queerguru used to love Isaac Mizrahi’s rather manic and throughly entertaining chat show on Oxygen TV in the early 2000’s. With a simple motto ‘ordinary life was never so extraordinary’ he always displayed such an inexhaustible zest for life and had such fun playing and teasing his celebrity pals in a casual and relaxed manner that was so new back then, and now is the raison d’etre adopted by many of today’s hipper TV hosts.
Mizrahi was, and is foremost, a fashion designer. And a very good one too. After his first trunk show at Bergdorf Goodmans in 1987 he was bankrolled by Chanel who were so impressed by his glamorous and exotic creations. When that relationship went adrift he turned his design talent to doing some highly successful collections for Target and later QVC and he discovered that mainstream America really loved him.
Mizhari’s larger than life personality has made him a regular presence in the media asides from his QVC Show from co-hosting the first season of The Fashion Show on Bravo TV to being a head judge on Project Runway: All Stars. There is seemingly nothing creative that he won’t take a stab at : he’s designed costumes for Broadway Musicals, made a whole series of comic books, and even created a range of Mizrahi Band Aids for Johnson & Johnson.
Now The Jewish Museum in New York are mounting the first ever exhibition of his work with the most perfect title Isaac Mizrahi : An Unruly History. Mizrahi evidently does not want us to call it a retrospective because as he explained ‘I’m calling it a survey, because I’m still working a lot’. Whatever he calls it, the show is a unique opportunity to see at first hand Mizhari’s unpredictable inventive and provocative style that made him one of America’s favorite fashion geniuses. The result is totally stunning and a ‘must-see’ event for all fans and fashionistas.
Isaac Mizhari : An Unruly History
runs March 18th until August 7th 2016
Information : http://thejewishmuseum.org
