Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Unzipped

Mr Minx and I got a copy of the Isaac Mizrahi documentary, Unzipped, from Netflix the other day. It chronicles his experience getting his Fall '94 show together, including his inspiration ("'50s cheesecake meets Eskimo fake fur") and his seeming inability to get his assistants to think his idea of using a scrim on stage is as fabulous as he thinks it is (and it is). Project Runway's Robert Best is his right-hand man and it's amusing to see him as a skinny 20-something. Polly Mellen, then the creative director of Allure, features largely in the movie as well as Mizrahi bud, Sandra Bernhard, and his own mama, Sarah.

Although youngsters will think of Target or daytime TV when they see the name Isaac Mizrahi, he was once really hot stuff (and he still has a couture collection available at Bergdorf Goodman). For the runway show featured in the movie, he used all the big name models of the day: Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Veronica Webb, Amber Valletta, Shalom Harlow, Yasmeen Ghauri, et. al. And let's not forget the extremely annoying Linda Evangelista:


Bitch and moan. And what a horrible voice! If she's always like this, how does the bitch get work? (I always thought she was funny-looking.) Cindy Crawford seems like a regular gal though.

Despite the whining, we enjoyed the brief (76 minutes) glimpse into the world of fashion. Mizrahi is certainly a likable character, smart and funny. His impressions, particularly that of Eartha Kitt, are highly amusing. And I love that the film includes clips from the movies that he mentions so we can see more clearly how his brain works.

There's a good review of the film on the NY Times site.

Mizrahi is set to leave Target and take the reins as creative director of Liz Claiborne at the end of the year. I wish him great success at his new endeavor.

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