Isaac Mizrahi on This Week's Fashion Show: 'It Was Worse Than Juniors. It Felt Like Juniors from the '90s.'
Cesar, one of the most acclaimed designers this season, was responsible for one well-liked ensemble [pictured below] and two hideous swimsuits. If he'd made just those swimsuits, do you think he'd have been eliminated?
I do. I actually do. His look, the one that he presented, I almost gave that the win. But it was incredible the way he mixed those fabrics to make that look. But those swimsuits? Even though he was mostly responsible for it, we couldn't take him to task because it was the house look. The only way we could take them to task for that was to make them lose. In a way, he put his other teammates in jeopardy. I don't think irony was lost on him.
That's an interesting facet of The Fashion Show -- the actions of your teammates can sometimes be more responsible for your elimination than you are.
It also comes back to bite the judges in the ass sometimes. I felt like Cindy should've won last week, but because she was in the losing house, she couldn't. In this case it worked very well. The winning house was definitely in the House of Nami -- the black dress. I also think the losers were in the other group. Cesar's original look came close to being the winner, but it wasn't even close to Dominique's dress. But yes, he was on the chopping block last night.
Let's talk about those crazy patterns on Cesar's look. It was weird, inspired, and kind of fabulous, wouldn't you say?
Usually, when you mix those very disparate elements, it takes a very long time and a lot of trial and error to get it to work. Or, sometimes, it just comes together. You look at it and something about it works. What he did was layer a sheer leopard print over a kooky, kind-of ethnic, chic print. It just looked great. It just fell together. I could've lived without the sweater. I mean, that looked totally wrong. But the prints were so masterfully paired -- it could've even been that he had a good eye, saw them in the bin together, and thought, "That's pretty." That's how it would've happened to me. Usually when you thrust things together, or mistakes, and they look great -- you just need an eye that can pick up on stuff like that. It's a stealthy kind of eagle eye. Oftentimes on the street, I see some old lady who is wearing some crazy things together, and I think, "That's the best thing I ever saw." She's mistaken to wear it, but I can correct her mistake and make it work.
You should tell these women that!
I do! Oh, I always do! There's this woman who -- I swim on 43rd Street, and she looks amazing every day in this crazy way -- every time I see her, I say, "Can I take your picture?" And she's like, "No!" She's very mean. I try to include her in the process, but then I decide, "I'll just have to memorize this."
She should learn to be complicit. Or it's like, "Look, lady, I'm just going to rip you off if you don't."
Totally! I try to tell her that, but she just won't work with me.
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