Elie Tahari: How the homeless man who washed cars for 50 cents an hour became one of the biggest fashion designers

THE fashion designer Elie Tahari is one of the strongest names in the field, with himself maintaining his own empire and has dressed both the comedian Joan Rivers and the well-known politician Hillary Clintonwife of the former US President, Bill Clinton.

However, things were not always easy for Tahari, with her Zoe has been made into a documentary and presented at the “Brklyn Film Festival”, as it looks like a movie has been released.

Born in a refugee camp and raised in absolute poverty, Elie Tahari managed to conquer the world of fashionable with an inspiration of “the moment” and since then to write his name in “golden letters”.

From Iran to Israel and then to the USA

According to nypost.comfashion designer Elie Tahari originates from IranNevertheless his parents left the country shortly before he was born, with him coming to life while in a refugee camp. His family immediately settled in Israel, but they lived in absolute poverty, in a house without water, electricity, bathroom and sheets.

“The other kids used to make fun of me because my clothes were dirty and wrinkled,” Tahari said of his life, noting that his father was a cloth salesman, with his mother sewing his own clothes.

So, as soon as he entered adolescence, Tahari entered the Israeli Air Force, where he became an engineerbut when he graduated and returned home, his father said, “We have no room for you, we are too many.”

“I cried for two days,” he would say, until he made the big decision to travel to the United States through a bay. Specifically, his brother worked at El Al Air and was able to fly freely wherever he wanted. So Tahari got a ticket in his name, but changed the first letter of his initials to match his brother’s name. Thus, he was able to fly, without anyone suspecting him, and leave Israel.

From 50 cents a day to great inspiration

However, life on the other side of the Atlantic was not easy, on the contrary in some places it got worse. Initially, he got a job in New York and washed cars for 50 cents an hourwhile sleeping in a motel for $ 2 a night.

But the money ran out quickly and so it started sleeps on benches in Central Park. “I did not feel it was dangerous. No one attacks a small homeless child“, He said, referring to the first years he lived in the USA.

Afterward, changed jobs and started working in a boutique which belonged to an Israeli who also made clothes. But one day, Elie Tahari had the inspiration he was looking for and it would change his life. He thought of creating a strapless dress, which the woman could wear comfortably in the pool and on the beach. So he brought about 10 pieces to his boss. “I put them on the counter and some customers came and started fighting,” said the then-emerging designer.

From that moment on, the way was opened to fashion, with him doing it his first show in Studio 54while creating clothes mainly for women, which in the 80’s began to enter the workplace dynamically.

He has now become a father of two and is still appearing at New York Fashion Week, with big names taking to the catwalks. But he is proud of one thing, which is directly related to fashion. «I just thought about my family and how I could support and help them. In the end, I brought them all here. So this was my biggest trophy. My biggest success“, He will say characteristically about his life.