Editor’s note: This collection has been digitized as part of Vogue Runway’s ongoing efforts to document the history of fashion shows. Isaac Mizrahi’s fall 1994 show was presented in the tents at Bryant Park on April 12, 1994.
This colorful and cozy Isaac Mizrahi collection—with its crayola-colored puffers, faux furs, marled knits, pom-poms, and sock-shoes—has a permanent place in history thanks to Unzipped. Directed by Douglas Keeve (who was then in a relationship with the designer), this 1995 documentary charts Isaac Mizrahi’s journey from an unfavorable spring 1994 review through the ideation and creation of this collection, which was rapturously received.
Not that it was all smooth sailing. In the ’90s, Paris kicked off the season, which closed in New York. So panic set in when WWD put a look from Jean Paul Gaultier’s Inuit-inspired “trans-Siberian” collection on the cover, as Mizrahi had used Nanook of the North, a 1922 silent docufiction movie, as a source. In retrospect, the collections take the starting point in polar directions. Gaultier recreated a snowscape, while Mizrahi, a born entertainer, leaned into theatricality.
At a time of peak supermodeldom, he set up a scrim between the backstage and the front of house so that the audience watched as the models dressed and undressed for their exits. Vogue described it as a “voyeuristic thrill.” Said Mizrahi: “The whole thing has to do with being slightly naughty, and that’s what these clothes are about. It used to be that wearing black was witchy and naughty, but now it’s so obvious. Now color is really the provocative thing. Yes, the tables have turned.”
