Let them wear dresses

The black mannequins placed this week in the showroom of Made by Lilamist, the new line created by designer Lila Elgrably, were outfitted in only black and white clothes. The other items in the collection - in living shades of pine green, coral and purple - hung from hangers on both sides of the space.

"I wanted to create a classic atmosphere, in the spirit of the House of Chanel," says Elgrably, indicating just how much thought she has put into the branding of the line. "I want it to be happy, light and pleasurable. To include beautiful clothes that women enjoy wearing."

Over her seven years on the local fashion scene, Elgrably's elegant dresses have been featured frequently in society columns, worn by well-known figures at high-profile events, or on the glossy pages of fashion magazines. Under normal circumstances, the designer's boutique on the northern end of Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Street attracts mainly women looking for very elegant outfits for gala events. The secondary line she is now launching, which will be sold at boutiques all over the country, is aimed at expanding Elgrably's operations.

"It's a necessary step that I had been pondering for a long time," she says. "I found that there are many women who know of my brand, but never bought any of the items because they were considered suitable only for fancier occasions."

The launching of a second line of concept clothing is something not often seen among Israeli designers, who usually expand their operations by opening new stores nationwide. Elgrably, who realized the number of women able to buy items from her primary line (Lilamist ) was fairly limited, chose to translate the spirit of that line into something for the masses.

A sorority of women

As of now, the collection consists of dresses and assorted combinations of blouses and skirts, but she says in the future it will expand in other directions as well.

"T-shirts are not an essential item for me at this stage, but jeans, for example, are something that must be included in every fashion brand, so I imagine that will happen later on," Elgrably explains, rejecting outright the identification of her designs with only extravagant evening wear. "I call it a feminine style of dress," she says.

In her mind, she envisions a sorority of women sitting around a table, drinking champagne on a sunny Friday afternoon and then going to the boutique to buy a new dress; or on the phone with each other, describing at length an amazing dress they just purchased.

"That's the buzz I want to generate around this brand," Elgrably says. "I want the dresses that I design to accompany these little happy moments in women's lives - and without them feeling they must empty their wallets for it."

If this calls to mind the recent collaboration between the French fashion house Lanvin and the Swedish clothing chain H&M, it is no coincidence. A quick glance at the collection confirms that Elgrably and the pair of designers who worked with her to develop the Made by Lilamist line offered their opinion on that collaboration while putting the new line together. It is apparent in the design style of the samples (among other things, in the copious waves of fabric, the large metal zippers that remain exposed and the unruly, frayed edges ) - in an attempt to translate complex handiwork into concept creations.

Traces of Miu Miu and Cavalli

Elgrably's new line is filled with familiar touches from the wardrobes of established fashion brands, and it is apparent that it is aimed at women who flip through the pages of fashion magazines with longing and whose hearts skip a beat at the sight of the dresses worn by celebrities on the red carpet and by supermodels.

For example, the dresses done in the feminine-boyish style seek to channel the spirit of Miu Miu, while the golden chain print on a white mini dress is reminiscent of familiar patterns by Roberto Cavalli and Chanel. At the sight of the golden, D-shaped metal buckles on a pair of slacks boasting a colorful Hermes-style print, it's hard not to be reminded of the flashy designs of the House of Dior.

"None of it means anything," says the designer. "It's not as if I sat in the studio and starting designing buckles in the shape of the letter D. I chose from the available supply of buckles and made sure it matched the print on the slacks."

Flat line

Elgrably acknowledges that realizing her vision under a given set of constraints was quite challenging, but it seems the charm that graced her work process took her too far and in an overly dramatic way. Traces from works created by top designers often appear in her Lilamist line as well, but there they are contained within Elgrably's unique signature. In Made by Lilamist, however, the designer's personal touch is less apparent - and the layers of fabric, bows and other adornments result in an overly raw collection.

A lace tiered dress in a tea shade with a black ribbon knotted at the waist, dresses embroidered with many beads, and tunics adorned with tiger prints look like unrefined interpretations of styles that are unrefined to begin with. Apart from a few items, including a knee-length taffeta dress (which can be found in green, red or black ) with a pair of cloth "wings" that flow down from the shoulders to the chest and down the back - whose style is reminiscent of a familiar item from the designer's primary line - most of them have a flat line lacking elegance.

Similarly, it is hard to be impressed by the cloth flowers sewn onto the shoulder pads of a cream-colored bodysuit, which look like paper flowers on gift-wrapped boxes, or by certain elements seen in earlier collections put out by popular clothing outlets, such as the gold teeth on zippers adorning waves of fabric flowing over the cleavage of a coffee-colored blouse.

Against the backdrop of the line's synthetic fabrics, which for the most part have a glossy finish, a little black linen dress stands out - a light weave more suited to the local climate and with a less flamboyant look, a direction worth developing in future collections. But it seems Elgrably is less interested in this at the moment. She is proud of the low price (NIS 270 ) of a cream-colored corset with leather-like trim along the cleavage, saying it's like "selling a Mercedes for the price of a Beetle."

Prices: NIS 200-550. For information on where to find items, call 03-518-6680.