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Isaac Mizrahi
A premier American designer, Isaac Mizrahi (born 1961) established womenswear and menswear businesses noted for their uncluttered, witty designs before he was 30 years old. Isaac Mizrahi was born in Brooklyn, New York, October 14, 1961, the youngest child and only son of Zeke and Sarah Mizrahi. He grew up in Ocean Parkway, New Jersey, in the tight knit Syrian Jewish community. Zeke Mizrahi worked in the garment industry, first as a pattern cutter on Wooster Street and later as a childrenswear manufacturer. Isaac's mother was instrumental in exposing him to fashion at an early age. A devoted fashion lover, Sarah Mizrahi exposed young Isaac to the genius of designers Balenciagas, Chanel, and Norman Norell. He would often accompany his mother on shopping trips to Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman. She would also take Isaac to the ballet and to movies. Inspired by his surroundings he began to design. In 1987 Isaac opened his own clothing business and was honored with the Council of Fashion Designers of America's (CFDA) Designer of the Year award three times. He closed his ready-to-wear company in 1998, but he continues to design a shoe collection, a collection of coats and a line of fine jewelry. Isaac has also designed costumes for film, theatre, dance and opera in collaboration with such luminaries as Mark Morris, Twyla Tharp, Bill T. Jones and Mikhail Baryshnikov. In 1995 Isaac was the subject of the highly acclaimed documentary Unzipped, directed by Douglas Keeve, which won the 1995 Audience Award for Documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival. Distributed by Miramax, the film was screened internationally at the Cannes and Venice film festivals and opened nationally on August 4, 1995. In 1996 Isaac and Keeve received a special CFDA award for bringing the fashion world to the cinema. He recently appeared off-Broadway in a one-man show entitled Les Mizrahi, which was produced by the Drama Department. Isaac's interests lie in the entertainment industry as well as in fashion, and he dreams of one day merging the two fields, functioning as the first entertainer/designer.
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