If you are a frequent user of social media, you may have noticed that in the last few years Amazingly elaborate costumes roam the streets of Tel Aviv.
Although these videos are primarily released around the time of Purim, those who make the costumes are busy all year round.
Gain fame
Olgad Edery, 31, essentially runs the Mustache Art Studio in south Tel Aviv on his own.
“I’m a wearable art designer,” Edery told ISRAEL21c. “I design costumes, props, masks, things like that.”
The studio is one of only a few similar businesses in Israel, and he says they all have their own niche.
Edery has been in the industry for a long time, but his six-year-old studio first rose to fame after being asked to produce an Israeli version of “The Masked Singer,” a show in which celebrities compete against each other in costumes and masks to hide their identities.
Edery, with a small team of freelance assistants, has been creating costumes for the Israeli version since the show began three years ago.
Since then, he has had the opportunity to perform alongside Israel’s 2018 Eurovision Song Contest winner, Netta Barzilai.
Barzilai took part in a medley of past Eurovision 2023 winners in Liverpool, and Eddery had the honour of designing the stage costume the singer wore for the performance.
King of Purim
When asked about the most famous clients he has worked with, Edery names Barzilai after Aviram Carmeli.
While his name may not ring a bell, Carmeli’s flamboyant costumes have made him the unofficial king of Purim, and the videos of him riding his horse through the streets of Tel Aviv every year are always viral.
Edery calls his design work for Camelli “rideable,” because the costumes have to be attached to a skateboard.
One of the most intricate pieces Edery has created for Carmeli is his latest Prim costume, which depicts Aang, the bison-riding character from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
“This was one of the most difficult projects and we had to do it in just three days. It weighed about 30 pounds. [14kg] “It was made out of foam and plastic covered in fur,” he told ISRAEL21c.
“We built the entire infrastructure inside to mount the electric skateboard. I felt like a car designer,” he laughs.
October 7th onwards
This year’s Purim celebration was less than festive for many Israelis, including Edery.
“This year I wanted to create a hostage-related costume, but I felt people needed a break – they already had so much bad news pumping through their veins.”
He acknowledges that the first few months of the war in Gaza have been tough in many ways.
“This kind of thing [the October 7 attacks] So the entertainment industry was sidelined and I was without work for months.”
Initially, the Israeli military was short of bulletproof vests, “so we got a flood of calls asking if we could sew ceramic ones,” he recalls.
This prompted Eddery to start raising money to buy a sewing machine, “but at the same time I was wondering how I was going to earn a living again,” he admits.
However, after a few months, war fatigue began to spread among the general public, and showbiz began to boom again.
effort
The incredibly intricate costumes would seem to have taken months to create, but Eddery admits that the work spanned the full time he had available.
“Usually it takes a month to a month and a half to complete a project, but sometimes it works out even if you only have a few days.”
He says there’s a difference between making a costume for an individual and creating a design intended to be worn by multiple people.
“It also depends on who the customer is, what their needs are, and how long they plan to use it for,” he explains.
“Sometimes you have to invest in detail, and sometimes you have to invest in durability. For example, a costume made for television will last a week, whereas a costume made for theatre will last much longer.”
started from the bottom
An avid cosplay (costume play) enthusiast, Edery started making costumes as a hobby using basic materials, but it soon grew into something much more.
“I wonder how they [costumes] After I started working in the film industry, I started teaching myself everything from sculpting to design and makeup.”
A software developer by trade, Eddery served in the military as a paid professional for six years before deciding the tech world wasn’t for him.
He eventually began helping other designers with costume production, and eventually began designing his own clothes and working directly with clients.
“I started from rock bottom and now I’m here,” he laughed, quoting a line from a famous song by Jewish rapper Drake.
Eddery is keen to test his skills overseas.
“For so long, I was so focused on making other people’s dreams come true that I forgot about my own. I want to see the world. I want to go beyond costumes and make art for art’s sake.”
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