“The exhibition The Ball is dedicated to escapism,” says fashion historian and curator Ya’ara Keydar. The Ball, a new fashion exhibition that was unveiled at the Design Museum Holon on July 13, has been in the works for the past three years. The opening of the exhibition was postponed several times, but in Keydar’s eyes, this only heightens the excitement of the long-awaited event.
“When I started to work on it, people asked why it’s so important in our lives. And then escapism became the central thing in our lives all over the world.”
Keydar, 40, has recently relocated back from New York City to her native Israel. She lives in Tel Aviv with her partner and their son and is currently enrolled in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s cultural studies PhD program. In New York, Keydar earned an MA from New York University’s Costume Studies Department. Her exhibitions New York Fashion Rediscovered and A Walk of Art: Visionary Shoes have won her a type of curatorial celebrity both in Israel and abroad. Keydar’s exhibition Je t’Aime, Ronit Elkabetz is the Design Museum Holon’s most visited exhibition of all time.
About her choice to return to Israel after eight years in New York, Keydar says, “The idea of living out of a suitcase started to be too much. No matter where I was, I was away from my husband, so, or my family and Israel, my father, mother and siblings. The idea was to come here for a while. When we landed at Ben-Gurion in January 2020, I told my husband, ‘I don’t want to see the airport for a minimum of two years.’”
Keydar’s wish came to fruition with the coming of COVID when Israel became the more permanent and constant location she had initially imagined. However, as a truly optimistic person, she took the lockdowns in stride and celebrated the new possibilities to connect with colleagues abroad via Zoom.
During those months of closures, Keydar focused on escapism via the prom.
“On the universal level, I wanted to ask if escapism is here to tell us that we can’t handle reality, or if it is the most realistic way of survival. The first part of the exhibition is dedicated to the history of proms. They developed in the middle ages in Europe, and were closed to the aristocracy and the rich. Through fairy tales, proms became available for everyone to imagine, to dream and to become a part of the escapism,” says Keydar.
Of course, a ball isn’t a ball without the clothes.
“I think there’s something in fashion that allows time travel and also allows us to be for someone completely different for one night.”
THE EXHIBITION will encompass the entire structure of the Design Museum Holon.
“For the exhibition, I built a timeline of important moments in history for balls from the 18th century through the ‘80s. The pieces are historically accurate, designed and cut for the exhibition,” explains Keydar.
To complete this complex mission, Keydar called on costume historian and creator Moni Mednik, who molded cotton muslin into some of the most intricate designs ever seen. The historic section includes not only the gowns but the traditional undergarments supporting the dresses from within.
“Some of the foundation garments are quite startling, like pregnancy corsets. They are garments we don’t usually see,” she says. “Like the exhibition, things look beautiful from afar, but when you take a closer look, they are more complex.”
But the ball is no longer limited to Europe. In Keydar’s process, it was important for her to include the Israeli perspective on proms and balls.
“When I was still living in New York, I noticed that the parties and weddings in Israel are the happiest and wildest. American weddings are much more solid and stoic. There is something different here.”
To give the Israeli take on the ball, Keydar invited dozens of Israeli designers to participate in the exhibition, among them Sharon Tal of Maskit, Shahar Avnet, Vivi Bellaish and Alon Livne.
“The upper gallery is dedicated to the modern ball. I wanted to look at bridal gowns and evening gowns in Israel through 82 dresses. Here, we can see the modern Israeli ball and the scope of the industry in Israel, which is amazing and at international standards. And even though we’re in the Middle East, so many dresses look like they came out of the lower exhibition. You see European history through the dresses, through puffed sleeves, crinoline and corsets.”
And as Cinderella learned, the look can’t be complete without shoes. In the section of the exhibition called Heart of Glass: A Journey in the Footsteps of Cinderella’s Slippers, guests can take in interpretations on the most famous shoe in fairy tales.
“I created a collaboration with Formlabs, which specializes in 3D printing. We took historical shoes, the most popular shoes of the time, and printed them in 3D glass.”
Finally, the exhibition wraps up with a playful look at the desserts that put a sweet touch on the balls.
“It’s a journey that covers the history of ball gowns up to the modern Israel ball scene. Then you have the history of the Cinderella slipper and wrap it all up with a huge dessert cake,” says Keydar with a smile.
The Ball is on display at the Design Museum Holon, 8 Pinhas Eilon St. For more information, go to www.dmh.org.il or call (073) 215-1500.