|
Isaac Mizrahi: flirting with fabrics
NEW YORK (CNN) -- New York designer Isaac Mizrahi gives his luxurious fall/winter collection a roguish spin.
He displays his love of textures with his fusion of fabrics, mixing older, distressed or antiqued materials with newer, untainted ones.
His focus, Mizrahi says, is on redefining luxury rather than creating fashion.
Elsa Klensch report as seen on CNN
1.3M/3 min. 13 sec. QuickTime movie slide show
"What's going to make fashion is the wearer," he says.
Mizrahi says people need to get close to his clothes to feel their essence.
"I think that people who are going to be looking at the clothes, the press and the store buyers, need to be very, very close on top of it. Because I think that's the way women buy clothes," he says.
And the essence seems to be luxurious, beautiful, rich fabrics.
"What I mean by that is pristine mixed with worn things, with slightly distressed things," he explains.
For those cool winter nights, Mizrahi focuses on long dresses and high heels. He says full-length dresses look fresh for the evening, and he raves about a new fabric that has caught his eye.
"There's one fabric that I so love that's a beautiful, beautiful kind...it looks like a jade green, very, very heavy charmeuse...and it's one of the most beautiful textiles I've ever seen you know," he says.
To highlight his designs, Mizrahi wants a simple, clean and groomed look for his model's hair.
"You know a man doesn't think about beauty, he thinks about grooming," he explains. "You know and I think that women have to have that option too."
To get his point across, Mizrahi shows his clothes in a former opera house. However, he removes the curtains and invites the audience into the "clothes closet" he has created.
"I feel as though the closer the audience at the fashion show can come to the actual girls wearing the clothes, the sooner they are going to be able to feel the essence of it," he explains.
Sound off on our message boards
Tell us what you think!
You said it...
© 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.