Culture
Isaac Mizrahi reflects on his creative inspirations and career choices with WOUB’s Rosie Wong
By: Rosie Wong
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) – Isaac Mizrahi is famous for being a prominent American fashion designer, television personality, and actor. He gained widespread recognition in the fashion world for his high-end designs, which blend classic silhouettes with bold colors and prints. Mizrahi became especially known for his work in the ’90s, when he dressed celebrities and gained acclaim for his ready-to-wear collections.
Beyond fashion, Mizrahi became a popular figure through his appearances in various media, including television shows like Project Runway and The Fashion Show. He also ventured into more accessible fashion lines, including collaborations with retail brands like Target, where he helped pioneer the trend of designer collaborations with mainstream retailers.
Mizrahi’s creative versatility extends to film and theater, including roles as an actor and costume designer for Broadway shows. His lively personality and influence across fashion, media, and entertainment have solidified his place as a pop culture icon.
Mizrahi combines aspects of each of these roles in his one-of-a-kind performances, which blend his aptitude for storytelling with his musical prowess. Wednesday night Mizrahi performs at the Templeton-Blackburn Memorial Auditorium (47 East Union Street).
Ahead of that appearance, Mizrahi spoke with WOUB’s Rosie Wong. Find a transcript of their conversation below, edited for length and clarity.
Rosie Wong:
First of all, what are your pronouns?
Isaac Mizrahi:
Well, I mean, honestly, I jokingly say “Liza” is my pronoun, but I think for real, my pronouns are he/his.
Can you tell me more about where “Liza” comes from?
Isaac Mizrahi:
Well, I haven’t seen her in a really long time, but we used to be extremely good friends. And growing up, I was really, really extremely influenced by her. The way I got into show business and the clothing business is I started as a female impersonator. I used to do female impersonations when I was eight years old in the driveway, in the beach club, wherever it was. I could amass any kind of a crowd.
I would do different impersonations of Streisand and Liza and Shirley Bassey. And I see these women as sort of these spiritual leaders in my life, spiritual mothers, if you will. And I identify so strongly with them. And I identify with Liza so much because I ended up meeting her. I mean, I met Streisand, I met a few of them, but Liza and I became friends. She was such an incredible presence in my life and she always gave me such great advice. And I watched her for so many years performing. And so of course I jokingly say that if I had a pronoun, it would be “Liza” just because I identify with her so strongly.
That’s such a cute story. Now, just based on our talk so far, I wonder what inspired your humor. Where does it come from?
Isaac Mizrahi:
I think my humor—and this is where I really kind of dig in—is a very important point to me. I think my humor comes from literally every aspect of my life. And usually, it comes from adversity and failure and bad things. Bad things to me produce this kind of really funny, funny, funny reaction. I think that you have to laugh at terrible things, right? I have to turn that into funny stuff or I’ll go crazy. And by the way, I also knew Joan Rivers quite well. I used to see her at QVC all the time. And when I did red carpet interviews, I used to run into Joan all the time, and we loved each other. And she used to say that if you can’t make fun of something and laugh at something, you’re in trouble. And so I think humor comes from adversity. Humor comes from oppression. Heavy answer, but it’s the truth.
Everyone takes abstract concepts very differently. And in your case, you interpret it in a way that sounds to me is constructive, that helps you move on to your life, and you hope to have a more positive influence on others.
Isaac Mizrahi:
As simple as that, Rosie. As simple as that.
So talking about your career, I wonder what inspired you to become an actor?
Isaac Mizrahi:
It’s a funny thing, because I bet if you ask a lot of people this question, the inspiration is almost divine. You can’t really put your finger on what inspires you. You see something and it lights you up in a certain way. And you say that that’s what inspires you. When I grew up in a weirdly kind of, I would call it a little bit of an oppressive household, because I was very effeminate and flamboyant and different from the people in my family, and I loved them, I did, but it was rough, it wasn’t easy. They didn’t really exactly understand. And in school, I was bullied and all that. And so I remember when I was eight years old or seven years old, I forgot what year it was, like maybe I was seven years old, and my parents took us to see the first movie of Streisand’s Funny Girl.
And I was so inspired by that, really inspired, it changed my whole life. It changed the way I look at everything. My parents were really good about taking us to things like movies and ballet and plays. I was very, very lucky about that. And we were lucky to live in New York so that we actually could see stuff like that. In those days, it wasn’t like it is now. In those days it was New York City where that was the only place you could see a play or a Broadway play, a Broadway production. Now you have Broadway productions of, say, Hamilton or Chicago or something around the world. But in those days it was really in one place. So they took us to see a lot of those things. And I was very lucky because that kind of lit fire and kept the fire alive. But the darkest of my early days, the light to me was always in performing.
And when I was in eighth grade graduating elementary school, getting ready to go to high school, I had this incredible teacher who kind of noticed how different I was and noticed that I probably shouldn’t be in the Yeshiva, and thought I should probably get a different kind of a school. And so she helped me get into the performing arts high school on 46th Street in Manhattan.
I went there, and they made the film Fame about that school. I was in Fame, in case you didn’t know that. It was the year I graduated, but they made the movie in 1980. That’s when I graduated high school, and that’s when they made the movie. And I’m in it. If you look very closely, I have a few very small parts of that movie. So did a lot of the people in my class. But anyway, you understand what inspiration is, I can’t tell you what it is to be inspired, but I know you’ve felt it because you’re a creative person. So you felt right about something journalism or writing. And you’re not exactly sure why, but it was just this divine kind of feeling. Right? And by divine I really mean that. I really believe that there is some force that motivates creative people.
And when you say it’s a feeling that something feels right and there’s some force that’s pushing you in a direction, how does that influence your choice in entering the fashion world?
Isaac Mizrahi:
Yeah. I mean, I have to say I was very good at it from a very early age. I was sewing, making puppets. I had a puppet theater in the garage, and that’s how I learned to sew, by making puppets and the clothes for puppets. And I learned to work with my hands. I have very dexterous hands. I can do a lot with my hands. I’m a really good cook. I can sketch really well. I can sew really well, so I can do a lot with my hands. And so I was always good at making clothes. And so I started making clothes to make money. I started making these puppet shows. I had an affordable theater, and I made puppet shows at birthday parties to make money in order to enable my lifestyle as a youngster. I went to performing arts high school, which was a complete departure for anyone my age, coming from that community of very religious Jews.
And so I needed to feel this kind of autonomy, this kind of freedom. So the making of money was always a very important thing to me. And so I had to make at least enough money to get out of the house and to get an apartment and all that. So when I was in performing arts, I realized how rare it would be to succeed in the way that I imagined, considering the odds of people getting cast and shows and considering the odds of people getting jobs as design assistants, which seemed a lot bigger for me. I felt like in New York City, there was a huge garment industry, and it was much easier. And I foresaw this. I knew it would be easier for me to work as a fashion designer and as an actor. So I made the decision in high school to go to Parsons School of Design and to focus more on that aspect of my life. And it was a simple decision to make, and it worked. I made enough money, I got a very good job. I actually got a great job, and I made enough money to get an apartment and find my way away from the family that I was born into. Which was an important thing for me. It was a very, very important thing. So I think that was the biggest issue in my life.
It sounds like early on you already knew that you have very specific talents in your hands, and you were willing to challenge yourself by removing yourself from your comfort zone and entering the real world, living on your own and making a living by yourself.
Isaac Mizrahi:
Yes. Yes. I mean, you can say that that’s a very important thing to kind of look back and admire about myself, but I wish I had the confidence to understand that maybe I wouldn’t get tasked as the lead, as the beautiful male lead in the show, but maybe I had more of an opportunity as a performer than I thought. You know what I mean? If I had begun as a performer, well, I don’t know what would’ve come to me. Making clothes is a very exact thing, and it’s about checking and checkpoints and quality control, and does the color match and does this work and does that work? And yet, as there is a lot of craft involved in working on stage as in blocking and learning your lines and the discipline, but there is something…What’s the word?
There’s an ecstasy that you get from performing, literally an ecstasy, where you float after every show. You just have this period of floating on air and you feel connected to something so powerful, whereas I don’t get that from fashion. I just don’t. So that’s something to consider. And as I get older, I feel like I want to focus my energy more in that area of performance and show business and that.
So in the show business, what would you say is your most memorable memory in your performance career?
Isaac Mizrahi:
A few things. The most memorable thing. Well, a few very good memories. One was the first time I appeared at this tiny club in New York City called 88. I mean, that was in 1996 or 1998, and I appeared with the person I still work with, my musical director, Ben Walter, and Liza came to see it, and she really, really liked it. And she was so encouraging. That was a real moment for me when she said I was “terrific.” So that was one thing. And then when I did my one person show on off Broadway in 2000, that was literally the greatest time in my whole life. That was literally the greatest time of my whole life, those two years when I was working on that project, the workshopping of it. And then it ran for about a year, and it was just so incredibly exciting.
And by the time it was over, I was ready for it to be over. I was approached for it to be extended a few months because it was doing so well, but I couldn’t do it. I just felt like I was finished with it, except now I wish I could just have that show to do every single night in a theater. But anyway. And then the third most memorable, and I’m not kidding you, the third most memorable thing is that I played in a theater in Princeton, New Jersey. At Princeton University. It’s a theater for about 3,000 people. And it was pretty much full. And when I got on stage, I instantly understood how to perform in front of all those people, because before that point, it was for very small audiences, 200 people, 600 people. But now you’re talking about 3,000 people. And the waves of laughter and the waves of applause, it’s just a longer and more fabulous response. But I remember just being so electrified coming off that stage. So if you get the energy that is so ecstatic from say, 300 people in a small room, imagine multiplying that by 10. I didn’t sleep for a week after that show.
So throughout your career, what would you say is the most important quality that you’re glad that you have?
Isaac Mizrahi:
Oh, that’s a good question. I will say that though I am extremely sensitive, really, really sensitive, I also have this kind of undying optimism, which keeps me at it. If I were just a little bit more pessimistic, I might’ve just dropped out a long time ago. Because when you’re trying to do this, when you’re trying to transition from design into mostly performing, there are so many rejections that you face. It’s just unbelievable. But I keep at it. I keep at it, and now I feel like I’m kind of breaking through, which is great. And it’s like 30 years later that this is happening. And sometimes things just take a really long time. But I’m never going to stop. I’m not going to stop trying. So I think tenacity is the answer to that question. Tenacity and optimism.