This year, model Sun Mizrahi has rediscovered the Israeli fashion industry. After spending the past five years becoming the most successful Israeli model on the international stage, with campaigns for Chanel, Fendi, Michael Kors, Banana Republic and others, she has appeared in several local campaigns over the past year. This week, she added Israeli underwear and loungewear company Delta to her list of clients, appearing in a campaign for indoor and outdoor clothing alongside actress and longtime brand ambassador Eliana Tidhar and model Mishel Gerzig.
"Taking my foot off the gas was a conscious choice, part of a process that began even before this past year," she says in an exclusive interview with ynet on the set of the campaign, where she had to contend with swirling winds in Tel Aviv's Bitzaron business district and change clothes inside a blue tent in the middle of the street. Occupational hazards. "I'm still working, including abroad, although I decided not to walk in the most recent fashion weeks. It suited me for a certain period, and really, I did it for five years and gained so much from it, but I felt it no longer fit who I am."
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'I'm gradually finding my way out of this world, not just moving from abroad back to Israel, but out of it altogether.' Sun Mizrahi in Delta's campaign
(Photo: Shalev Ariel)
"If I try to sum it up and bring it down to earth, for a long time I was expressing so much of other people's creativity, the work of incredible artists, and that contributed enormously to my development," she adds. "Now I feel it's my turn to create. I've been creating quietly since I was born, but now I feel it's my time. I'm finishing a bachelor's degree at the Open University in culture and philosophy, with an emphasis on art history and literature, while also exploring ancient cultures and traditions, archetypes, the psyche, mythology and so on. In fact, today [Sunday] I'm hoping to launch a new course I've been working on during this time."
'I do what interests me, what intrigues me, and also what supports me financially.' Sun Mizrahi for Delta
(Photo: Shalev Ariel)
When you started modeling, you were a first-year fashion design student at Shenkar, but you dropped out. Is that something you'd like to return to? Start your own brand? Become a stylist? It seems you're more interested in the spiritual world than the material world these days.
"Throughout my career, people always told me I should launch some kind of brand: makeup, skincare, fashion. And every time I felt a very strong resistance to the idea. I tried to understand what actually interests me. Maybe I'll do fashion in the future. That could happen, but as part of something much bigger than designing clothes. Fashion wouldn't be the goal, but rather a means of conveying a more meaningful message. Sorry if that answer sounds a little noncommittal, but that's my answer."
Despite the reservations she expresses on several subjects and the way the conversation sometimes drifts, much like her curls blowing in the wind, Mizrahi remains firmly grounded. She was absent from the most recent round of fashion weeks in September and October, and throughout 2026 appeared in just four runway shows, according to Models.com, which included her on its list of the world's 50 most successful models in 2024.
Sun Mizrahi with Mishel Gerzig and Eliana Tidhar in Delta's fall 2026 campaign
(Photo: Shalev Ariel)
When she entered the fashion world in 2021, she brought a refreshing, multicultural and striking look that differed from the prevailing beauty ideal. Does she feel her appearance is still relevant, or could her decision to stay off the runway reflect a shift in beauty standards?
"I feel it's still relevant, and I see more and more girls from my 'visual tribe,' if we can call it that, still appearing on the runways of major fashion houses. And it's interesting that I've chosen to stop doing that at precisely this moment," she adds with a smile. "I was the one who helped make that happen."
Like many other models, Mizrahi made her international breakthrough while her career in Israel remained relatively quiet. Now, as noted, that balance is changing. "I really love working in Israel. It's always pleasant and feels like home. Warm and embracing. But I'm ultimately very selective. I'm at a point where I'm gradually finding my way out of this world, not just moving from abroad back to Israel, but out of it altogether. So I'm genuinely very selective about the people and jobs I choose."
You're talking about moving from abroad back to Israel, while other models dream of doing the opposite: going from Israel to the international market.
"I recommend that anyone who's curious and wants to do big things in fashion first understand where that desire comes from. At the end of the day, I've experienced that reality firsthand, and I don't feel it fulfills me."
Could it be that you've reached a ceiling in your international career?
"I have. There's a tremendous amount of expression, creativity and art in the fashion world, but there's also a lot of superficiality."
Did you want people to stop seeing you as just a pretty face?
"No. That's not it, because I feel that my self-worth is absolutely not based on my pretty face. If anything, learning to see myself as a beautiful woman was something I had to get used to. It's something more internal. It's less about how people see me or what they think of me, and more about something that comes from within."
'I feel like I'm saying goodbye to a really beautiful period of my life.' Behind the scenes of the Delta photo shoot
(Photo: Rafi Deloya)
People who see you this year in a Chanel campaign designed by Matthieu Blazy might reasonably ask: Why does she need to model for Delta? Is the 'Sun Mizrahi' brand changing direction?
"There's no strategic marketing plan that anyone in the audience is going to understand. You know why? Because it's not empirical at all. It all depends on how I feel. I do what interests me, what intrigues me, and also what supports me financially. There's no formula."
I feel that's also the fate of many successful Israeli models who eventually return home and find themselves working in the local market. That always raises the question: Why didn't they continue their successful international careers?
"I'm still working internationally, as well as in Israel. There are certain standards I insist on maintaining so we can really filter the offers. Ultimately, budgets in Israel don't compare with those abroad. I fly, I work, I just post about it less than I used to. So perhaps the general public sees and knows less about it."
Because runway appearances are visible, unlike photo shoots.
"There was a feeling of missing that experience. Very often, my home was there more than it was here. That was my routine, and I feel like I'm saying goodbye to a really beautiful period of my life. It's strange to be home and experience it all from a distance, but I made this choice wholeheartedly."
How much have the past three years affected your work?
"Not directly. Maybe things happened behind the scenes, but nothing I'm aware of. In general, I think everyone in high fashion comes to work professionally, and there's no room for that. Maybe it happens with brands on the fringes. In my experience, it was always extremely professional."
Over the past decade, the fashion industry has talked extensively about authenticity, diversity and body image. To what extent do you feel that has genuinely changed the conversation?
"I don't feel the general conversation has changed, unlike the conversation on social media, where those issues are very prominent. At runway castings, there were always minimum measurements and requirements. Girls were always told, 'You're not thin enough,' or 'You're not tall enough.' By the way, I never met the measurements myself. I was considered an 'exception.' So maybe despite the very specific standard, there is some change."
I imagine it takes considerable mental resilience to survive that.
"Very, very, very much. Because they never take responsibility either. You're the one who doesn't fit. But I fit in so many other places, so I don't have that experience of failure. I can only imagine the self-blame and judgment that so many others feel. That's why you need mental resilience and self-confidence. You're constantly being stripped of ownership of your own body. It's so much more emotional, psychological and spiritual than people might think. You're constantly having to recalibrate and know how to set boundaries. Otherwise, you could become an object."
Sun Mizrahi at Boss's fall-winter 2026-27 show during Milan Fashion Week earlier this year
(Photo: Courtesy of Inch Models)
The conversation with Mizrahi, 28, suggests that her relationship with modeling is undergoing a transformation. It would not be surprising if, in the coming years, she left the runway and emerged in the fields of art and therapy. Unlike some other celebrities, she is not afraid to express political opinions. During the recent elections, she even told her followers that she wanted political change. In our conversation, however, she chose to play down the subject.
"I feel I've done what I could up to the point where I was able to have some influence, and from now on, I'm letting go of control," she says. "I feel reality has changed, especially in light of everything we've been through in recent years. Things and arrangements that worked in the past don't necessarily fit the current reality, and we need to synchronize with that and adapt. In other words, the old frameworks no longer suit this reality. I think, generally speaking, we need something new, something different."
'I fall in love easily when it feels right, not with just anyone.' Behind the scenes of the Delta photo shoot
(Photo: Rafi Deloya)
Over the past year, Mizrahi also became engaged to her partner, Shahak Batsir, after divorcing her first husband about a year and a half ago following nine years together. "Of course the engagement influenced my decision to slow down my modeling career, but this is a journey I started three years ago. I'm trying to understand, within myself, what's happening, to question things. And it's only in the past year that it's started taking shape in the outside world."
Do you fall in love easily?
"My heart is open. I fall in love easily when it feels right, not with just anyone."
Is there a wedding coming up soon?
"We have a date, but I'm keeping it to myself for now."