Shenkar Fashion Design Department X New Balance

New Balance and the Shenkar Fashion Design Department collaborated for the 2018 Tel Aviv Fashion Week, celebrating the bond between fashion and accessories. To help illuminate this bond 10 students, 5 from both the fashion design and jewelry design department received a blank canvas in the form of a white pair of New Balance 574 shoes.

The Shenkar students took the once blank shoes and created one of a kind pieces.

The inspiration ranged from the dichotomy of a white smile and the authenticity that Marilyn Manson gives audiences to the combination of silver craft and contemporary assembly toys. With the runway set as the showcase for the unique shoes, they were seamlessly coupled with Shenkar designed garments. With shoes often being just icing on the cake in most runway shows, these flipped the script and made for a breathtaking look from head to toe.

The Shenkar students took the New Balance collaboration to a new level, transforming white trainers into works of art. This partnership between Shenkar and New Balance shows the creative possibilities when a brand like New Balance collaborates with the imaginative power of Shenkar students.

Noy Munis:

“In a world where A Colgate smile helps you survive Marilyn Manson offers you authenticity”.

David Wexler:

“The shoe’s design was inspired by the text “unpacking my library” by Walter Benjamin. I focused the design around creating grid patterns on denim and breaking them up as a symbol of the human attempt to categorize and force order onto memories who keep on breaking the system and burst through the cracks”.

Tamara Eisenstein:

“My design is an inquiry into the relationship between space and volume. The sculptural addition of extra-long laces threaded with iron wire creates a new line and contour around the shoe”.

Linor Kahlani:

“The shoe’s design was inspired by the fantasy and escapism I drift in to with my imagination, where I escape into my own secret garden”.

Matat Nahum:

“I used the indentations and pinholes as a base for the metal to penetrate; To create a new look that transforms the shoe into jewelry.”

Tula Gishri:

“The inspiration for the shoe’s design comes from two contrasting cultural themes: the classic and iconic letterman’s jacket which is associated with American culture, combined with the cherry blossom imagery from Japanese culture”.

Yotam Bahat:

“I approached the project as a jewelry designer by using classic silversmith techniques and materials. My creation uses chainmail and pearls to create a decorative shield that drapes over the shoe”.

Orion Ivliev:

“My design is a portrayal of dissonance between the old and the new. It focuses mainly on the outer structure; A shell. The shoe has an organic yet mechanical look that is inspired by the science fiction “Alien worlds of H.G. Geiger”.

Fa Bachar:

“For my shoe design I chose to combine elements of silver craft with contemporary assembly toys for children. The interaction of the two elements form a colorful and humoristic new composition”.

Shay Rosenshtok:

The shoe’s design was inspired by the artist Laolu senbanjo, who is currently
engaged in African body paintings that preserve the culture of Yoruba, his
hometown. The design examines a relationship between the human body and
graffiti, which was the artist’s first project at the beginning of his career.

By: Reuven Haviv

Photos by: Shai Neiburg