rendered":"The Israeli fashion empire Hollywood can\u2019t stop wearing: Galia Lahav\u2019s rise to the to"},"content":{"rendered":"

At 37, Galia Lahav, today one of the hottest fashion designers in the world, was still teaching arts and crafts at a school in Ashdod<\/a>. She was married to Natan Lahav, CEO of Yehuda Reshatot (Yehuda Welded Mesh), and raising two children.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a happy woman, satisfied with what I had,\u201d she says. \u201cNatan and I got married very, very young. I was 20 and he was 21, and we had just completed our military service. By then our children were already growing up, and we felt it was time to slow down at work and finally start enjoying life.<\/p>\n

\"\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4<\/a>\"\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4<\/p>\n

Galia Lahav<\/p>\n

(Photo: Oz Moalem)<\/p>\n

\u201cBut one day I suddenly got it into my head that I wanted a third child. I told Natan, \u2018Osnat is already 17 and will soon enlist in the IDF, Rani will enlist after her, and then what? You and I will be left alone in this big empty house.\u2019 I said, \u2018Let\u2019s have another child.\u2019 I wasn\u2019t sure he\u2019d be thrilled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why?
\n\u201cBecause getting pregnant at 40 wasn\u2019t common then. It was even considered dangerous. But Natan answered, \u2018Another child? As far as I\u2019m concerned, let\u2019s have two more.\u2019 That\u2019s how Idan was born.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring maternity leave I sat at home with him, I had time to think, and then another idea entered my head. I told Natan, \u2018We\u2019re already established, we don\u2019t lack anything in life, so this is the time for me to fulfill the dream I\u2019ve had since childhood.\u2019 I told him I wasn\u2019t going back to teaching arts and crafts and wished instead to open a fashion house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four decades later, Lahav, 78, is ranked second on a global list of five leading bridal couture designers, behind American designer Vera Wang, who recently sold her brand, and ahead of Monique Lhuillier.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the biggest names are on that list, and among them is little Galia from Ashdod, the first and only Israeli,\u201d she says. \u201cEvery now and then I have to say it out loud just to remind myself that this is real. Sometimes even I can\u2019t believe how far I\u2019ve come. I dreamed of designing in my own style, selling my work and succeeding, but I never imagined the brand would grow to this scale.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyonc\u00e9, Jennifer Lopez, Sydney Sweeney, Christina Aguilera and Gal Gadot have worn her evening gowns onstage, in photo shoots and on red carpets. Paris Hilton, Millie Bobby Brown and Simone Biles chose Lahav for their weddings, as did Israeli celebrities including Eden Fines, Yuval Caspit, Naya Federman and former hostage Sapir Cohen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lahav herself will not volunteer the names of Israeli celebrities who spend weeks or months sitting face-to-face with her as fittings evolve into intimate conversations. Discretion, she says, is part of the job. Not every local star bothers to credit her. \u201cIt\u2019s a shame. A compliment costs nothing,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

But perhaps the name is no longer necessary because the dresses themselves have become recognizable. When Israeli singer Netta Barzilai<\/a> released the video for \u201cNana Banana,\u201d for example, it seemed obvious who could have put her in a short, pink ruffled tulle dress.\"\u05e1\u05d9\u05d3\u05e0\u05d9<\/a>\"\u05e1\u05d9\u05d3\u05e0\u05d9<\/p>\n

Sydney Sweeney in a dress designed by Galia Lahav<\/p>\n

(Photo: Axelle\/Bauer-Griffin\/FilmMagic\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time I receive a photo of a bride wearing one of my dresses, it moves me,\u201d Lahav says. \u201cI don\u2019t want to sound sentimental, but there really is a piece of me in every dress. Seeing the finished look fills me with pride and joy, and that\u2019s what keeps driving me to move forward, stay ahead and create what comes next.\u201d<\/p>\n

The interview takes place at Lahav\u2019s fashion house, four floors of luxury tucked among the garages of south Tel Aviv. The building has an elevator, naturally, but Lahav races up and down the stairs in heels. That is her daily workout.<\/p>\n

During a trip to Kyoto, Japan, for the opening of another store, she slipped in the rain and broke her leg. She was flown back to Israel on an emergency flight. Five days later she was back at work, using the elevator to reach her small office in a wheelchair.<\/p>\n

Four decades after reinventing herself from arts-and-crafts teacher to fashion designer, Galia Lahav has grown from a one-woman operation into a family empire.<\/p>\n

Two of Lahav\u2019s children, Osnat and Idan, had already built careers of their own in entirely different fields before leaving them to join the family business as co-CEOs. Her husband, who recently retired, also comes in once a week, she says, \u201cbringing new ideas and initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their middle son, Rani, who served in an undercover Israeli military unit, later became religiously observant. \u201cHis son from his first marriage, the oldest of my eight grandchildren, has just enlisted in a combat unit,\u201d Lahav says. \u201cWe celebrated with a good meal, and I made him the soup he loves. That\u2019s what grandmothers do.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is something else many people do not know about Galia Lahav. Her blond hair may occasionally appear at fashion shows, or at a ceremony where President Isaac Herzog presented her with a lifetime achievement award marking 40 years in the fashion industry, but she rarely gives interviews.<\/p>\n

Why?
\n\u201cBecause in Israel, people don\u2019t know how to give credit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Galina Nimoy was born in Pinsk to Sonia (later Sarah), and Yaakov, young Holocaust survivors who clung to one another and to the hope of building a new life. \u201cA week after they met, my father proposed to my mother. Two and a half years after their eldest son was born, they had twins, my sister Tamara and me.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father, who had grown up in HaShomer HaTzair (Jewish socialist-Zionist youth movement), helped Jews leave the Soviet Union and make their way to Israel illegally. Someone informed on him, and when I was a year and a half old, he was sentenced to 24 years in a harsh Siberian prison where visits were not allowed. He simply disappeared from our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil then we had lived in a big house. My father worked as a forest manager and earned good money. When he went to prison, they threw us out of the house and my mother was left alone with three babies, without knowing when she would ever be reunited with her husband.<\/p>\n

\u201cFriends urged her to place us in an institution, warning that she would never be able to raise three young children on her own. But my mother was a lioness. She told them, \u2018Even if all I can feed these children is potatoes, I\u2019ll be the one to raise them.\u2019 She found work as a bookkeeper at a children\u2019s home, where we were given a room to live in, and she raised us there with love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe grew up poor, never knowing whether our father would come back, and surrounded by the vicious antisemitism of the postwar years. On the way to school, people would hurl slurs at us and say, \u2018Why are you Jews still here? Why didn\u2019t the Nazis finish the job?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was brutal. We learned how to survive. My mother, who was incredibly strong, would always tell us, \u2018One day your father will come home, and we\u2019ll move to Palestine.\u2019 But year after year passed, and eventually I stopped believing that miracle would ever happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was eight and a half, my mother received a telegram from Siberia. After Stalin\u2019s death, some political prisoners were released, and my father was among those chosen to go free. Years later, he told us that when they informed him, he fainted. He simply collapsed from the shock.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reunited family then made their way to Israel. \u201cMy father arrived already fluent in Hebrew and trained as a wood engineer, a profession that was well developed in the Soviet Union because timber was widely used in construction. My mother learned Hebrew quickly and found work in bookkeeping. Compared with many new immigrants, we settled in relatively well.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring our first year, my parents sent us to live with my father\u2019s sister in Petah Tikva so we could improve our Hebrew. At school, a teacher asked whether I wanted to replace Galina with a more Israeli name. I told him it depended on what he had in mind. My twin sister Tamara became Tamar, which was an obvious choice. When the teacher suggested Galia for me, I thought it sounded nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

When her father took a senior position at a plywood factory in Ashkelon, the family moved south. \u201cAshkelon was very good to us. It took me about two years to fully understand what was going on in class, but we loved Israel, grew up alongside kids who had been born here and settled in well.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter finishing high school in Ashkelon, I received a deferment from military service to attend a teacher-training college in Givatayim, where I studied arts and crafts. By the time I graduated, Natan had finished his army service and said, \u2018Let\u2019s get married.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t that I was in any rush to get married at 20. And contrary to what people whispered behind my back, I wasn\u2019t pregnant either.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then give me one good reason to get married at 20.
\n\u201cWe\u2019d already been together for four years. Natan was my first boyfriend. When I was 16 he saw me at a party in Ashkelon and didn\u2019t leave my side for a minute. That same evening, when he told me, \u2018You\u2019re going to be my wife,\u2019 I replied, \u2018Wait until I even agree to go out with you.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cHe began his military service in a pilot training course and had to Hebraize his last name, Lindner. As his girlfriend I told him, \u2018Natan Lahav is an amazing name,\u2019 without even imagining that it would one day be my surname too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lahav began her career as a designer in the basement of the family home in Ashdod, but soon realized she needed to move closer to the Tel Aviv area. \u201cWe were looking for a house in Ramat Ef\u2019al, near a childhood friend of mine. Then Natan took me to see a plot of land nearby, in Kiryat Krinitzi, and I pinched him hard to signal that he should put down a deposit.<\/p>\n

\u201cA year later, the house was ready and the basement became my kingdom. I didn\u2019t start the business just to make money. That was never the dream. I wanted to create something of my own and enter a completely different world. If money is the only reason you work, eventually the work itself stops exciting you.\u201d<\/p>\n

She learned the foundations of the profession from her mother. \u201cShe was an excellent seamstress, and that was what she did to supplement the family income. By 12 I was already sewing beside my mother, and sometimes instead of her, and I was exempted from sewing classes at college.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always had nerve. I saw that my hand could leave a unique signature on fabric, and I knew what kind of fashion I wanted to create. I never dreamed small. My first designs were oversized sweaters, which were fashionable at the time, with fur, leather and bead appliqu\u00e9s. I marketed them to stores in the area that were willing to take a risk and sell something unlike anything people had seen in Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter about a year, I moved into evening gowns with appliqu\u00e9s, which became part of my signature style. With the help of a sales representative, I was soon selling them in about 200 stores across Israel. A few years later, the sewing room in our basement could no longer keep up with demand, so I rented a villa nearby and turned it into a studio where I could work around the clock, including on custom designs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where I made my first wedding gown. A longtime client brought in her engaged daughter, who told me, \u2018I don\u2019t want just another white dress.\u2019 That sentence stayed with me. At the time, Israel had bridal salons and beauty parlors catering to brides, but there was still no real destination for distinctive, fashion-forward wedding gowns.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u05d1\u05d9\u05d5\u05e0\u05e1\u05d4\"<\/a>\"\u05d1\u05d9\u05d5\u05e0\u05e1\u05d4\"<\/p>\n

\u2018I helped introduce American brides to sexier gowns.\u2019 Beyonc\u00e9<\/p>\n

(Photo: Courtesy of Galia Lahav)<\/p>\n

She unveiled her first bridal collection when Idan, her youngest child, was about 10. \u201cI had always loved the polished, tailored French aesthetic, and my first gowns had a very romantic feel. \u201cThen I traveled to Rome and Paris with a friend whose taste I trusted.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe visited all the major couture houses, and I came back to Israel obsessed with corsets. Everyone was shocked. A corset on a bride? But I knew it could work.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Lahav moved the business to Tel Aviv, opening what she describes as \u201ca huge store on Dizengoff Street,\u201d she committed fully to couture and meticulous hand craftsmanship.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery dress was made by hand from start to finish. I had two or three women whose sole job was to embroider pearls, stones and beads onto the gowns. It was painstaking work. Sometimes the embroidery alone took more than two weeks, but that was what set me apart, and I loved it.<\/p>\n

\u201cFashion journalists at the time didn\u2019t understand what I was doing. They told me no sane woman would wear a voluminous princess-style wedding gown with petticoats and a corset. On the rare occasions they came to the boutique, they would say, \u2018That isn\u2019t the Israeli style. You\u2019ll never sell it here.\u2019 \u201cI took the criticism quietly. I realized they simply couldn\u2019t see the level I was trying to reach.\u201d<\/p>\n

What was the most insulting thing anyone said about you?
\n\u201cSomeone said he couldn\u2019t write about me because I didn\u2019t know how to read fashion. Obviously that isn\u2019t pleasant to hear, but I never gave up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vision I had in my head pushed me forward. If there are brides who love my dresses, and there is already a waiting list for upcoming events, why should I be influenced by criticism from small-minded people who don\u2019t know how to give credit?\u201d<\/p>\n

Her breakthrough came when she designed evening gowns for Israel\u2019s 2007 beauty pageant. A year later, after dressing contestants on the Israeli version of \u201cDancing with the Stars,\u201d she was marked as a designer to watch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey finally discovered me when I was approaching 60,\u201d she says with a laugh. \u201cI dressed Anna Aronov and Rotem Sela in gowns with sheer looks and exposed backs, and everyone talked about the three cups I had sewn into them, at the bust and crotch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt appreciated, and even though my heart nearly burst with happiness, I couldn\u2019t help asking myself why they had ignored me for 20 years. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn the bridal world in France at the time, the princess look was popular. When I brought it to Israel, people laughed at me and asked, \u2018What is this?\u2019 They only praised Shenkar graduates. Thank goodness I didn\u2019t let the criticism influence me. I stayed true to myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

By then, two of Lahav\u2019s three children had joined her at the fashion house, working alongside her from the fourth floor of the white Tel Aviv building the family calls \u201cheadquarters.\u201d Twice a day, FedEx shipments leave from there for clients around the world, a routine that has continued even during wartime.<\/p>\n

\"\u05e2\u05d3\u05df<\/a>\"\u05e2\u05d3\u05df<\/p>\n

Model Eden Fines and singer Osher Cohen on their wedding day<\/p>\n

(Photo: Anat Mosberg)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the business began to take off, I worked day and night. Nothing could slow me down,\u201d Lahav says. \u201cNatan supported me every step of the way and was an incredible father. Our three children grew up with a mother completely consumed by her fashion dream, because when you love what you do, there are no real working hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re doing what you love most, the hard work doesn\u2019t feel like a burden. You don\u2019t get tired of it. Even today, I can sit and sew for 12 hours straight and enjoy every minute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her eldest daughter, attorney Osnat Lahav-Malkin, 56, married with one child, made a career change 20 years ago. \u201cOne day Osnat called me and said, \u2018Mom, I\u2019m tired of fighting with people. I\u2019m tired of the office.\u2019 So I told her to come by and see what we were doing. I said, \u2018Why go work somewhere else when we already have a family business?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cShe came in with no real idea of how the fashion house worked, but quickly found her place on the business and development side. I was thrilled. I\u2019m much more of an artist, while Osnat brought structure to the finances and schedules. We started traveling together to source fabrics, and by then I was already thinking about expanding abroad. I had no idea how to do it or where to begin, but I knew I couldn\u2019t grow the business alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Idan, 41, married with three children, joined the family business 13 years ago, almost by accident. \u201cI definitely wasn\u2019t planning on it,\u201d he says. \u201cI studied computer science at the Interdisciplinary Center and worked at several startups, including Soluto, which was later sold in a deal that also benefited Naftali Bennett<\/a>. After that I launched my own startup, eventually shut it down, and one Friday afternoon I stopped by my mother\u2019s store on Dizengoff Street just to say Shabbat shalom.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father was there and asked me to help him with an email problem. When I opened the inbox, I saw a flood of messages from overseas that no one had answered. I couldn\u2019t understand why. So I replied to a woman in Canada, and suddenly we had sold a $7,000 wedding dress. It was crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The price of the dress?
\n\u201cThat was part of it. In the startup world, you can work endlessly, raise money from investors and still not generate a single dollar in revenue. Then, almost by accident, we discovered there was real demand for Galia Lahav dresses overseas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started exploring international markets. Australia was our first stop because we were seeing a lot of online traffic from there. Our expectations were far too high, and the trip was a disaster. We didn\u2019t sell a single dress. Then we tried England, and that didn\u2019t go much better. At that point we were ready to give up. We thought, \u2018Maybe this just isn\u2019t going to work abroad. It\u2019s disappointing, but it\u2019s not the end of the world.\u2019 Then we decided to give it one last try and went to New York. That\u2019s where everything changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u05d2'\u05e0\u05d9\u05e4\u05e8<\/a>\"\u05d2'\u05e0\u05d9\u05e4\u05e8<\/p>\n

Jennifer Lopez<\/p>\n

(Photo: Galia Lahav website)<\/p>\n

All four of them went to NY. \u201cMy father was part of it too,\u201d Osnat says. \u201cWe knew there was demand because we could see the online traffic and customers were finding us through Facebook and Instagram. We were also studying the competition. The United States was the biggest market, but much of what was available there felt fairly conventional. We were bringing something genuinely different.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do you mean by conventional?
\n\u201cA classic gown, white or cream, weighed down by layers of petticoats. In a word, boring,\u201d Lahav says. \u201cThen I came in with sexy wedding dresses, open backs, halter necklines and fitted silhouettes that emphasized the body, all of them handmade.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took me time to understand that weddings are shaped by culture too. An American wedding might mean a reception and some dancing, something relatively short. An Israeli wedding can go on for hours, often with an after-party, so the bride needs a second, more comfortable dress for dancing, and sometimes even a third. I like to think I helped introduce American brides to sexier, lighter gowns they could actually move in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ten years ago, Idan also helped take his mother\u2019s designs to the Paris couture stage. \u201cOne day he asked me, \u2018Mom, can you see yourself showing in Paris?\u2019 I told him, \u2018I\u2019m not sure they\u2019ll accept me. No Israeli designer has ever shown there.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cHe began corresponding with the couture federation, and we put together the fashion house\u2019s credentials. I flew to Paris for an interview with Sharon Sever, 55, the designer I work with, who speaks French. Years earlier, he had actually been my student in elementary-school art class, and when we met again after his military service, I encouraged him to study fashion in Paris.<\/p>\n

\u201cA month after the interview, we got the answer: We were in. We opened champagne at the office, and for nights afterward I could barely sleep from excitement. I felt as if I had reached the very top, stepping onto the same stage as the giants. Dior, Chanel, Valentino and me. The first and only Israeli.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lahav prepared a spectacular collection and was greeted with applause when she stepped onto the stage at the end of the show, held at the Grand Palais, which she describes as something out of a fairy tale. \u201cWe continued flying to Paris Fashion Week every year until COVID ended the tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n

As social media gained power, celebrity stylists began approaching the fashion house. The stars generated valuable exposure by tagging the brand and helped elevate Lahav\u2019s international profile. But the queen of couture herself remains surprisingly removed from the glamour.<\/p>\n

She has never met Beyonc\u00e9 or Jennifer Lopez. She did meet Simone Biles<\/a>, \u201cthe tiny gymnast,\u201d who ordered two wedding gowns. \u201cI was in New York when Simone Biles came for a fitting, so obviously I went over and we hugged,\u201d Lahav says. \u201cI don\u2019t remember whether we took a selfie.\u201d<\/p>\n

One celebrity with whom Lahav did form a more personal connection is Sydney Sweeney. \u201cA few years ago, I designed a white dress for her for an event,\u201d Lahav says. \u201cThe event was canceled before the dress was finished, but she still paid for it and kept it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore recently, she contacted me directly and asked for two dresses for the premiere of \u2018The Housemaid.\u2019 For one of them, I went for a timeless Marilyn Monroe look, with a sculpted bust and a pleated skirt that emphasized her waist. Everyone went crazy for that dress. Honestly, I had a feeling it would get that kind of reaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also designed a little black dress for her, but that one didn\u2019t attract the same attention. There\u2019s just something about Marilyn Monroe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u05de\u05d9\u05dc\u05d9<\/a>\"\u05de\u05d9\u05dc\u05d9<\/p>\n

Millie Bobby Brown in a Galia Lahav design<\/p>\n

(Photo: Dia Dipasupil\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The international reaction still excites Lahav. \u201cAt shows around the world, the audience treats me like a star,\u201d she says. \u201cBrides cry with excitement. People ask to shake my hand as if I were Oscar de la Renta.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael is a young country that doesn\u2019t have heritage brands like Mercedes, Lego and IKEA,\u201d Osnat adds. \u201cOur strength used to be almost entirely in high-tech, and suddenly there is a startup here made out of fabric. That is anything but obvious.\u201d<\/p>\n

So you became your mother\u2019s bosses?
\nOsnat laughs. \u201cDoes it look like it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Idan adds: \u201cMom is the boss of everyone. She\u2019s the real deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike his sister, Idan eased into the family business gradually. At first, he was drawn to the technology side, introducing new software systems and building up the company\u2019s in-house development capabilities. \u201cWe have our own development team. Everything is done in-house,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Over time, he also came to enjoy the travel and the opportunity to meet people from around the world. But what ultimately convinced him to stay was something simpler: hearing from a satisfied customer. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing better than getting feedback from a client,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I read the words, \u2018You made me happy,\u2019 I realized that beyond creating beautiful dresses, we were also doing something meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under Idan\u2019s leadership, five Galia Lahav flagship stores opened in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, North Carolina and London. Each store covers about 1,000 square meters and includes a bar as part of the hospitality experience.<\/p>\n

The online system he developed supplies merchandise to about 100 stores around the world, and he is now expanding the company\u2019s European sewing operations as it looks for ways to produce outside Israel as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world is big and Israel is small,\u201d Galia explains. \u201cIn the 1990s, immigration from Russia brought couture seamstresses to Israel, and those who came to work with us continue sewing, sometimes even after retirement age.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday I search everywhere for high-end seamstresses, and there are none, just as there are hardly any shoemakers or farmers left. All the young people go into high-tech. A couture seamstress is a respected profession, and she can earn as much as an engineer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, about 90% of the company\u2019s work is destined for customers abroad, and roughly once every two months Lahav flies to a fashion show or the opening of a new store. \u201cI, at my age, with my terrible English, fly to Japan and China and Moscow because the distributors want to meet me,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were the first to identify the potential of the East. We also have our own method of working. We don\u2019t mass-produce and we don\u2019t have rows and rows of dresses hanging on racks. There are several samples, and we manufacture remotely according to each order.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery bride in the world orders according to her body measurements, in the design she imagines, and receives exactly what she pictured. We recently made a wedding dress for Millie Bobby Brown, who ordered it and had her fittings in New York. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf a bride imagines a dress that doesn\u2019t appear in the catalog, we\u2019ll offer her a custom design. And if necessary, we\u2019ll fly anywhere in the world to dress her. \u2018We\u2019 means either Sharon, our designer, or me. Couture dresses demand couture service.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the price?
\n\u201cOverseas, we have two lines. Galia Lahav Couture dresses range from $12,000 to $20,000, while dresses from the Galia Lahav line are priced between $5,000 and $10,000. It\u2019s the more accessible of the two, but both perform well internationally. A dress from the regular line requires at least a week of work, while a couture gown can take two weeks to complete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twenty thousand dollars for a wedding dress is…
\n\u201cIt isn\u2019t cheap, but there are plenty of affluent brides around the world who want a lavish wedding and are willing to spend accordingly. Many of them also want something distinctive rather than a conventional wedding gown. They often keep the dress afterward, sometimes with the idea of passing it down to their daughters. Paris Hilton, for example, kept hers.\u201d<\/p>\n

And what does a Galia Lahav wedding gown cost in Israel?
\n\u201cIsrael is the only place where my wedding gowns are available for rent. I won\u2019t quote a price because it depends on so many factors, but renting makes it possible for many Israeli brides to have an additional dress for dancing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe price goes up if a bride wants a custom design that isn\u2019t in the collection. Put it this way: When I design for an Israeli client, I\u2019m not doing it for the money. It\u2019s part of the prestige of the brand. I\u2019ve largely stopped designing evening gowns because I simply don\u2019t have the time, but I can\u2019t turn down a longtime client who has been coming to me for years. My Israeli brides let me into their world, into their love stories, and that brings me enormous happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does the name Eden Fines mean to you?
\n\u201cEden has a provocative image, so everyone expected her to choose something very revealing. That was exactly why she came to me wanting a classic, more traditional and modest gown for the ceremony. She wanted that to be the surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe created a dramatic princess gown in silk taffeta, with a handmade overlay of flowers and leaves. I think she helped bring classic bridal styles back into fashion.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the ceremony, she changed into a cream-colored feathered gown with a swan-like look. It was sheer, with real feathers placed over the body, and she looked incredible. Later she changed again, this time into a completely sheer jumpsuit for dancing. To me, that was the look that best matched her personality.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is nearly a 50-year age gap between you and Eden. Did you find common ground?
\n\u201cBefore our first meeting, I wasn\u2019t sure she was really our kind of client. But after seeing the sketches and after meeting with several other designers, she chose us. Why? I think she felt that we understood her vision and could make it a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Yuval Kaspit?
\n\u201cShe came to me and said, \u2018Galia, I want to be a bohemian bride.\u2019 I paused. Bohemian isn\u2019t really our style. Eventually I told her, \u2018I\u2019ll go with it, because I went through a bohemian phase myself once.\u2019 Sharon and I traveled to a trade show in Paris, found some unusual fabrics and sent her photos. Once she approved them, we brought them back. She walked to the Chupa barefoot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4<\/a>\"\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4<\/p>\n

Galia Lahav<\/p>\n

(Photo: Oz Moalem)<\/p>\n

For a designer whose business is overwhelmingly international, the impact of the war that began with the October 7<\/a> attack is an unavoidable subject. Lahav, however, says the business has largely carried on as before.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no connection between a wedding dress and a war,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen a bride falls in love with a particular dress, nothing is going to stop her. My name is displayed prominently in all five of our flagship stores, and anyone who looks me up online can see that I\u2019m Israeli. There may be women who don\u2019t want to buy from Israelis, but I wouldn\u2019t know, because they simply don\u2019t come to us.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the first year of the war, when flights were severely disrupted, our shipments got stuck. Somehow, we found ways to get them out of Israel so that no bride would miss her wedding day. As far as I could tell, the pace of business never really slowed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Osnat agrees. \u201cIf someone looks into the brand, discovers that we\u2019re Israeli and has a problem with Israel, she probably won\u2019t buy a wedding dress from us. But thankfully, we have enough stores and retailers around the world that we haven\u2019t felt much of an impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lahav and her husband, who have already passed their golden wedding anniversary, live in a penthouse in Tel Aviv\u2019s Kokhav HaTzafon neighborhood. On Saturday mornings, the grandchildren, \u201cexcept the ultra-Orthodox one,\u201d arrive with friends to use the rooftop pool.<\/p>\n

Today, Lahav says she cannot imagine having built her life anywhere but Israel. \u201cWe had opportunities to move to the United States. When the children were young, Natan was offered a very good job managing a factory there and flew over to consider it. When he came back, he said, \u2018We\u2019re not leaving Israel.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t see myself living anywhere else. And how could I have built the business into what it is today without my children beside me? I\u2019ve seen colleagues with major businesses forced to shut them down because there was no next generation to take over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Osnat says the family\u2019s decision to remain in Israel is deeply rooted. \u201cMy grandfather was a Prisoner of Zion. We are a Zionist family. We came here to settle the country and build industries here. That is what my parents did for years, each in their own field, and we are continuing what they started. Right now the situation isn\u2019t amazing, and obviously we could earn more somewhere else, but money isn\u2019t what drives us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Idan agrees. \u201cGalia Lahav never went into fashion for the money. She wasn\u2019t thinking about how much she could earn. That was never what drove her. What she had then, and still has today, is a genuine passion for designing wedding dresses. When you love what you do and can also build a successful business from it, that\u2019s the perfect combination.\u201d<\/p>\n

After 30 years in bridal couture, is there still anything left to invent?
\n\u201cOf course,\u201d Lahav says. \u201cMy mind never stops working. Sometimes I dream about a completely new dress at night, and by morning I\u2019m in the studio telling everyone, \u2018This is the next collection.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cOne night I dreamed of a completely sheer dress with tiny shorts and structured cups, and I said, \u2018This has to open the show in New York. We\u2019ll put a dramatic coat over it, and at the end of the runway the model will open it.\u2019 I had never heard a reaction like that. People were shouting \u2018wow.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I started dreaming about princess gowns again. I felt fashion was circling back, so I created a collection with volume and crinolines, and it was a huge success. We also began playing with color beneath traditional white gowns, using linings in powder pink, blush and lilac. Our Chinese clients especially loved the pale blue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year we introduced burgundy, with a burgundy corset and matching floral details. And I already have another surprise in the works. That one will be revealed soon. Every morning I wake up with an open mind and look for ways to speak to the next generation, to get into the heart of Gen Z.\u201d<\/p>\n

How?
\n\u201cHow did I miss Taylor Swift?\u201d Lahav says with a laugh. \u201cShe didn\u2019t come to me for her wedding dress, and I would love the chance to dress her someday. I may not know all her songs, but there\u2019s no question she has a huge influence on what younger generations wear.\u201dF<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At 37, Galia Lahav, today one of the hottest fashion designers in the world, was still teaching arts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":612562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-612561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=612561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}