Isaac Mizrahi on Unzipped, the Best Documentary about Fashion Ever Made

There’s been a kind of real death of criticism in a lot of ways. I saw one of your cabaret performances…

That became my strongest thing: to stand in front of an audience and just go. Just talking.

That’s part of why Unzipped is so good, you just talking. What were the after effects of the documentary? Did people start recognizing you on the street? Was it a different kind of fame?

A little bit. I mean, it did not change my career. Three years later, I closed my doors. It put me on the map in a certain way, but it also made it very difficult for me in other ways. It put me in the center of things and yet, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be in the center that way because I was just trying to sell clothes, and a lot of it was exhausting. I was just trying to deliver a movie I was now obliged, financially obliged, and it was exhausting.

Whose idea was it?

It’s very hard to say. Everybody thinks it’s their idea; It was all of our ideas, but it’s very hard to say it came from one source. It was inevitable because our fittings were photogenic and hilarious. I remember being in fittings at Calvin [Klein] and it was not a laugh riot. It was unique to my office, and it was an offshoot of who I was.

Is your life similar now? Do you live in the same apartment?

I live in the same apartment, but it’s like three times bigger because I have since expanded. They died next door, and in between, I bought this apartment on the other side of their apartment.

There is a certain amount of baton passing that’s happening in fashion, and the creative director shuffle that went on. Do you think about it, or are you sort of checked out from that world, or do you like to watch it as a game?

I watch it. I do. Jonathan Anderson made this statement when he first started at Dior. He said, “You know, it’s going to take me five years to get my footing, right?” And I thought, thank you, it takes a person a minute to get the footing on a certain situation. Of any kind, right? And I thought that was really smart, but I’m not sure everyone gets five years. I was not the smartest. I was really, really like a gerbil on a wheel.

Is that a regret?

No. If I could see everything in retrospect, honey, I would have lived very differently.

How do you feel about the state of dressing in New York, or in America?

I don’t really have that kind of deep understanding that I used to, because I feel like the subject of style has completely surpassed what I’m capable of comprehending at my age. When I was young, people had to buy clothes. They weren’t given clothes, right? I look at runway shows and I think they’re amazing, and I’m addicted. I can’t get enough of these amazing constructions that are so huge and that move like battleships. You know, they’re like couches. But I don’t understand. Who is it for, really? I don’t even know who shoots them. Do they shoot them? I think they do them for attention, and then there’s a bunch of things that they give people to wear to the Oscars. But to me, that is above my pay grade. I just don’t see how influential that is.

The role of celebrity has changed so much. Unzipped has some famous people in it. Were they your friends?

They just came to the show. We didn’t solicit. It was like, oh, Richard Gere is there because he’s dating Cindy [Crawford], and Liza [Minnelli] is there because we’re good friends, and Sandra [Bernhard]’s there because we’re good friends, and she brought Roseanne. Someone recently posted a picture of Prince sitting in the front row of my show, and I remember when he came, and I remember he told nobody; he just showed up because someone told him to. Or De Niro would come to my shows, you know.

Were they fans, or were they dating models?

A lot of that. They were all dating. When Prince came, I heard backstage, oh, Prince is here. I was like, Prince, Prince who? Prince Charles? No, Prince. And then we had to find a front row seat for Prince. But you know, my point is, I don’t think they do that now. Prince wouldn’t just show up, you know. But that’s what used to happen.

What do people get wrong about that era?

All of the sexism and the racism. It was a terrible time. It was not a good scene for those women—there’s like all kinds of stories about model agents and models and what they were put through. And being gay and AIDS and it was just a nightmare, just as much of a nightmare as it is now, I would say.

For everyone?

Maybe if you were Linda [Evangelista]. She used to do our shows, and we’d pay her in clothes. At first, I couldn’t afford to pay her. I’d say, “Take it, just take it.” She was thrilled. Then she ended up liking the clothes, and she would actually make deals where I gave her clothes instead of paying her. One day she made a whole selection, and our public relations person said, “Oh, where should we send the clothes?” And Linda thought about it and she said, “Oh, just send them to the Air France Concorde lounge, and they’ll find me.” And she meant it. She was really serious. She was that woman.

You were great in Marty Supreme. Do you want to do more acting?

I just got finished—I don’t know how to put this—it was sort of a table read for a series for bunch of people, a bunch of backers and and and distributors, and hopefully it’ll get made. I play a caterer. I’m actively out there looking for roles. Yes, absolutely.

You had such a hand in dressing normal people via QVC.

Normal is not such a great word, but yeah, lots of people.

You had reach.

I like Paris, but I never loved it. I don’t want to cast aspersions. I love it. It’s an amazing thing to show in Paris, it motivates me. Like, Pierpaolo [Piccioli] at Balenciaga. That show made me crazy. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Those shows that Marc [Jacobs] used to do for Louis Vuitton were beyond fabulous. But I thought New York is where I’m from. New York is where I will stay.

I think you would have had fun making couture.

Oh no, absolutely. I had a small couture collection at Bergdorf’s that I showed with tank tops, and that was really fun and really fabulous. And I remember Betty Halbreich calling me, saying, “Darling, I can’t sell this, you know, this fifteen thousand dollar coat without the two dollar tank top. So you have to get me those from Target.”

And what are your plans for Target now?

I have to put it to you this way. Because I love show business, I love doing that cabaret show and my tours. I love it. So for anything to take me away from that, it has to be right. This came up, and it was like a dream. I was like, darling, if that could happen, that would be the one thing I would do.

What’s the game plan?