Isaac Mizrahi (Q4807)
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Isaac Mizrahi is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Isaac Mizrahi |
Isaac Mizrahi is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
2008
creative director
Isaac Mizrahi scrapped the runway this season. His demi-couture dresses aren't for the masses, he reasoned, and so don't need the wide exposure. "You know, it's just a little besides the point for my business right now," he explained in a private appointment.Maybe not for everyone, but his exclusively eveningwear Spring collection will be fab for a few lucky someones. Mizrahi's aim seemed to be extreme glamour. That can occasionally turn camp in his hands, but this felt focused. He kept his slightly throwback silhouettes lean and clean, often drawing your attention to a single luxurious detail. That worked particularly well with a matte black faille: One fishtail column had a single huge flowerlike bow tied under the bust line, while the hem of another featured a burst of black tulle with confetti-like embroidery. And the intimate setting was the ideal way to appreciate a simple straight-cut flapper dress with an asymmetrical car-wash hem that rippled with icy gold bugle beads.Mizrahi's take on the floral was a madly colorful motif based on the idea of exploding a peony, and merged with a leopard print. "I treat it like camouflage," he said. That could literally be true in this print-heavy season, but this was still a collection that deserves to stand out.
14 September 2011
On the last day of a jam-packed New York fashion week, it's easy to agree with Isaac Mizrahi that runway shows aren't as much of a good time as they used to be. Dun-dun-dun-dah—Isaac to the rescue! "It's a respite from all that bullshit," he said on the phone a few days ago. "I'm just having fun. And I want you to have fun when you come to my show."It should be noted that this isn't mere indulgence. As Mizrahi explained, "Honestly, what sells best is what I have the most fun doing." And so why shouldn't he put all of his favorite things on the catwalk—namely cake and poodles, with a dash of Dorothy Draper and Wayne Thiebaud?Despite all that sugar and fluff—not to mention runway appearances from dyed-to-match poodles and servers with iced-to-match tiered cakes—this was Mizrahi in pretty controlled form. He let his terrific palette of grays and buttercream pastels do most of the talking. And when it came to silhouette, he restricted himself to the sole flourish of an oversized bow, either worked into a bodice, draped over the shoulders, or on the skirt of a gown. Though it's true that Mizrahi seems to design in a vacuum at times, there was something rather fresh about a girl in a sheared dusty lavender fur paired with Pepto pink cigarette pants and an icy lavender ribbed sweater. One way to look at it: Mizrahi happily does what he does, and as fashion's wheel of fortune spins, it's now landed on this frolicking, anti-minimalist look. The designer certainly seems to be having a moment (see Jil Sander Spring 2011), and we're happy to be along for the ride.
16 February 2011
"There's a hint of Schiaparelli in everything I do," said Isaac Mizrahi a few days before his Spring show, dubbed IM Xerox. Sounds like the call for Troop Trompe l'Oeil. Sure enough, Mizrahi's collection rendered collars, pockets, buttons, bows, and corsages in poor-quality copy-machine images printed on his sweetly ladylike clothes. The visual witticisms continued at the collar, with a white resin choker crafted to look like it was snapped off a button-down shirt, and a blindingly bright rhinestone bib in a Peter Pan shape. Mizrahi's floral was a grid-collaged photo print. As at Fotomat, you could choose from black-and-white or color, albeit often muted with a tulle overlay, in one of many instances we've seen this week. (Was there a sale on nude tulle in the Garment Center?)There are moments when Mizrahi's themes take a slightly silly turn. ("Excuse me, can I get that shower curtain in a dress?" quipped a quick-witted stylist on seeing the voluminous dot-matrix textured floral gown that ended the show.) But there were great moments, too, particularly a black strapless column printed at the bodice with a single large bow. Should it find its way to a red carpet somewhere, it has a chance of survival that's not often granted to conceptual dresses. And a black cap-sleeved shift with actual sequins that merged into a skirt of large paillettes was a simple but cute new way to do an old standard. As such, the copy concept is something of an old standard itself. Perhaps that was the point.
15 September 2010
Isaac Mizrahi has gingham on the brain, but don't blame it on his recent debut as a theater director with Sondheim'sA Little Night Music, set in a Swedish country house. "For me, a gingham is like a solid with a lot of personality," the designer said at his showroom. "I use it all the time."Today's effort—Mizrahi coined it "A Whiff of Spring"—was certainly sweet, but it wasn't overly saccharine. Clusters of silver and black crystal polka dots decorated silk faille gowns. French sailor stripes were reinterpreted as strips of elastic running across a tulle slipdress. And the vintage-inspired prints on a pair of Watteau floral gowns were manipulated so as to resemble Xeroxed copies of flowers. As for that gingham? A demure pink bow-backed frock drew the most murmurs of approval from the crowd on hand, but a little clutch was equally enchanting.
14 June 2010
"I've been thinking about camping," said Isaac Mizrahi on the phone a week before his show. "It's a theme I always return to—anoraks, parkas, Eskimos, plaid, quilting." But for this dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker, the wilderness in question was Central Park, that woodsy refuge bordered by Bergdorf's and the Met (where, incidentally, he plucked a few threads of inspiration from the Japanese armor show for his own).The designer had endless witticisms to describe his direction. "Think Geoffrey L.L. Bean," said his show notes. "Or even Buffalo Bill Blass." And the first grouping in the show? "Parka Avenue," natch. But snappy turns of phrase aside, this was Mizrahi in fine form, not allowing his camp fantasy to whisk the collection away into Never-Wear Land. In fact, he made a pretty convincing argument that the uniform of 10022 could do with a dose of outdoorsy-ness. Why not tie a fur hood over your silver sequined bomber and brocade skirt? And shouldn't every woman have a boxy, bracelet-sleeve Barbour-esque quilted jacket to throw over her lunch suit when the weather's frightful? (To underline his point, Mizrahi provided fake snow.)The show wasn't without its clunky moments, but there were more than enough truly chic and wearable ones to let those slide. "Oh, the theme is great clothes," relented Mizrahi at the end of our call. It's not as snappy a remark as the rest, but translated to the runway, it looked pretty darn good.
17 February 2010
What do a Hollywood soundstage, a rain machine, and a golf cart have in common? Isaac Mizrahi. Today the designer proved, yet again, that he is New York fashion's consummate showman (live or taped).Mizrahi has always loved to expose the behind-the-scenes action with his theatrics (cueUnzipped) and with his clothes (remember the corset dresses on the cover ofVogue, March 1998?)—and for Spring he unveiled raw edges, hints of deconstruction, and jackets with unfinished lapels in his let's-put-on-a-show. Despite the rain and the appearance of a Gene Kelly umbrella, the production was titled Astaire Case or Obstacle Course, and the menswear-ish elements were informed by fifties-era Fred, Mizrahi said. It was the eveningwear, with hints of postwar Charles James, though, that stole the show. Sequined minidresses might be suitable for dancing the night away and a hirsute tinsel coat might be just right for a premiere, but the spotlight rested on the pieces with airiness and flou: the tulles that looked like they hadn't been sewn but just wrapped about the body, the floaty watercolor chiffons, the chic black and white numbers destined for Palm Beach.Mizrahi described the collection as an evolution from his Elsa Schiaparelli-inflected Fall outing, and indeed there were subtle tributes to "that Italian artist who makes clothes" in a Lucite lobster appendage and cardboard hats. But the real link between the seasons was the designer's perennial enthusiasm: "I still believe," Mizrahi said, "that fashion has to be gorgeous and colorful and fun." That's entertainment.
16 September 2009
"I've been using neons as neutrals for the last 25 years," Isaac Mizrahi said at his Resort presentation. True enough, but the designer seemed even more obsessed with vivid colors than usual this season. "It just feels right," he added. A nude twinset paired with a fluorescent lemon yellow skirt had editors calling dibs, as did a long, belted muumuu in a psychedelic candy print. It wasn't all electric brights, though. A black and white polka-dot belted pajama suit and a one-shoulder long dress in a microdot looked a shade more restrained, but no less fun.
8 June 2009
Isaac Mizrahi titled his Fall show "Smile" and sent looks with names like Cosy, Xanaxer, and Stressless Dress down the runway to an original jazz score by the Bad Plus. Accessorized with Schiaparelli-referencing handbag hats, models paraded out in plaid kilts and sarongs, chunky knits, and gowns (some with truly odd exposed underpinnings). There were also big blanket-y comfort coats, worn with "I'm just running out to get some milk" fur-trimmed slippers, as well as some eye-popping tinsel looks that are guaranteed to take one's mind off the economy. This certainly wasn't Mizrahi's most cohesive or innovative collection (he has been busy with his new Liz Claiborne duties, after all), but, as usual, he remained true to himself. "I wanted to show actual luxury," he said post-show. "And luxury for me means fur, color, and glitter. Glitter is actually comforting to me."
18 February 2009
Trust Isaac Mizrahi to give good quote. "What's the mac and cheese version of a dress?" the designer wondered at his informal pre-fall presentation, where the increasing importance of "the whole comfort thing" was on his mind. Mizrahi's answer to that question? Flapper-esque sacks in colorful satin trimmed in crystals. A pajama suit in Lurex-shot green silk and a purplish-black crushed silk parka had a similar sporty, easy sensibility. But Mizrahi also brought the drama in the form of a knockout evening ensemble: a white blouse covered in rosettes and a poured silk column of a black skirt that pooled on the floor around the model's feet.
8 December 2008
Busy bee and social butterfly Isaac Mizrahi presented a buzz-worthy show at Hammerstein Ballroom today. This was achieved despite the frankly bizarre lighting scheme, which was meant to refer artily to emergence (as an insect from a cocoon or chrysalis, apparently) but that made the audience look jaundiced and the clothes colorless for two-thirds of the runway.The clothes, however—once we got a clear look at them—were extravagant and beautiful. A lacy crochet dress was as fine as Queen Anne's lace; a pair of sequined dresses, amusingly named "Glamourpillar" and "Glitterpillar," were Hollywood knockouts; a Cicada strapless number fit the body like soft armor. There were a few nods to Cristobal Balenciaga throughout, as well as to Mizrahi's own legacy. (Back again, for example, were deconstructed bustiers similar to the Mizrahi design that made it onto a 1998Voguecover, but more transparent this time, and worn with a pencil skirt or under a delicately shredded chiffon Moth jacket.) Though borrowed from the past, these looked topical rather than retro. Sure, there were some gadfly looks in the mix—exposed shoulder pads, neon biker shorts, a few odd pant silhouettes—but they were minor, gnatlike irritants. Overall, Mizrahi captured his audience in an enchanting, gossamer web.
7 September 2008
"Color is the most important luxury in a woman's life," said Isaac Mizrahi, and his Resort presentation proved the point. Acid peach, Nile blue, Creamsicle, and citrus—Mizrahi's were the sort of irresistible hues found in a box of Ladurée macaroons. The looks, from a girdled dress worn with a snug Spencer to an apron-front, pouf-skirted "Wonderland" number, had a confectionary lightness and appeal that showed the designer's talent at its delicious best.
4 June 2008
The man's career trajectory keeps spinning right round, baby. Out at Target and in at Liz Claiborne, Mizrahi presented his couture collection today in the middle of the ready-to-wear season. Many of these clothes—like a black tunic dress with crystal and fur embroidery—had an old-Hollywood-at-home feel to them, though a red sweater suit read very Jacqueline Kennedy, very first lady. The show would have benefited from an edit…and a bit of fun. Couture clothes, which require fittings, are for an established woman with the luxury of time, not for an active, spirited young woman with a MetroCard (i.e., the Liz Claiborne customer). Mizrahi's new position will have him designing clothes that fall between fast fashion and the couture lab, and we can't wait to see what he comes up with next.
5 February 2008
"Spring is the new fall!" Isaac Mizrahi mock-declared in an interview a few days before his show, which he had titled Frozen Spring. "I want something that feels like spring, something light and seasonless. It makes me sad to look at the same old tweeds."Mizrahi's optimistic alternatives for the tweedy season were largely executed in winter whites and dazzling brights: big Day-Glo flower prints; a showstopping fit-and-flare gown called "Psychopeach" that brought Grace Kelly to mind; and lavish gala dresses with less-than-practical petticoats of snow-white mink.The designer, whose ultra-luxe line is carried exclusively at Bergdorf Goodman, insists he's "not in the sportswear business anymore." Still, the looks that worked best here were the ones that didn't demand a grand occasion. In keeping with the American-casual tradition, he offered a series of calf-length, bell-shaped "skating skirts" with fur-trimmed hems (let's not mention the accompanying white leggings), as well as an easy long gray-jersey dress with beading at the wrist that really hit home.
4 February 2007