There’s a lot to look at in Isaac Mizrahi’s studio in New York’s Greenwich Village: sketches, bulletin boards, fabrics, memorabilia, heaps of books, a Golden Girls puzzle set. But my eyes lock in on two dolls, Snoopy and his sister Belle (who knew!), clad in ballet-style tutus and embroidered vests. “I think I designed those,” he says, joining me from his apartment upstairs. “I love the Schultz estate and they like me a lot. It was a minute ago, though, so I’m not sure if they still even know who I am.” I later learn he created them for a 2014 exhibition at the New Museum, in an example of the symbiotic relationship with pop culture the designer has been nurturing since his childhood in Brooklyn. When we meet, he’s busy working on one of its other facets, firming up the setlist for Hooray!, his latest cabaret act in New York. It runs for four nights at 54 Below, a midtown venue, this month.
“I say it all the time,” he says of the cheery title. With his lit-from-within smile, you believe it. The slight twist is the source of that cheer. Mizrahi has held two New York residencies for the past decade or so – winter at the Carlyle hotel, summer at 54 Below – but he’s not a fan of the hotter season, finding July to be “just the nadir of the world”. The happy mood of his upcoming show derives from the knowledge that, come August, the summer’s almost over. Another reason for him to celebrate is the departure of World Cup crowds from the city, which will make it into his act’s version of Cole Porter’s You’re the Top that he updates every year. (He can’t immediately recall the lyric, but it rhymes “Spanish” with “mannish.”)
Primarily known as a fashion designer thanks to his vivid collections in the 80s and 90s and a slew of television projects that showcased his gregariousness (Time magazine called him “a kind of Seventh Avenue Oscar Wilde”), Mizrahi’s relationship to the stage goes back decades, and he’s been performing solo acts consistently since his off-Broadway debut at the nearby Greenwich House Theatre in 2000. Especially since scaling back his couture career, the 64-year-old says he’d like to also be known as a performer. “To think that I went to High School of Performing Arts before I was in fashion … ” he trails off, referencing his icon-incubating alma mater, memorialized in the film Fame. (He had a small part in the movie.) “I feel like I do this and I do clothes, which is crazy because the perception is not at all that. The perception is that I am a fashion designer.” But he believes his performances have sharpened and, over time, lowered raised eyebrows.
