"I love Technicolor - it's wildly beautiful." Isaac Mizrahi
Isaac Mizrahi was born in Brooklyn in 1961. He was exposed to fashion from a young age - his father worked in the garment industry and his mother was a fashion aficionado. He started designing clothes for his mother and her friends at 13 years old.
Mizrahi attended Manhattan's High School for the Performing Arts, and while still a student, began his first clothing label, IS New York.
IS New York closed after Mizrahi's financial backer pulled out, and Mizrahi attended the Parson's School of Design after graduation. Mizrahi began working for Perry Ellis while still a student, and continued with Ellis for 2 years after graduation.
Mizrahi moved on to Jeffrey Banks and then Calvin Klein before opening his own label in 1987. He expanded into menswear in 1990.
"Our motto is, inside every woman is a star." Isaac Mizrahi (referring to his ISAAC line, where the A's have been replaced by stars in the logo)
Mizrahi closed his label in 1998, but reopened it for 2007. He spent the intervening years designing low-priced collections for mass marketing (Isaac Mizrahi for Target), becoming a playwright and actor, and branching out into areas such as home furnishing design.
Mizrahi's work is characterized by bright colors and traditional shapes with new and different fabrics.
Mizrahi received the Council of Fashion Designers of America Perry Ellis Award in 1989, and the CFDA Designer of the Year Award in 1990 and 1992. Mizrahi is one of the most famous and widely recognized fashion designers, due to his television shows (and guest appearances on other shows) and interviewing gigs on the red carpet before award shows.