The fashion house Versace unveiled Saturday the first two shots from the debut campaign by its new artistic director, Dario Vitale, whose first collection for the label was revealed in September. Under the title “Michal Harodi, Milan, September 2025,” the campaign features the Israeli actress, model and classical pianist Michal Harodi – a once‑virtually‑unknown face who shot to prominence overnight. In one image, Harodi lies relaxed on her forearms, topless, wearing only a sequin‑emblazoned bottom.
Harodi secured the campaign following earlier photos taken by Israeli‑born London‑based photographer Dafy Hagai, ynet has reported. Hagai’s image caught the eye of casting director Julia Lang, who was immediately impressed and quickly invited her to a photo shoot – and the rest is history. Prior to this, Harodi had appeared for a number of local photographers and labels, including Fez and the fashion site Belle & Sue of designer Inbal Boussiba.
Harodi, 27, is a graduate of Alon High School in Ramat HaSharon, who majored in music. During her military service she served as an instructor in the Education Corps and worked as a kindergarten teacher in an anthroposophical nursery in Kfar HaYarok.
She told ynet that the shoot took place in Milan in September. “There were 10 models from around the world, and the concept was centered on the body. I was the only Israeli there, and most people thought Israel was somewhere near Mongolia,” she laughed.
When asked if posing topless bothered her, she said: “It’s so not a 'big deal’ for me—certainly not in the international fashion industry. Only in Israel do people get worked up about it. The photographer was so respectful and sensitive, and I view it as a crazy love for female beauty.”
When asked whether she viewed the shoot as a springboard to an international career she said: “Hopefully, let’s see where the campaign takes me, but I would be very happy.”
In a 2020 interview with Shelly Gross for the “Fashion School” section in LaIsha magazine, early in her career, Harodi described her style: “I dress comfortably—pants and wide jeans, loosely buttoned shirts. A lot of white. I only started loving skirts in the past year or two. It’s really beautiful, sexy and feminine in my eyes. Sometimes I lack the courage and it feels like I’m forcing it, but I like seeing women wearing skirts in the street. A skirt‑combo makes me want to dance. Ultimately I like wearing items from my mother’s wardrobe. She has amazing pieces.”
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Israeli model Sharon Ganesh appeared in the Spring–Summer 2002 Versace campaign
(Photo: Steven Meisel)
This is not the first time an unknown Israeli model has been chosen for a Versace campaign. In the early 2000s, 19‑year‑old model Sharon Ganesh appeared in the Spring–Summer 2002 campaign shot by photographer Steven Meisel. Ganesh’s modeling career in Israel had been stalling, yet overnight she became a leading international model, and today lives in Israel with her husband and six children.
Choosing a fresh, previously unseen model signals the new agenda Vitale is bringing to Versace: not another campaign with Gigi Hadid or Bella Hadid so strongly identified with the label, but new faces. He laid the foundations in his first collection for the brand, with aesthetics that diverge 180 degrees from those of Donatella Versace, who has designed for the house since her brother’s murder in 1997. There is no doubt that this campaign will elevate Harodi’s work—both internationally and within Israel.
It is regrettable that, as with many models before her—Ganesh, Moran Atias and Sun Mizrahi—each possessing beauty that transcends the blond‑and‑blue‑eyes norm so often valued here, only when their careers break overseas do they receive recognition at home.