International denim brand Diesel is collaborating with the Department of Fashion Design’s denim course for the third year running.

In the course, supervised by Maya Arazi and Ofir Ivgi, students designed outfits inspired by the brief “Be Bold”, which has been the brand’s message from the day of its establishment. Fourteen second-year students began the course by receiving the challenge: Be Bold. The students were then asked to prepare a meaningful activity or experience that no one had ever dared do before. At the end of the process, each student presented their bold act, the research they conducted on the theme and how they expressed this in the outfit they designed.

The students had the opportunity to work with raw fabrics sent from Diesel Italy and with jeans from the brand’s archive; they then presented their works to Diesel International’s top design team.  

Design: Tamar Elbaz

The students explored topics ranging from questions of identity and nationality, facing fears, body image and gender, and environmental influences on behavior.

In response to the challenge, students chose different actions such as getting a first tattoo, meeting homeless people, hitting on someone, coping with fear of the sea, going back to a grandfather’s legendary shop in Jerusalem, singing karaoke in front of a big audience, skiing again after an injury and more.

The team of denim designers from Diesel (led by Rina Tollio, the talent acquisition manager for creative roles at OTB) together with the purchasing team of Diesel Israel, chose three winners:

First place: Tamar Elbaz

Second place: Noy Salmy

Third place: Abigail Muchnik

Design: Noy Salmy (Photo: Yoni Cholev)

Ilan Beja, Head of the Department of Fashion Design at Shenkar: “We continue to strengthen the collaborative activity between Diesel and Shenkar’s Department of Fashion Design. Thanks to this wonderful connection, students created new inspiration under the slogan Be Bold and came up with extraordinarily creative solutions both in the treatment of the fabric they received from Diesel and in new creative tools that led to avant-garde design ideas.”

Design: Abigail Muchnik

Diesel: “It’s exciting to see the courage and openness that each student brought to the process, which ultimately led them to the project they chose. This is a powerful and exciting project, not just because of the designs, but also because of the stories behind them. It is apparent that each student took the project seriously and worked with dedication. The most important values for a designer are to listen to and learn from the Other, learn from mistakes and never give up. We asked to see  the winners’ continued process next year as well. There are amazing talents in Israel and it's always fun to see their development.”