The late actress and director Ronit Elkabetz was both a cultural and a fashion icon. A new exhibit showcases her powerful personality and style
The Design Museum Holon will present a magnificent collection of clothing left by the actress and director Ronit Elkabetz, in a unique exhibition that presents the power of the actress’s personality alongside her love for life and the drama that came with it.
The exhibit invites visitors into a lucid dream through an extraordinary and first-of-its-kind dialogue in Israel between the world of cinema, art, social work and the fashion world – through the lens of this Israeli heroine of local and international culture, a muse in her own right, and a fashion icon.
© Gil Hayun
Ronit Elkabetz (1964-2016) was a creative, an actress, scriptwriter and director, and a feminist justice fighter who worked for women in Israel. She worked in both Israeli and French cinema and won three Ophir Awards (the Israeli Oscar), receiving a total of seven nominations throughout her career. In 2015, one year before she passed away from cancer at the age of 51, she was selected to be the President of the Jury for the International Critics’ Week section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. In her work, she toiled between the different arts, between East and West, between the periphery and the center, between Israel and the world, and created figures that changed the cultural consciousness.
As a fashion icon whose image enchanted audiences, she was an object of admiration, and a muse to artists and designers. Elkabetz’s story unfolds throughout her life from Be’er Sheva to Kiryat Yam, Tel Aviv, Paris and Mogador, Morocco.
© Joseph Dadon
The exhibition journeys through her milestones in an exemplary dialogue extending over all the museum’s galleries – presenting 30 scenes comprised of 90 ensembles – cinema costumes, haute couture, accessories, and jewelry, all simulating a dreamlike film. From the 1980’s when she worked as a fashion model and muse, through her career as an actress, and establishing herself as a creator in the global film industry alongside her brother Shlomi Elkabetz, the exhibition includes Elkabetz’s original clothing and red carpet looks by international and Israeli designers such as Alber Elbaz, Christian Lacroix, Gideon Oberson, and more.
Opens November 28 through April 2018. 8 Pinkhas Eilon St, Holon (dmh.org.il)