Israel gets its first mention on Style Bubble (I verified that with Google..) and if i'm honest, were it not for the fact that Iluchka had linked to me through her site, I'd never have known about the store in Tel Aviv, opened up by Ilana Bronstein.  Heavy dosages of prettiness and what I have now termed 'Lulaism' (after the mag of course...) can be worrying.  Stuck in a particular design vernacular and how can you develop and move forward (Erin Fetherston illustrating this perfectly....)?  That isn't the case with Iluchka even if at first site, the pretty pretty frocks, the pastel colours and her latest SS08 collection is called...'Fairy Tale'.  Fairy fair enough... there are aspects of what you would expect.... pale pinks, sheer fabrics, ruffles but added to that expected formula are tiny influences from Russian folkloric costumes and designs with a bit of a kick behind them.  I also love the way she presents her collectionas online as a multimedia experience and it's a joy looking back at her past collections.

Oh, and I'm now thinking that if you combed the whole world  over, every single city/small town has its own fashion hub going on that is worth investigating... gives me much food for thought for my future travel plans...