Subconsciously and consciously, a modest dress code ingrained itself in Aharon Genish’s psyche from a very young age. These were the clothes he was born into. Like a native tongue, they formed words from the only syllables his ears had ever bent forward to hear. Born into an ultra-Orthodox Jewish home in B’nei Brak, the largest Haredi population in central Israel, Genish’s keen eye and curiosity for fashion began at a very young age. In fact, the world of fashion ignited something that propelled Genish to shift his own personal, religious narrative. Questioning the rigid rules and his uncompromising upbringing, the need to belong to something freeing led him to art and eventually, to studying fashion. “Clothes are items to express one’s identity and individuality and a sense of belonging. This is exactly what stirred the need to be different within me,” he says. As a child, he created small sculptures from clay. “Looking to the future, in my fantastical world, clothes have always been a means of expressing my identity and my individuality. They offered me the freedom to be who I really always wanted to be.”
“I am thoroughly influenced by the world of my childhood, the yeshiva, the Torah, and the scriptures of sages,” he explains. Yet, Genish takes these loaded, insular elements into his own distinctive and innovative space, where his personal interpretation and current identity flourish. His inspirations combine old and new, engaging with his past from a contemporary perspective. Genish forms connections between the extremes of his Israeli life, taking traditional Jewish motifs, global details, modest elements from the East and West, and then breaks them down into divisions and weaves them into something whole. Piece by piece he constructs a personal, postmodern perspective. Genish edits and transforms details from different historical periods into contemporary wear, with echoes of their past iterations. The essentialist transformation of these clothes, from old to new, as envisioned through Genish’s subjectivist perspective, produces a collection of works which is framed by a poetic presence. “I intentionally preserve the value and respect for their history and tradition,” Genish explains.
Genish’s latest collection is a series of starched white collars crafted from lace, featuring blouses which are uniform and unisex. The voluminous blouses are paired with matching breeches and ruched bloomers which are tied at the hem with dainty creme ribbon. Sailor hats are paired with 70s saddle shirts, creating a vibe of cowboy cum boatsman. Wide, loose, knee-grazing tunics in long-sleeved lace, with more layers of lace, ribbons at the wrist, are reminiscent of Victorian table tops and collars. “The designs combine fragile and delicate moments: feminine strength and power coupled with elements taken from the masculine world of the yeshiva. The gender boundaries are blurred through oversized silhouettes, tailored suits, and dresses in which the body’s lines receive a new and different interpretation. Here, classic men’s clothing become women’s clothing and vice versa,” he says. Genish’s latest collection also includes hand-made details crocheted and hung from the heart pockets of some of the shirts. “The rose is presented as an interpretation of the familiar symbol of the dove, with an olive leaf in its mouth. Here, too, I wanted to present the contrast between the raven and the Lord, which in my view, symbolizes different worlds, but together they create a new reality.” When discussing his actual process, Genish relies on his gut and strong intuition until the moment of magic reveals itself and he knows there is nothing more to add or change within a design. “My work transforming fantasy to reality is a profound realization,” he explains.
“When I was a child, my mother dressed me and my nine siblings in exactly the same clothing. I only saw the same clothes in the same colors of black and white, in the same cuts of suits, and the same uniform collective identity that aims to eliminate personal and unique individuality. Today, I offer an opening to a different perception,” explains Genish. “In this collection, I sought out a unique, individual voice. I took my childhood homes in Bnei Brak and rebuilt them. I crafted the collection from identical items based on the ultra-Orthodox dress code that I grew up with, such as a button-down shirt, and identical dresses and suits, to which I added unique elements. Each garment has a doll of the same fabric, of the same color and of the same type made for its garment solely. The doll gives each garment its individualistic angle and differentiates it from the others. The collection represents a new and post-modern concept, where it is possible to live in a communal society and at the same time maintain individual elements in which there is no one absolute truth, but different angles to the same reality.
This photoshoot by Michal Chelbin took place at the Rotenberg House in Haifa, which is a preserved historical building within the mixed city. “My connection with Michal is cosmic, and we have a special connection and rapport. It is important for us to create a story beyond the garment, so that each photo creates something new, intriguing, and poetic,” says Genish.
