Clothing creator Aluma’s small studio is light-years away from the hustle and bustle of London Fashion Week. The independent businesswoman likes it that way and prefers the slower-paced approach she now gives to her designs. Living in Tel Aviv, Aluma credits her mother with bringing sewing into her life. At 14 she proclaimed there was absolutely nothing to wear in her closet. Her Mum respectfully disagreed, but said they could go to the fabric shop and that she would teach her daughter to make clothing from scratch. It took only a handful of sewing lessons for Aluma to realize she was hooked. Teenage Years After making pieces for herself, Aluma began designing clothing for friends. One of them, an aspiring photographer, recruited her younger sister and classmates to model for a makeshift photo shoot featuring Aluma’s clothes. The younger girls went gaga over the pieces and asked to purchase them. Even the attendant at the shop where the pictures were developed wanted to know where the clothing could be bought. “Much like today, my clothing sold by word of mouth,” Aluma remembers. “Even though I was selling items, going into fashion full-time didn’t seem possible. I simply thought it wasn’t a “proper” profession. While fulfilling my commitment to the Israeli army, I managed to get a job as a graphic designer. Working on the army’s magazine in that role made me think graphic design was what I should pursue in school, which is what I later did. But my heart was always with clothing design. …