Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.
I am 48 years old with a husband, three children and a dog! My husband and I have been married nearly 30 years. Our daughter Mia just got married last year, she’s 23. My twin boys Hillel and Yaacov serve in the Israeli army. They are 21 years old. We have now lived in Israel for 20 years!
What inspired you to start Bakst to Black?
I hate seeing layered clothes/dresses because something is too short so you need to add an extra skirt to a dress, it’s my pet hate! I have done it myself and it always felt wrong.
Were you interested in fashion growing up?
I am always looking at fashion, when my grandmother was alive and I was a young girl, she had a stroke and could not read or write. I used to take all the hello magazines and she would love to see pictures of fashion and royalty and what they were wearing.
You offer a bespoke order service, what is that process like and how long does it for a dress to be ready?
So on my website you will see three sample dresses, actually there will be 5 shortly! You choose a dress and then customize the way you want to have it – length, sleeves, collar. Once that is done, we send you a measuring chart which you can take to a seamstress or get a friend to help measure the 11 points we need. We are working with other companies to create an app for this right now, too! There will also be a video showing you exactly where to measure. We also will have measuring services, we have three on our team for Israel so far and working on more and along with our sales reps, we are growing every week now! If you wish for colour you drop me an email, I will send you a variety colours we can get and you can choose from there. Once done, we make your dress to your specifications. The dress will then be couriered to wherever you are. We ship to England, Israel and USA for now.
Where do you turn for inspiration when designing something new?
When discussing with my fashion designer whom I work with, Revital Avidar, we discussed how I see my brand. I do see my brand as one dress with simplicity and royalty written all over it! I like classic pieces that you can wear anytime. With making it your own, no two dresses will ever look the same again.
What is your favourite part about designing?
I love social media, so although all the dresses are designed by myself, I am fascinated where this journey is taking me, and whom I am meeting along the way. I love working with Revital and her team. Revital is simply amazing and her input has been invaluable, I would be nothing without her on my team.
What was the first dress you ever sold?
So we are only just starting to sell now, which is fantastic, and to date, we have two orders due out in the next few weeks. We made a dress for a lady who was going to the British Embassy when Prince William was visiting Israel. It was the first “Mia” dress in a colour that we have made. It was really exciting. All my dresses have names, inspired by people in my life or people I admire.
Who are some of the designers you admire?
The last two years, I have followed many designers from Israel and the US. I have learnt a lot about designers in Israel, too! I admire them all and it would be unfair at this early stage to say who is my favourite because I love watching their stories and they are all so different.
What are your plans for the future?
My family taught me to dream big and try to live the dream… So BaksttoBlack is here to stay! We are looking into getting into the US market and already have great contacts. We plan to make our measuring system really affective and therefore we might be able to create and diverse from dresses at some point. I want to continue to see what our customers want, as we know they want no sizes, and we have NO sizes, we also have real women wearing our dresses, not models. A lady told me today… ” I am hard to fit” Every shop she can’t find clothes. The issue is not with her at all…retailers are about to wake up as lots of our made to measure websites become more and more the thing that takes us to the next level. No one is “hard to fit” that statement is now in the trash.
Where can we see, find and purchase your dresses?
Website – Happy to talk to customers. You can also reach me via email.
© BAKst TO BLACK
