An Interview With Israeli Bridal Designer Zahavit Tshuba

I never thought specifically about being a bridal designer, although my first designs were bridal gowns to my dolls.. But most of the years, I designed things that I could use and wear myself, like casual and evening wear.

I decided to design bridal dresses after I got married and understood how small is the selection for special and chic bridal dresses.

From the minute I started designing the first dress, I was in love with the special fabrics and with the feeling and excitement of creating such an important dress, and that made me want to keep doing that more than anything else I designed in the past.

Who inspired you growing up?

The passion of my brides, made me want to grow up and to spread my work to other places and to many other brides who dare to look different on their wedding day.

I see my brides reaction when choosing their dresses, they keep telling me that they have never seen anything like our dresses in any other place, that gives me a lot of confident to keep growing.

Where do you draw your inspiration from? How do get motivated for designing your collections?

I get inspired by many things, I love street wear, French and Italian movies and pop stars from the 70s, the common thing in all these things inspiring me, is the element of a bohemian life style.

Everything that is not traditional and connected to a specific trend, gives me inspiration.

From your collections, do you have a favorite wedding dress?

My favorite wedding dresses are the ones that have a combination between simplicity and a glam look.

I find that mostly with the Lola dress, which has a very plain silk fabric, simple cut but a very special open back with pearls and a back peplum.

I just think that it’s a very special and unforgettable bridal look.

What types of material and detailing do you use for your collections?

Mostly, we are using plain silk fabrics from various types, such as taffeta, duchess, chiffon, organza and satin. We are also using tulle fabric which is very common in bridal dresses.

In order to give our collection a special statement, we combine other elements in our dresses which are not necessarily connected to bridal dresses, like crochet trimming, hand knitted elements, fringes and heavy net fabrics.

Those combinations give a very different look to the dresses and that is something that our brides are looking for.

What type of bride do you think is attracted to your dresses? Please describe her personality and style.

I can clearly see something very common in all our brides, they are very fashion forward woman who have an obsession for being different, special and fashion leaders.

They don’t really care about the common trends, they prefer to dare and to bring something new than to wear a dress that you can see all over the bridal magazines and all over the internet.

They have a free spirit personality and most often they don’t even need any help to choose their dress – they know what they want and they are very confident with their decision.

Are there any exciting plans coming up for you Zahavit?

Our plans for the near future is to have success with UK brides. We are very happy to have the  “Les Trois Soeurs” boutique to be the first and only boutique in England who carry our dresses. They have a very special concept and we are happy to work with them.

I also hope that we will approach other boutiques in other countries soon, and hope to keep and maintain ourself as a unique brand and to keep working with people we love.

My plan is to continue to make different and unique bridal dresses, that don’t look like the common and trendy bridal looks that the bridal market is offering these days.

I also have hobbies like designing shoes and diamond jewelry – it might grow one day into a serious thing..

Personally and professionally, where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

When looking at my career – the business I’ve built during the last 5 years, waking up everyday for new designs, doing what I love without compromising, all that together with building my family and getting so much support from my husband, makes me feel very gifted.

When you’re not busy designing gorgeous bridal gowns, how do you fill your spare time?

In my very little spare time, when I’m not designing and not having the kids around, I’m going downstairs to swim and to do some sport, chatting with my friends on the phone and sometime just doing nothing, listening to pop and house music.

Which designers give you inspiration / who do you admire and why?

I admire the Italian designer Prada for being a very unique designer! I think that she is a leader in the fashion industry for decades because of her special way of thinking.

It’s very clear that she is not following trends like many other designers, she always bring new trends, which looks different than everything else that you see in magazines.

And finally, do you have any advice for future brides-to-be on choosing their wedding dress and planning their big day?

The best advice I could give to my brides to be, is to listen to their own taste and feelings while choosing the dress. No one knows better than you how you should look on your wedding day.

The fact that you are a bride, doesn’t mean that you need to wear something that is not reflecting of yourself and it doesn’t mean that you have to wear a similar and traditional dress as many other brides are wearing.

Just dare to be yourself in all regarding your wedding day! That’s the thing that will make you feel happy and satisfied when seeing your wedding album..

Thank you so much Zahavit for a wonderful interview and it was so lovely to actually meet you in person!

Zahavit Tshuba gowns are available in the UK for Les Trois Soeurs.