“The Isaac Mizrahi style has never changed since day one,” boasted the fashion icon in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, “I love the body, I love flesh, darling! I’m a mad person about textiles!”
Mizrahi chatted in between shows with his jazz sextet before they barrel toward two final shows in San Francisco. Mizrahi is, at 63 years old, just as ambitious, confident and hilarious as ever. But his rise to fashion super-stardom almost didn’t happen. You might say that fashion was Isaac Mizrahi’s Plan B, his first love was the stage.
“ I was supposed to be a performer and actor starting when I was born,” said Mizrahi, “but I was too afraid.”
From fear to fashion
“At the age of nine I started doing female impersonations,” recalled Mizrahi, “I did Liza and I did Streisand and all these different people. I lived in a really parochial, scary, very religious Jewish family and that was not a source of pride for the Mizrahi family in 1975.”
Though Mizrahi pursued performing arts through high school, those feelings of judgement from his parents sowed the first seeds of doubt in a young Isaac, “that was something I fought my whole life.”
When Mizrahi reached college, he said he felt like he was at a turning point. He could either follow his heart or make a practical, more safe decision about his future.
“I never considered myself terribly goodlooking, especially against the 20 other people in my class at Performing Arts High School who were gorgeous! I just didn’t think I had a chance,” Mizrahi remembered with a sadness in his tone, “and that’s ultimately what kept me out of show business.”
“So, I went from the performing arts to a kinder, gentler industry…fashion,” Mizrahi quipped. He went to Parsons School of Design instead of Julliard and began to garner attention within New York’s competitive fashion industry, “I was very good…I like to think I still am.”
At one point –just as things were beginning to take off for Mizrahi– he was offered a theatre role that he had always wanted to play. But he turned it down to focus on the launch of his fashion label, and it was a safe and practical decision he has always regretted.
Said Mizrahi frankly, “My inner child died at that moment.”
Making the most of it
Mizrahi’s outer adult was destined for greatness, however, and he soon rose to international acclaim designing for brands like Louis Vuitton, QVC and Claiborne in stores ranging from Nordstrom to Target. Though he struggled with sales at times due to his ever-changing style profile, his personality began to rise to the surface, even superseding his design work.
“In 1998 when I closed my company, I made the decision to focus most of my energy on show business,” said Mizrahi. This’s when he began to pop up on and off Broadway, on television on “Project Runway All Stars,” on his own talk show, in podcasts, on social media. Anywhere and everywhere he could perform, Mizrahi did. He recalls this era in the early 2000s being his happiest.
The producer
“I got an Instagram message one day from Max Mutchnick (“Will & Grace”) asking if I would be involved in this new project called ‘Mid Century Modern,’” beamed Mizrahi. The sitcom stars Nathan Lane, Nathan Lee Graham and Matt Bomer as gay men sharing a house in Palm Springs. Mutchnick thought Mizrahi’s brand of humor and wit would suit the production. “And how do you say no to Max Mutchnick to begin with? He is irresistible!”
“Mostly I dine with people and try to convince them not to do things,” joked Mizrahi when asked about the specifics of his role as a producer on the show. Mizrahi will own up to reading scripts, offering notes and occasionally firing off a joke or two, but he remains humble about his specific contributions.
“I’m not in LA every single week for every taping, so maybe they like the objectivity I bring to the team,” wondered Mizrahi, “I like to think I have contributed quite a bit to the show.”
“Mid-Century Modern”’s first season is available now on Hulu.
Back to Plan A
In what could be called phase three of Mizrahi’s career, he began to focus on bringing that inner child back to life by singing with a jazz sextet on tour. After workshopping versions of the show for a decade, Mizrahi has taken his act on the road.
Half of being a good cabaret act is charisma, and Mizrahi has that in spades. Part song, and part sass, Mizrahi’s live show is packed with tea.
“But honey, I am not Kristen Chenoweth doing something like 18 songs,” Mizrahi made a point to mention. “I do ten, maybe eleven tunes, and a lot of patter. Mostly adoration, but some shady stories about the people I have met,” said Mizrahi who admits he loves the intimacy that cabaret provides.
“I used to do costumes for Liza, and when she would walk on stage, it was like she was walking into your living room.” Mizrahi learned from the best. His once-silenced inner child has risen from the dead, and he sings.
“ I’m gay, I’m married, I’m a dog owner. I don’t have kids,” joked Mizrahi about his show’s themes. “It’s a very specific kind of gay, you know? And if you find that sort of thing amusing, you’ll like this.”
Isaac Mizrahi, ‘Life is a Cabaret’
April 24, $30-$90, at Weill Hall, 1801 East Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park
April 25 & 26, $35-$85, Hume Concert Hall, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St.
https://helloisaac.com/
For more with Isaac Mizrahi, subscribe to Christopher J. Beale’s podcast, ‘Stereotypes: Straight Talk from Queer Voices’ wherever you listen to podcasts.
www.stereotypespodcast.org
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