Job:02-30034 Title:RP-Fashion Design Ref and Spec Book
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2 2 0 THE FASHION DESIGN REFERENCE + SPECIFICATION BOOK
(Text)
With an industry that is losing skilled craftspeople with every passing generation, what do you
think fashion education programs should include in their curriculum to best prepare designers
looking to enter the market?
That’s such a good question. I’m not an educator, so it’s difficult to say. It’s more about
what’s missing altogether. I often mourn the passing of something, like a costume collection
that is lost, or a standard that disappears because it’s too hard to do something a particular
way. I especially mourn the loss of books. People don’t buy books anymore, they buy Kindles;
they go online to look at pictures. But I treasure my books. There was a kind of rigor about
things years ago, a deeper knowledge, and less pop focus. Not that pop’s bad—if anyone’s
responsible for that in fashion it’s me.
How does the issue of sustainability affect your design process?
That’s a paradigm that is shifting glacially, at least in my world. I’m kind of worshipful of peo-
ple who can do sustainable design really well. There’s a girl in Berkeley, California, who makes
only clothes that are sustainable, and I can’t believe how great she is. I admire her work to the
end of the earth. But, personally, unless I’m really captivated and excited and motivated, it’s
meaningless. If I work with sustainable materials and integrate them into my process, it can’t
be a dogma. It has to be, Oh look, we can now do this glamorous thing sustainably, hooray! I
won’t lose the glamour, the glitter, and the fluff just because it’s not sustainable. Reform has
to come as part of beautiful design, as part of an organic design process. And by the way, the
minute you start recycling something, someone says, No, no, no, that’s not the way you do it.
There are all kinds of controversies about what is and isn’t sustainable. So once everybody
knows exactly what’s going on, I’m for it. I just don’t see it as the be-all and end-all.
You have been very successful at diversifying the Isaac Mizrahi message without diluting it.
You’ve reached customers at Target, at luxury retailers like Bergdorf Goodman, and now at
Liz Claiborne with equal power. What does a designer need to do this well?
I can’t describe that for anyone else. I swear to God, I don’t know how I became who I am.
Perry Ellis would take us to Mr. Chow’s occasionally and he’d point to Tina Chow and say,
She’s wearing a Chanel couture skirt with a Hanes T-shirt and she looks amazing. I realized
that smart people don’t just buy designer clothes and wear them, they actually get involved.
They actually think the way I think about clothes: that a beautiful design is more valuable than
any so-called luxury label. Luxury is relative. There’s nothing more luxurious than a good idea,
nothing more luxurious than a good color.
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Job:02-30034 Title:RP-Fashion Design Ref and Spec Book
#175 Dtp:225 Page:220
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