Jewish Orthodox fashion designer is a hit among Muslim women

Similar requirements for modesty meant Muslim women were drawn to Shirel Avrahami’s style.

When Shirel Avrahami began designing clothes, her rabbi tried to stop her.

“The head of the seminar told me I could not do it as my clothes were not modest enough - people could see my elbows and my neck,” she said.

But, encouraged by her husband and the advice of a published collection of letters from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, she created an Instagram account blogging modest fashion and eventually started designing her own clothes that met both fashion and modesty requirements and provided online shopping opportunities for religious women.

Then something she wasn’t expecting happened. Arab women started buying on her website.

 “We don’t believe in the same thing, and we think differently, our life is very different but we do have something in common and that is modest fashion," she said.

Since then, Avrahami has started working with Arab models and creating advertisements targeted at Arab women. And she has found meaning in the serendipitous connection.

"It is not my goal to make national peace. But fashion is my way to unite the two people first of all, on the level of my close circle,” she said.

“Before we start talking about big things let's start with something around us. The Arab woman working with me, an Arab lawyer or Arab doctor who helps me and vice versa. First of all, we need to connect on that level and feel at ease with each other." .

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Jewish Orthodox fashion designer becomes hit among Muslim women (Ynet)

Photo: Modest swimwear by Shirel Avrahami (shirelavrahami.com)