Shopping Report from Fmarket Tel Aviv, Part 1

Now that the excitement has passed – and the shopping has subsided for a while – I’d love to share with you my experience at Fmarket this past weekend. Many of Designist’s readers have asked what Fmarket is (or was) like – Is it like fashion week? Is it exclusive? Are there runway shows? Does it forecast the next season? And all I can say it, no, no, sort of and why not.

Fmarket is more like a big end-of-season sale/ party than it is an exclusive fashion show. The goal of the event is to bring high fashion – or designer fashion – to the masses through major sales. You can see from the pics, it’s laid out in booths of designers. And the feeling was one of grab-it-if-it-fits and fast – almost Loehmann’s style with many trying things on over or under their clothes right on the spot.

And there were plenty of bargains to be had – for example, Tiger Eye funky sweatshirt dresses (featured below) discounted from 600 NIS to 250 NIS. Overall the fashions for this past season were as you know: 80s inspired, ruched, layered, feminine and high(er) waisted. But how does this relate to what’s ahead for Israel’s Spring and Summer fashion? Well, I had to ask. And so the following fmarket poll will hopefully shed some light on the current and upcoming vibe in Tel Aviv. I hereby present the first FMarket Sale-side Fashion Poll:

DD: What brought you to fmarket this year?
44% The bargains
34% The designers
14% The accessories
8% The music and bar

DD: What designer were you most excited to see or came hoping to buy? And why?
- “Zika and Tiger Eye. They’re clothes not everyone can wear or would want to wear because of the interesting details. They’re quite different.” Me (as seen above browsing through Tiger Eye’s booth)
- “Hagit Tassa. I love how she designs modern clothes with a touch of retro and interest,” Hadas
- “Closet and Cala. Really great clothes – handmade looking with great details,” Iris
- “FishnDag and Lucid. Amazing clothes. Like wearing art. I feel so great in them,” Rotem
- “Ronen Chen and Tal Beck. What can I say? I’m an older woman who brought her more adventurous daughters to shop. Me? I like the classics,” Rachel
- “Gal Designs. She’s so romantic with delicate tanks and tops,” Sigal
- “Zika and Delicatessen. I couldn’t afford the normal Gan HaHashmal prices, so I hope I can get some good stuff here,” Anat

DD: What do you think we’ll be seeing next season, Spring and Summer?
- “More green – both in color and in concept. Better stuff for the earth.” Sarit
- “More natural shapes for women. We’ll be allowed to show our curves with clothes that are more relaxed, have less structure and more draping.” Michal
- “Feminine will continue, it always done. More about natural than about stiff.” Rachel
- “Yellow and green will be the big colors I think. And more prints – geometric 80s style prints.” Anat
- “We’ll see more designer clothes as opposed to the commercial chain stores because innovative shapes and interesting details are much more interesting and quality in one’s clothes. Plus the idea of supporting a person as opposed to a chain will be more important.” Rotem

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the fmarket report: Where the real action was this year – kids clothes and accessories. Plus an amazing accessory giveaway you won’t want to miss!