Fashion Slow Lane Trip to Israel and Palestine


Fashion Slow Lane in the Middle East


I just got back from a crazy trip to Israel and Palestinian territories. I went there on behalf of Two Neighbors to check our fashion production and meet with the team in Israel as well as in the village in the West Bank (Palestine area). It was a really good meeting with our embroidery ladies in the West Bank, as a designer myself I was able to give them design direction on new designs for 2019. Our Palestinian Co-Manager was there to interpret between Arabic and English for me.

Me with some of our Palestinian team members in the village. 


We did a side trip through the Palestinian city of Hebron and that is where I saw the camel meat shop. The camel head was quite shocking, I am not sure why they wanted to hang the camel head in front of the shop, maybe so that people would know it was a fresh cut! Ewww

Camel head in Hebron, Palestine 


In the West Bank, we stopped to use a gas station toilet which was located near a Jewish settlement and when I came out of the bathroom, an Israeli army guy with a machine gun was standing by the car they demanded to see my passport. It is not every day that men with machine guns ask to see my passport, but that is just life in the West Bank. It did not seem to phase our driver and co-worker who is a Muslim and lives in East Jerusalem. She is used to being stopped at checkpoints.

In Jeruselum my partner Joe joined me for a quick tour of the old city. It was during Holy Week so it was super crowded and there were many tourists groups visiting the Old City as well as the historical Holy sites such as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Stations of the Cross. If you are interested in religion and history, Jeresulem should be on your bucket list! 

Overlooking Old City of Jerusalem

I was also able to meet with our team members in Tel Aviv and visit our handbag factory north of Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv is a young vibrant international city. It felt like parts of LA or NYC to me. The food was incredible and the fabric market was great!

Choosing threads for new designs


It is very surreal how I named this blog "Fashion Slow Lane" years ago and now I am working full time in slow fashion. My fashion career has taken me from the showrooms of Manhattan to the remote dusty villages of Palestine. I don't know anyone who has had such a diverse career in this industry as I have. I will take all of it, the camel heads, the remote villages, the culture.  Travel and fashion are my DNA.

Thanks for reading and stop by again soon!

Ciao,

Tara Sauvage
roccodante@gmail.com
Support peace and shop with www.twoneighbors.com 

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