EXCLUSIVE: Elie Tahari stages Miami fashion show to benefit wounded women IDF soldiers

The sleek, elegant line will be worn by 14 models who have volunteered to be part of this project due to the passion they feel, along with Tahari and Rubinstein, to help those women soldiers. Tahari felt called to help them after the Oct. 7 massacre and has dedicated all profits from his collection to those women soldiers. The show, organized by Yedidim in collaboration with Soireee, honors their bravery and courage.

Tahari and Rubinstein spoke with The Post Millennial about faith, fashion, and the backlash they experienced in the fashion industry after Oct. 7.

"We are doing a full fashion show of Elie Tahari designs," Rubinstein told The Post Millennial, "beautifully produced here at St. Thomas University, along with two other partners," those are Yedidim and Soireee. "You know, it takes a village," she said.

"I've had so many people want to be on board because of what this man is doing," she said. People were inspired to be part of it because they wanted to help the wounded female soldiers as well. "The message is so pure," Rubinstein said, "that everybody just jumped on board, and it became bigger and bigger."

Tahari revealed what made him launch the project. The need to get involved came after speaking with a man he knows through a prayer service in New York. "I saw him working so hard for the wounded soldiers," he said. "So I said to him, how can I help? Can I dress the women?" It was after that when Tahari began dressing them. He was very moved by the response of the women soldiers.

Tahari's relationship to Israel is personal. He grew up there and was born in Jerusalem. When he came to New York, with barely any money in his pocket and an interest in fashion, he found opportunities for success that blossomed into a wildly successful career. He now licenses his name and sells his own collection online, the proceeds all going to help the IDF's wounded women soldiers.

Speaking about the horror of the massacre, Tahari said he was shocked to see the "the world turn against Israel." He praised Trump for understanding the situation. "I see violence and violence and violence. And I always said Trump understood the problem. Trump said, as long as they teach their children to kill other people and go to heaven, the war never will stop, always going to be a war. You can't have them teaching children to go to heaven or get killed and go to heaven, and there's never going to be peace. And he's right, and that's the situation, always, violence, violence, violence. That's all I see."

In his view, what's needed is "not the United Nations but United Religion. And if all the religious people come together and make decisions, the world will obey more than the United Nations."

Rubinstein is also inspired by her faith and felt called to bring her faith and fashion together. "This is probably the best time to realize that faith and fashion are totally related," Rubinstein said. "But speaking about October 7, the fashion industry has been impacted since October 7. I'm part of a very, very large group of people in the fashion industry that are Israeli or Jewish, that are having a really difficult time with the backlash of hate.

"So it's time now to all start learning more about each other and getting along," she said, "as opposed to being continuously separated. Even though you would think fashion is a creative process and it doesn't apply to us, unfortunately, fashion has now become a place where people think that they have to have whatever the moral compass is going. This is where their brand is going. It's part of brand attention, brand management, unfortunately. What I'm most proud of is that I'm aligned with somebody like Elie Tahari, which focuses on what I think is important, is on the right side of history."

Things were different, they agreed, before Oct. 7. People of differing faiths were not so divided. The massacre and the ensuing war changed all that, Tahari and Rubinstein agreed. The PR campaign for the Hamas terror group was global. "There are over 2 billion Muslims," Tahari said, "and there are only 15 million Jews."

Fashion can play a huge role in that PR campaign. The recent Glamour Awards honored children's YouTuber and Palestinian activist Ms. Rachel. Her dress was embroidered with drawings from Palestinian children. Just a few years ago, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Met Gala dress, reading Tax the Rich, made waves in fashion and in politics.

"So that's fashion," Rubinstein said. "What you wear on the red carpet, what you're saying in your statement, whether good or bad, whether true of false, fashion speaks its own language, and I prefer the language of Elie Tahari."

https://rumble.com/v71a3tw-libby-emmons-interviews-elie-tahari-and-tobi-Rubinstein.html