The Ball: Tailor-Made Escapism

The Ball: Tailor-Made Escapism, hosted by Design Museum Holon in the summer of 2021, was Israel's first exhibition dedicated to the most surprising fashion industry – evening and bridal gowns. The exhibition's dreamy and immersive space explored the role of fashion in lavish celebrations and the allure of escaping reality. It invited visitors to not just view but to step into the fantasy of being princes and princesses, if only for one magical night.

The exhibition extended throughout the entire museum and displayed 120 dresses in historical and contemporary designs and about 50 accessories made mainly by the leading fashion designers in Israel. The lower gallery became a historical timeline and presented the upheavals in ball and evening fashion through reconstructions of popular models from the 18th century to the 1980s. The upper gallery presented "The Modern Ball: Israeli Couture" and gave a glimpse of the evening fashion industry in Israel. "Heart of Glass: A Journey Following Cinderella's Slippers" in the peripheral corridor traced the cultural incarnations of Cinderella's slippers with printed 3D models. Idit Barak's "11:59PM" work using 10,000 meters of optical fibres was presented at the Margalit Gallery. The design laboratory hosted the last sweet part of the exhibition, a celebration of dessert hats created by hatter Maor Zabar and macaron towers and cake made by pastry Chef Alon Shabo.

The Ball created an immersive, unforgettable, multi-sensory experience that combined sound, set and lighting design. The creative dialogue between festive and everyday elements and between the fantastic and the real raised questions concerning the role of fashion in everyday life, escapism, exaggeration, dreams of both riches and happiness and the ability of clothing and objects to allow us to change and realize our fantasies.The exhibition was a huge success and broke the museum’s previous record of visitors with an audience of 150 thousand people.