Wise Words from Isaac

I love Isaac Mizrahi. You know who he is. If you don't, Google. Isaac was in Houston this week as guest speaker for The Jung Center's Spring Benefit. He presented "I.M. Enough: An Evening with Isaac Mizrahi" at the River Oaks Country Club.

Isaac in Houston

I've no doubt it was a boffo event, but at $150 for the Zoom attendance and $500 for the in-person, I wasn't going. Besides, I had "an evening with Isaac Mizrahi" one night in Bloomingdale's Manhattan flagship when he was launching an Isaac ready-to-wear line. It was free and even included a VHS copy of "Unzipped".

As I said, Google if this sounds like gibberish.

Before his appearance, Andrew Dansby, a staff writer on the Houston Chronicle, had a Q&A with Isaac. One of the questions went like this:

Q: You haven't cut ties with fashion entirely. But it's a much smaller part of the public persona you present.

A: What's funny, I don't always know how to put this. I love clothes. I love clothes the same way I did in my teens and 20s and 30s. Fashion? Not so much. I adore textiles, styles, people wearing wonderful things. Fashion? Not so much."

Isaac, you have hit the nail on the head. That's where the problem lies. I too adore textiles, styles, people wearing wonderful things. Fashion? Not so much. So that's why fashion reporting leaves me cold, fashion magazines leave me empty, but a museum retrospective leaves me wanting more! 

I think Isaac is saying fashion and style are not one and the same. You can have style without being in fashion and you can be in fashion without having style. I know what side I want to be on.

Thanks, Isaac.