Who

Once a high-flying couture star, these days Isaac Mizrahi is best known as a TV personality and as the man who made Target a fashion destination. He's currently creative director at Liz Claiborne.

Backstory

Born to Syrian Jewish parents and raised on Ocean Parkway in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, Mizrahi wasn't anything like the other boys at the Yeshiva of Flatbush: He was 10 when his garmento father gave him the sewing machine he desperately wanted; at age 15 he launched his own label, IS New York, with help from one of his mother's friends. Not surprisingly, Mizrahi's interests didn't impress the Orthodox rabbis at his school, but he found more acceptance when he switched to the High School of Performing Arts in Manhattan, where he pursued his passion for theater and even had a tiny part in the movie Fame. Parsons was the next stop; he started interning for Perry Ellis as a junior, going to work for the designer full-time after graduating.

Following Ellis's passing, Mizrahi took jobs at Jeffrey Banks and Calvin Klein, leaving the latter in the mid-1980s shortly after Grace Coddington's arrival as creative director. With financing from family friends, he launched his own label in 1987 and quickly became one of the brightest talents on the fashion scene, earning acclaim for his sophisticated 1950s-inspired cocktail dresses. Just a year after going into business, he won the CFDA award for emerging talent, and the following year he walked away with the womenswear trophy. With his name on the lips of every fashionista in town, many assumed he'd follow in the footsteps of Donna, Calvin and Ralph as one of America's most successful designers. Alas, over the next few years Mizrahi had a difficult time capitalizing on the early acclaim. After failing to turn a profit—and after the failure of his diffusion line, Isaac—in 1998 his financial backer, Chanel, backed out and his company went under. But he's managed to remain in the public eye thanks to various theater, TV—and now fashion—ventures.

Of note

While the implosion of his eponymous company was a big blow to Mizrahi, he didn't spend much time sitting around weeping over his losses. On the contrary, he's been a tornado of activity: In 2000, he starred in an off-Broadway, one-man show, Les MIZrahi, which marked the beginning of his relationship with Marisa Gardini, who co-produced the show and is now the CEO of his company.

In 2003, he returned to fashion in a big way when he relaunched his label and unveiled a line of women's sportswear and accessories for Target. The line proved a major success for the retailer, and it also helped pave the way for collaborations between Target and a slew of designers like Mizrahi protegée Behnaz Sarafpour, and Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough of Proenza Schouler.

In January 2008 Mizrahi defected from Target—much to the chain's dismay—to join Liz Claiborne as creative director. His clothes for Claiborne will appear in stores at the beginning of '09, and he's continuing with his own high-end label, available exclusively at Bergdorf's, which he's in the process of expanding: Over the past year, he's inked a number licensing contracts, including handbags and footwear, and there are plans to open freestanding stores in several cities.

Isaac has plenty of other projects on his plate. He continues to design costumes for film, dance and theater companies such as the Met and Threepenny Opera, collaborating with artists (and longtime friends) like Mark Morris, Twyla Tharp, and Bill T. Jones. You can also catch him on TV hosting the Style Network show, Isaac.

On screen

Mizrahi was the subject of the 1995 documentary Unzipped, directed by his then-boyfriend Douglas Keeve, which remains one of the best films about the fashion world. (It featured memorably amusing scenes with his mom, Sarah Mizrahi.) The designer became a presence on the small screen in 2001 when The Isaac Mizrahi Show debuted on Oxygen; it moved to the Style Network in 2005. He's popped up in plenty of other places: He had cameos as an alien in Men in Black and appeared as himself in episodes of Sex and the City and Ugly Betty. And he raised a few eyebrows as a red carpet reporter for E! at the 2006 Golden Globes when he copped a feel of Scarlett Johansson's boob.

Shill

Mizrahi has appeared in ads for Strivectin anti-wrinkle cream. He's also promoted Weight Watchers, which he credits with losing the poundage he put on when he quit smoking.

Personal

The bandana-and-flip-flop-wearing fashion impresario lives in the Village with his boyfriend Arnold and his dog Harry. Marisa Tomei lives in the same building.

No joke

In the late '90s, Mizrahi published a graphic novel called Sandee, the Adventures of a Supermodel, which Dreamworks had once planned to turn into a move. (The project was abandoned.) In the book, the supermodel's partner-in-crime is Yvesaac Mizrahi, "an alter ego whose only difference from his creator is about 30 pounds and a carefully chiseled chin." Yvesaac is the nickname that Perry Ellis bestowed upon him, in honor of Yves Saint Laurent.