Meet Shira Barzilay, The Artist Behind Koketit Temporary Tattoos

Shira Barzilay is a fashion illustrator living in Tel Aviv. After completing her fashion studies at Shenkar, where she was the youngest student at the age of 17, she decided that working with fashion designers wasn’t satisfying enough for her. During a break in the US where she visited numerous galleries and museums, she decided to pursue her path as a fashion illustrator.

Her drawings and unique style soon became a key inspiration for many designers. Mixing various techniques and including graphic design in her work, she started to collaborate as a graphic editor for Israel’s famous fashion magazine GOstyle. Besides her full time job at the magazine, she launched Koketit – ‘coquette’ in French – who became a fashion spokesperson. Through Koketit, who models for campaigns and publications, she gives another expression to fashion. Fun, trendy and cool perfectly describe Shira’s world. Big brands were seduced by her iconic character and she started working with names such as Roberto Cavalli, Bensimon shoes, Renuar, Castro and even H&M Israel.

Last year, she launched a stylish temporary tattoo line called Koketit – Not Forever Tattoos. The idea came to her during her nephew’s birthday party: she played with temporary tattoos, realized she loved them but figured out she couldn’t wear them as an adult. She then decided to launch her very own unique line of tattoos. Designed in a Naïve art style, they fast became an essential fashion accessory. Her inspiration comes from everywhere as long as it is happy, fun and beautiful.

For H&M Israel, she promoted the Conscious Denim line using Koketit as the model and creating an exclusive edition of her tattoo collection. Koketit was printed in huge on the shop windows and people were queuing to get their exclusive gift. For Bensimon, she illustrated a limited edition of 100 pairs of shoes sold in record time. Her latest project is a collaboration with the UK-based website Long Tall Sally where she illustrated the most iconic supermodels from the last eight decades. This unique retrospective through the world’s most recognizable models shows Shira’s talent as an illustrator using various techniques with digital support.

And because Shira is a talented and expressive artist, she shares with The Culture Trip‘s readers her favorite apps to draw: Art Rage, Sketches, Graphite and Paper.
Stay tuned for more surprises to be revealed soon.

By Jessica Moszynski
Jessica, a Belgian art director and graphic designer, is passionate about art and fashion. Every day, she discovers a new secret of Tel Aviv — and can’t wait to tell you about it!