Isaac Mizrahi

WHAT: “Design for a Living World,” an exhibit of objects created by well-known designers and made with sustainable, natural materials from around the planet
WHEN: May 14–January 4, 2010
WHERE: Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, 2 E 91st St at Fifth Ave (212-849-8400, cooperhewitt.org)

Huge amounts of salmon skin are discarded every year by fish-processing facilities. To them, it’s trash. To fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi, who was commissioned by the Nature Conservancy to work with the material, it’s the inspiration for an haute couture ensemble that will be on display this summer at the Cooper-Hewitt’s splashy, eco-friendly show. (That’s in addition to The Fashion Show, his new reality competition series starting on Bravo Thursday 7.) Mizrahi spoke to TONY about the experience.

Fish skin, huh?
Yes. It really struck me. It looked to me like leather, you know? And 22 years ago I made these leather paillettes [circular pieces of fabric] and I decided to do that again—to make these kind of salmon-skin sequins.

What was your brainstorming process like?
At this point, things either inspire me or they don’t. At first I thought, Let’s make a pair of shoes out of this—which we actually did. Then it somehow occurred to me that it’d be great as a little leather jacket. Then, it occurred to me to do something exactly the opposite—like the paillettes that I did 22 years ago. I don’t know where the muses come from, but they come and they tell you what to do.

Do you eat salmon?
I do! Not as regularly as I probably should, though. It’s supposed to be very good for you.

Apparently. Does the dress smell like…fish?
Oh no! [Laughs] It doesn’t at all. They’ve done something to it that’s perfectly natural and sustainable that makes it not smell.

Will you do more sustainable work after this?
My eyes are always open. But it’s not organic for me to think that way, to be perfectly honest—it’s not the first thought I have. The first thought is, like, Glitter. High heels. Hair.

Speaking of which, how is your new show different from Project Runway?
Well, it’s got a fashion show at the end of every episode, and there’s a live audience. I haven’t seen it yet. They could cut it a lot of different ways—they could cut me as the bitchy fashion queen. I think of myself as the tough-love one.

Were you bitchy because every show needs a Simon?
No, because it comes naturally to me. I am a mean mommy. Just ask my boyfriend.—Kate Lowenstein

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