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Saturday, June 11, 2016

So Unruly

Recently, I went to visit a wonderful exhibit of American fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi's work, An Unruly History, at the Jewish Museum in New York City which is on view until August 7, 2016. This exhibit most certainly made me appreciate him as a designer as the depth of his work was quite impressive.

When you first enter the exhibit, you see a wall that looks like tiles or some type of mosaic but when you get closer, it is actually hundreds (thousands?) of swatches!



You then enter this room where you see beautiful colorful garments.  It is Isaac's mastery of color that I love the most.  The work in the exhibit is from the 1980's through current day.




--Isaac Mizrahi
How exciting it was to see hundreds of his sketches with his notes written on them!



You can see in Isaac's work how he absorbed all of the diverse cultures and religions one is inevitably exposed to living in New York City.  His design aesthetic was also influenced by nature, politics, music...basically, everything around him.

The peony is Isaac's favorite flower

Totem pole dress

Wooden bead jacket

Poppy flower.  The fabric of the dress in the background is hand painted.

Something I did not know about Isaac was his work designing puppets for children's plays.  It was so much fun to see the accompanying footage of the puppets in the productions.

Ostrich puppet

Owl puppet

Toward the end of the exhibit, there are also some short films of his early fashion shows where you see the great supermodels Linda Evangelista and Christy Burlington walking the catwalk in his designs.

If you are in New York City anytime between now and August 7, do try to visit this fabulous exhibit.   You will enjoy it!  The museum is located on 5th Avenue at 92nd Street.  Call them at 212-423-3337 for hours and entrance fees.

24 comments:

  1. What a neat exhibit! love the swatch wall and also that poppy dress, and that peony dress too!

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    1. p.s. I looked around the website and....the museum gift shop has Isaac Mizrahi band-aids!!! be still my beating heart!

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    2. Yes, it was a great exhibit. Isaac Mizrahi band-aids...ha! You must get them...maybe start a collection.

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  2. What fun! Thanks for taking us along! that orange gathered skirt! Drool!

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    1. Yes that orange skirt is just gorgeous. It is so dramatic and colorful.

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  3. I've always been a fan of his work and find him personally very real and down to earth. Great exhibit and thanks for the review.

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    1. You are welcome Bunny! I too find him to be real and down to earth. He also has a quirky personality that makes me smile.

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  4. Very fashionable and fun! I've been to New york city but I didn't go to such a exhibit. If I have a chance, I would like to go there:)))

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    1. Yes, it was most definitely a fun exhibit! NYC usually has some type of fashion exhibit somewhere you can enjoy...the Fashion Institute of Technology always has one or two, the Metropolitan Museum of Art usually has an exhibit during the summer so I hope you can go to one of them someday!

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  5. Oh man I so want to see this exhibit! Thank you for sharing the photos. I like Isaac even more now. =)

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  6. Thanks for sharing this with us. I think this is awesome.

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    1. You're welcome Dorothy! Yes it was awesome!

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  7. How fascinating! Beautiful work. And I just Adore the totem pole dress; I would love one of those.

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    1. That totem pole dress is hilarious...I love the colors!

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  8. Thanks for sharing. That first photo looked like a quilt to me. But when I read that it was swatches I had to chuckle to myself. It is always amazing to hear about what things inspir creativity in an artist or designer. Thanks again for sharing.

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    1. Oh I can see what you mean...it does look like a quilt as well!

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  9. I am going in late July to see this exhibit - can't wait! It looks glorious.

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    1. Oh yay - I am glad you will get to see it!

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  10. I am going in late July to see this exhibit - can't wait! It looks glorious.

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  11. Thank you for sharing these images. It looks like a great exhibit.

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    1. You are welcome! It certainly was a great exhibit.

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