Bracha Levinson was brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7 in a livestreamed attack, when her Kibbutz Nir-Oz home burned along with the family wedding dress she had designed and was meant to be worn by her granddaughter Hagar.
The dress Bracha designed in the kibbutz sewing workshop, which she managed with love and dedication, was originally created for her daughter Shay Shimoni Levinson, who wore it on her wedding day. The same dress was supposed to be passed on to her granddaughter, Hagar, who dreamed of wearing it on her own wedding day.
Despite the unimaginable pain and tragic story, Hagar decided to try to fulfill her dream of wearing the wedding dress that burned on October 7, and turned to her good childhood friend, fashion designer Shay Greenberg, to recreate the wedding dress that her grandmother Bracha had designed.
Greenberg, a fashion designer who just finished her studies in the Fashion Design Department at Shenkar, told Israel Hayom about the fascinating recreation process. "Recreating the wedding dress was done through photos of Shay's wedding, Hagar's mother. Photos were the only thing that remained from the wedding dress.
"The first stage in making the dress was taking Hagar's measurements and preparing a pattern according to them. This is a relatively simple dress, so it was important to ensure every line was in place. I sewed the upper part twice, once as a toile, a sewn sketch, and once more for the actual upper part of the dress."
Greenberg noted that the challenge within the recreation process was deciding whether to recreate the original dress exactly or make slight changes to make the dress more modern and clean. "When we chose the fabric, for example, we chose it knowing it was a more expensive and higher-quality fabric, compared to kibbutz fabrics from the 2000s. The bridal industry has developed greatly, and with it the fabrics."
Greenberg also shared the difficulties that arose in the process. "The main difficulty in recreating the dress was the belt - we had deliberations about whether to recreate it exactly, because we felt we couldn't find the exact materials. We decided to reference it and make a belt with beads in flower shapes, but without the flowers themselves," she shared.
"We had a feeling we might want to change things, so I prepared an additional belt for extra security. When the bride's mother saw it, she wanted an additional belt matching the one her mother, Bracha, had designed. I provided her with all the necessary materials and the base of the belt, and she sewed the flowers and beads. I was very moved that she did it because I think that's the most meaningful part. Just as her mother sewed her wedding dress for her, she took part in the preparation and work on Gori's dress."
Discussing the recreation process emotionally and sentimentally, Greenberg shared, "They're like family to me. I grew up with them. The wedding dress is something I could do for the family after everything they went through. Obviously, it's important to give a hug and support, but that's not something tangible or physical. This was very moving for me."
Greenberg's graduation project in the Fashion Design Department at Shenkar, which was presented just a month ago in a dedicated fashion show of department graduates, deals precisely with this topic and examines the complex relationship between women and wedding dresses.
"I started working on recreating the dress parallel to the graduation project. I found myself moving between two worlds: on one hand, critical engagement that challenges the institution of weddings as it exists today, and on the other hand, personal and deep creation of a wedding dress," Greenberg shared.
"Hagar's choice to recreate the dress that her grandmother sewed for her mother is, in my eyes, the beauty of the bridal world. Alongside the criticism I have toward this industry, I also have enormous appreciation for the wedding dress and the power it embodies. It can be a symbol of love, family, tradition, and connection between generations. The choice to return to the original dress that Bracha Levinson sewed is a meaningful choice. This is Gori's way of commemorating her grandmother."
This complex but beautiful and moving recreation project indeed raises several questions about commemoration, heritage, and family tradition. "I believe commemoration and memory are an inseparable part of the fashion world. Sometimes it's expressed in a complete dress and sometimes in a small detail, even a button. The expression 'move on' is problematic in my view, especially for families who have lost their loved ones. A person's memory continues to live forever, and you never really can move on. But you can create new positive memories around the person who is no longer here, and maybe even find some healing in that."
