Wednesday, February 11, 2009

ISAAC!

Sometimes it comes up in the course of regular conversation that I majored in Fashion Design in college. The typical situation is when I'm with a group of people and someone wants random clothing advice and somebody else will pipe up and say, "OH! Ask Heather! She's a fashion designer!" And then I get this slightly puzzled look with a tilt of the head and a "Really?"

I am not surprised. I am in what you might call a serious fashion rut.

My typical look is blue jeans, black shirt, black shoes. Wow. Recently I bought a pair of perfect kick ass brown heels and I haven't worn them because I'm always wearing black and it feels a little weird to wear brown with black and OH MY GOD when did I get all matchy???

I own plenty of clothes in plenty of colors. But I always end up back in black, grey, dark blue, and occasionally purple. It is depressing. It is not a good use of all the other clothes I own. And then tonight I found some inspiration. I was at the bookstore getting the last issue of Domino magazine. (Sob! I can't believe that magazine has bitten the dust. All of my favorite magazines are shutting down- Blue Print was the first and since then it's just been a steady stream of bad news. So farewell Domino. I will miss you. And Ready Made: you had better not shut down or I will be SERIOUSLY upset.)

Anyway, there I was walking down the personal growth (or self help or whatever) aisle making my way to the counter, and I saw it. The book. By one of my favorite people. Here's a taste- watch the first 45 seconds to get a feel for where Isaac Mizrahi gets his fashion inspiration:

I remember watching this in school for Social Psychology of Dress (I think) and just being amazed at his process. It was a year and half before it made sense to me. I opened Vogue and GOT IT.

Anyway, tonight I've been reading how to have style by my man Isaac. This book is GREAT. It is not some sort of What Not To Wear breakdown of style, it shows more his process of dressing women and how to look good and mostly how to be adventurous with your own sense of style. Start an inspiration board (this won't be hard- I have two binders worth of tear sheets), pull out all of your clothes and try them on in any combination you can come up with. Mess with hems. Play with layers. ADD COLOR. (I think he put that in there just for me.) In other words, this book is EXACTLY what I need to be reading to get me out of this rut and I love it.

PS I know, I know, I totally slammed Carrie Underwood and now I'm admitting that I'm no stylist myself. The difference? RED CARPET EVENTS, baby!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Issac! Issac!

I love him and I find it mildly ironic that he always wears all black.

Heather said...

Yeah, but I think he justifies that with all the crazy bandanas. He says everyone should wear two a day. I think I'll go tie one around my knee right now....