About Life and Death! The Obsession With Black, From Mourning Dresses to the Little Black Dress

The queen may lack a crown, but she does have a cone bra, fishnet stockings, and has shaped fashion and style for nearly fifty years. Following a series of successful collaborations, Ya’ara Keydar returns to the Opera House for a special evening celebrating Madonna in honor of International Women’s Day. Join a journey in the footsteps of the ultimate diva of Western pop, who continues to provoke and propel social change through clothing and accessories, while confronting relentless public criticism in her own distinctive way. The evening will trace Madonna’s musical milestones and stylistic choices through live vocal and operatic performances by soloists of the Israeli Opera, alongside dancers. Makeup, hairstyling, and costumes will bring her image to life on stage. Together, we will celebrate feminine power, inspiration, and hope through the story of a courageous woman who broke boundaries and continues to swim against the current. Madonna, this is a love song.

The queen may lack a crown, but she does have a cone bra, fishnet stockings, and has shaped fashion and style for nearly fifty years. Following a series of successful collaborations, Ya’ara Keydar returns to the Opera House for a special evening celebrating Madonna in honor of International Women’s Day. Join a journey in the footsteps of the ultimate diva of Western pop, who continues to provoke and propel social change through clothing and accessories, while confronting relentless public criticism in her own distinctive way. The evening will trace Madonna’s musical milestones and stylistic choices through live vocal and operatic performances by soloists of the Israeli Opera, alongside dancers. Makeup, hairstyling, and costumes will bring her image to life on stage. Together, we will celebrate feminine power, inspiration, and hope through the story of a courageous woman who broke boundaries and continues to swim against the current. Madonna, this is a love song. The event duration will be one hour and 20 minutes.

How can one find beauty in the darkness of war? Can it even hold meaning when humanity is shrouded in shadow? In the lecture “Secrets of Heroines”, exhibition curator Ya’ara Keydar invites the audience on a behind-the-scenes journey into the making of “Heroines: Fashion and Hope in World War II.” In this talk, Ya’ara shares the curatorial process and the personal experience of engaging with such a complex subject in the aftermath of October 7. Curation is a process that involves collaboration with professionals, moments of success and failure, mistakes, and a great deal of magic. Ya’ara will tell how a single tiny thimble led to an entire exhibition. She will reveal the mysteries uncovered during the research, share moving stories from the production process, and speak about sources of inspiration something we all need now more than ever. ​ This is a heartfelt lecture about a journey between sorrow and beauty, between loss and hope and above all, a deep belief in women and humanity.