Isaac Mizrahi has been in fashion since the day he was born. The legendary designer joins “The Good Buy”, #sponsored by Google, to discuss fashion history, dressing with age, and the importance of the perfect pair of pumps. From worshipping his custom Savile Row suits (and why he now regrets 80% of them) to the one night he felt truly elegant—thanks to socks made by nuns in a convent—Isaac shares the stories behind his most stylish moments. A born and bred New Yorker, he reflects on the city's influence and explains why the best pieces are always the ones most worn and deeply loved.
Listen to "The Good Buy" Vodcast on Apple Podcasts here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-good-buy/id1778702915
Listen to "The Good Buy" Vodcast on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2Npiwtz747oXVGA4rQRf3z
#IsaacMizrahi #TheGoodBuy #BAZAAR
Listen to "The Good Buy" Vodcast on Apple Podcasts here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-good-buy/id1778702915
Listen to "The Good Buy" Vodcast on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2Npiwtz747oXVGA4rQRf3z
#IsaacMizrahi #TheGoodBuy #BAZAAR
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PeopleTranscript
00:00You can't overlook a bad pump.
00:01You can't.
00:02It's so true.
00:03And I encourage you not to overlook a bad pump.
00:06I think you should look straight at it and get rid of it.
00:08Hello, everyone, and welcome to The Goodbye,
00:11a new podcast from Harper's Bazaar,
00:13where we invite celebrities, designers,
00:15models, and tastemakers to talk shop.
00:18What they buy, where they got it, and why it matters.
00:24Hi, I'm Lynette Nylander.
00:25And I am Leah Chernikoff.
00:27And this is Harper's Bazaar's The Goodbye.
00:30Would you like to tell me about your goodbye this week, Lynette?
00:33Oh, God.
00:34When is there not a goodbye?
00:35Is it goodbyes, plural?
00:37With you, it usually is.
00:38It is goodbyes, plural.
00:40It is.
00:41OK.
00:42Actually, I have really been suffering from a couple of months of bad sleep.
00:49OK.
00:49I have been rolling over to my front.
00:52It's not great.
00:52So I am on the lookout for a new bed.
00:57OK.
00:57And I always find that around-
00:59Mattress frame, the whole deal.
01:01I think it's time to upgrade the whole thing.
01:04I think I came to New York, and I have had the same bed since I moved to seven years ago.
01:10And it's time to get my, you know, my big girl bed on.
01:12Big girl bed.
01:13I want that for you.
01:13This is like one of the hardest things to find.
01:17Like, tell me about your process.
01:19Well, I research a lot of, I research and I read a lot of reviews,
01:23and I try and find out what other people like.
01:27So I went over to Google and I searched best bed frame.
01:31And I like the Thuma one because you're able to put it together with no tools.
01:36And I'm not very dexterous.
01:37And I am bad at putting together even the most simple of IKEA furniture.
01:42And so this one seemed like a sure bet.
01:45And I'm sure it's very chic.
01:46It is chic.
01:47I chose a deep walnut color.
01:50And I made the big girl jump from a queen to a king bed.
01:54So I'm very excited.
01:55I'm excited for you.
01:56I'm going to set it off with some brand new sheets,
01:58and it's going to be a cozy fall slash winter in my brand new bed.
02:02Do you want to know my theory of like one of the things as you get older is like,
02:06you know, we all think about putting together our outfits,
02:08but like how you put together your bed is like one of the sort of like level up
02:13of grown up fashion, kind of like thinking about like the mattress,
02:18the size of it, the frame, the pillows, the sheets,
02:21the like all the layers, getting it all together is like,
02:25yeah.
02:26I think about that episode of Sex and the City where Miranda's changing her bed sheets
02:30and hoping that it brings a better bed karma.
02:32I feel like that is like something that we don't talk about, but it's true.
02:36You've got to, you've got to level up.
02:38You've got to, you've got to dress your bed for the life you want.
02:41Yeah.
02:41Okay. So Leah, what is your goodbye of the week?
02:44Okay. Well, listen, I haven't purchased yet, which is also very classic me in relation to you.
02:51You know, I'm very nervous to like hit buy,
02:53but you know, I love to like add to cart and search and search and search.
02:58So I'm on the hunt for the perfect gray crunic.
03:02You know, our fearless leader, Samira Nasser, Harper's Bazaar's editor in chief.
03:07She talked about in her newsletter, this like gray crunic from Phoebe Filo
03:13that she was wearing all over Paris Fashion Week.
03:15Yeah. It's a good swell.
03:16Listen, I don't have Phoebe Filo money.
03:18That's not where I'm going.
03:20So I go, so I'm, I'm going to Google and I'm doing like to, you know, if you,
03:26if you say shop gray crunic, like it's going to give you like a much better sort of
03:32selection of results.
03:34And you can also see, you can see like sales and sort of like track prices.
03:39So, you know, I'm like a watcher.
03:41So I'm sort of looking at like the ones that I like the most, but also seeing like,
03:45is the price going to move a little bit, you know, because sales are starting to happen.
03:49But then sometimes like prices like inch up before they drop down.
03:52So I'm, I'm, you know, I'm courting all these things.
03:58And what one have you, what one have you found is a contender?
04:02Okay, well, I'm watching a men's gray cashmere crunic from J.Crew.
04:07I did almost buy one at the Rowe sample sale.
04:11And you probably would have told me to do it.
04:13I mean, you know, we love a sample sale, but we also love conscious spending.
04:18So that's, you know, and also J.Crew has incredible quality cashmere, so.
04:23Yeah, so that and then Uniqlo is like pops up.
04:28But I am, I'm looking men's, like, because I think I will like the way that like the
04:33weight I think is really important.
04:35And the neck and then also just the boxiness.
04:39I want it to feel a bit oversized.
04:40This week, we have an American fashion icon, one whose impact can still be felt today,
04:46tomorrow, going forward.
04:48He is a designer, a cabaret star, a TV personality, an oracle of all things fashion.
04:55I am.
04:57And more.
04:58And lately, you can see him on TikTok, where he is giving a peek into his collections of
05:05where he is giving a peek into his collections of everything from Belgian loafers to kitchen
05:11cookware to handbags.
05:13So we can think of no one else we would rather talk fashion and personal style with.
05:18Welcome to the Goodbye Isaac Mizrahi.
05:20I'm so happy to be here.
05:22Thank you so much for being here.
05:24Help in any way I can.
05:26OK, so then let's jump in.
05:28Isaac, you have been part of the I mean, actually, you've been part of the fashion
05:35industry almost since the day you were born.
05:37This is so true.
05:38You grew up making costumes for puppets.
05:42Right, this is true.
05:43And then making clothes.
05:45And then I actually I went to performing arts high school as an actor when I was 13 or 14,
05:52however old you are.
05:54And then when I graduated there, I was just afraid.
05:56I was very afraid.
05:57Show business is such a scary business, right?
05:59And so I kind of diverted and went into fashion because I was already making clothes and
06:04sketching and things.
06:05And so I went to Parsons instead.
06:08And then I became I just went directly from Parsons to Perry Ellis.
06:11And then I had a few jobs and then I opened my own company in 1986.
06:16It's a long time ago.
06:1786.
06:18Had my first had my first show in 87.
06:21And what are some of your memories from that first show?
06:24Some of my memories from that first, you know, it's funny.
06:27It's like I don't remember anything about the actual show because I was so focused on
06:34the details of what was going on.
06:35And in those days, it was literally I'm not kidding.
06:38The loft that the show was in was so small.
06:42It wasn't a grand.
06:43But I had, you know, 15 or 18 models and we were jammed into the tiniest little space
06:49while they were changing.
06:50And, you know, the thing is what people don't understand about the old days is you had you
06:54would have girls changing into seven or eight different outfits in the course of a fashion
06:59show and with no lags, like you had to have someone on the runway at all times, as opposed
07:03to today, where if you have like, you know, 70 looks, you have 70 girls.
07:06Yeah, right.
07:07Yeah.
07:07But Naomi Campbell and Linda and I used to drive these girls crazy because they would
07:12wear like seven or eight things.
07:14So that's what I remember about those shows.
07:15Also, there were no producers.
07:18It was just us, you know, like me with a list and a list of when the music was supposed
07:22to change.
07:23And me, I was the head stylist, you know, there were no stylists in those days.
07:27The everything.
07:28Yeah, did everything.
07:29I wanted to ask because I know you went to LaGuardia when you were in high school, which
07:33I'm always obsessed with because I'm obsessed with fame.
07:36And I know you were in it.
07:36Of course you were.
07:37I am in it.
07:38This is so true.
07:38So I have to rewatch to find you.
07:40But I wanted to ask what your style was then and sort of your what informed it and then
07:46kind of the inspirations that led you to your first collection.
07:49I mean, you know, so that's a really good question because as you were asking about
07:55what was the big inspiration for me at performing arts high school, like style wise, even as
08:00an actor, because as actors, we were also conscious of fashion and conscious of the
08:06zeitgeist and what was going on.
08:07And in those days, it was like the birth of this kind of, we didn't call it vintage in
08:13those days.
08:13We call it, we called it like, you know, what was it?
08:17Used or something.
08:18Thrifting.
08:18Thrifting, darling.
08:20Lynette, it was called thrifting, okay.
08:22And it was so cool.
08:23And you would buy these like crazy old things that didn't fit, that had holes in them, that
08:29were so chic, that were faded and gorgeous, you know, really gorgeous.
08:33And we got into it and that's what really affected me.
08:36And then like, you know, slowly but surely I got into the fashion business myself and
08:41I understood about couture.
08:44And I mean, darling, we went to classes at the Met once a week and we got to look at
08:49those clothes with gloves on, you know, we got to see those clothes and fabrics, right?
08:53We were taught how to tell the difference, how to tell blends or something.
08:58Then we would do the burn test and they would light little swatches of fabric and we would
09:03smell the fabric and understand the smell of wool versus what silk smelled like versus
09:09what burning cotton smelled like.
09:10It was crazy, the burn test.
09:11Ask anyone in my grade.
09:13Smell test.
09:13Ask Marc Jacobs about the burn test, okay.
09:16He will know about the burn test.
09:17But anyway, the point is that we knew all that and yet like what we adored was this
09:23idea of kind of hunkering in, you know.
09:26Like if you would pay $20,000 to have a suit made on Savile Row because you understood
09:33that you would have that suit forever, you know.
09:36I mean, of course, none of those suits fit me now but I have like 50 of them.
09:39Providing you never change your body size.
09:41No, but you know, if you're Manolo Blahnik, right, we used to worship Manolo because he
09:45was wearing these gorgeous old suits that he had made when he was 20 years old on Savile
09:50Row.
09:50And so to me, what is so scary about the world now, forget about fast fashion.
09:55That is the scariest thing I ever heard in my life, you know.
09:58What's so scary now is even, you know, like expensive clothes.
10:03You're supposed to be in and out of those and you're donating them the next day.
10:06You wear them once and you give them away.
10:08Or you wear them once and you sell them on Vestiaire or something, you know.
10:11I don't know, darlings.
10:13I don't know.
10:14And that's like I have like my favorite person in the world which is Carrie Bradshaw.
10:19Like it's maybe a little her fault, you know.
10:21Maybe it's a little Gilmore Girls because they never wore the same thing twice.
10:25You know what I mean?
10:25It's like the people that we loved so much, people took it the wrong way.
10:30Yeah, well, and Instagram.
10:32And Instagram.
10:32You know, not wanting to show up on your feed in the same outfit.
10:36Right, exactly.
10:37And I'm so glad we're talking about this because on your social media, you are such
10:42an arbiter of all the things you've had for years and you talk everyone through your
10:46collections, whether it be, you know, we were just before the podcast, we were going through
10:49your TikTok and looking at your Italian cookware that you, was it Italian?
10:54It was Elsa Peretti.
10:55Some of it was Elsa Peretti.
10:57Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:57For instance, yeah.
10:59Yeah.
10:59Beautiful Tiffany ball or your loafers or your wardrobe.
11:03You go into detail and you've bought well and you've kept it well.
11:06Right.
11:07And again, going back to the Savile Row thing and a tweed suit isn't a tweed suit until
11:12it is rained upon several times.
11:14And, you know, you get a splash from a lorry that you're walking by and whatever, German
11:18street.
11:18Has to be a lorry.
11:19Has to be.
11:19No, seriously, you know what I mean?
11:20That's for Lynette.
11:21It's not great until you've had it for a minute, you know, and it's like those collectors
11:26that inspired me, those incredibly stylish women who I looked at, like Tina Chow and
11:32Lulu de la Felez, like they understood that they bought things they loved and then wore
11:38them, you know, they did.
11:40They just had that ethic about them.
11:42It was just a different thing.
11:43And they wore them a few times.
11:45I remember this incredible friend of mine, Jackie Spaniel, who later became an editor
11:51at Vogue for a minute or for longer than a minute.
11:53And she's so talented anyway.
11:55And she bought this one Chanel jacket in like 1987 or something.
12:00Right.
12:00When no one could afford anything, we could not afford this stuff.
12:03Right.
12:04But she went to Chanel and she bought that jacket because she was so obsessed with it.
12:08Right.
12:08And she wore it literally every single day for like three years.
12:11And we would worship that.
12:13That's what I love.
12:14Yeah.
12:15Let's normalize wearing your clothes, living your life in your clothes.
12:19I'm at awe of all of that kind of like, you know, when you see people's closets and they
12:25look like a store and it looks like they have stuff, consumption and stuff.
12:27Oh, I don't understand it.
12:29And they don't wear it.
12:30No, I can't.
12:30Go out and live your life.
12:31I know.
12:31Exactly.
12:32And it's all curated.
12:33It's not exactly, it's not even, it's more like an archive than it is an actual closet.
12:38Yeah.
12:39You know?
12:39Yes.
12:39And by the way, I have archives too, but I don't call it my closet.
12:43I call it an archive.
12:45Yeah, exactly.
12:46How would you describe your own personal style?
12:48Because, you know, you've spent...
12:50Boring.
12:51Extremely boring.
12:52And because I don't really, and you know, it's so funny.
12:54Like this morning, I'm wearing a stripe because I just, I can't with anymore.
12:58It's just black.
12:59I had to have a little relief in today.
13:02So I wore a stripe.
13:03Well, tell us, I mean, why you, I'm so intrigued.
13:07Designers often tend to have these uniforms.
13:09So I'd love to know how you arrived at yours and basically what it enables you to do.
13:14How does it make you feel so that you can do the job you need to do?
13:17Yeah, I mean, a lot of the reason is because, I mean, even though I'm such a big personality
13:23and I'm so much a subject of my own life, for some reason, after all these years of
13:28working with all these other people who I'm dressing, right?
13:32Or, you know, even if I'm acting in something, you know, it's best to be very neutral, you
13:36know?
13:37And also, I was a very fat kid and I always had a sort of body issue.
13:41So the more dark colors I wear, the thinner I feel like I look.
13:46And it's not untrue.
13:47You know, it's like all of a sudden you go crazy one day and you decide to wear like
13:51beige and white and like winter white or something and you pass a window and you go like, what
13:55was I thinking?
13:56I look like a float in a parade, you know?
14:00And that's terrible.
14:01Like we should not be feeling that way about ourselves anymore.
14:04But, you know, it's like I understand this whole body positivity thing.
14:08I do.
14:09It's incredible.
14:11I only hope it has traction.
14:13I only hope it does well for some people.
14:16Because for me, it has not done too well, you know?
14:20I said that's one of the reasons I wear dark colors all the time, black, navy, charcoal
14:25gray.
14:25That's really one of the reasons.
14:27But also just because it's simple and it works.
14:29And especially if you travel a lot, you throw like, you know, four polo shirts in the lease
14:35and you're finished, you know?
14:36And two pairs of trousers and, you know, some knickers.
14:39I love the British.
14:41I know.
14:41I don't know why I'm saying that.
14:42No, bring it on.
14:43I love the British.
14:44Knickers, knickers.
14:45She feels at home.
14:48Okay, so I just want to ask because we were, you know, doing a little rewatching of something.
14:53You used to wear a bandana all the time.
14:55Yes, I still do every single morning.
14:57I wear it to sort of hold my hair down.
14:59You know, it just gets bigger and bigger.
15:00I take it off as the day progresses and it just gets bigger and bigger.
15:04So where are they from?
15:06All over.
15:06Tell us the story.
15:08I mean, you know, everywhere from 14th Street, when 14th Street was 14th Street, you know,
15:13which is where I got a lot of my favorite bandanas.
15:15But like, I don't know, it's funny.
15:17It's like John Darien or like, I don't know where, like 45 RPM.
15:24People that make bandanas.
15:26I am a buyer of bandanas.
15:27Lovely.
15:27Yes.
15:28I know.
15:28I know, I love 45 RPM, don't you?
15:31Really, really great store.
15:32And by the way, their bandanas make your hair look better when you take the bandana.
15:36I don't know what it is about what they use that fabric.
15:38They use the cotton.
15:39I'm serious.
15:40Or it's like a bed of weave or something.
15:42Well, the cotton there is fantastic.
15:44There is no better bandana in this world that makes your hair look better than the Liberty
15:47of London bandana.
15:48You heard it here first.
15:50Okay.
15:50Here on the Goodbye, we love to break down people's shopping, what they've bought.
15:56And so the first question in the Goodbye is what was your first buy?
16:00What was the buy that made you feel like you'd made it, that you were someone or was it something
16:05that you'd always coveted?
16:06I have an easy, easy answer, which is it's an agenda from Hermes.
16:11And at the time, it was a fortune.
16:13It was like 1982 or something.
16:15And I was like, no, I will be needing an agenda.
16:18And so they make these agendas the way they make those beautiful leather goods, right?
16:22And literally, I had it for...
16:25So wait, so how many years ago is that, 82?
16:27It's 42.
16:2942 years ago.
16:29So in the course of 42 years, I have used the same exact agenda format from Hermes,
16:35which is it's broken into two parts of the year.
16:38You have the first six months and the second six months, and they make the refills,
16:41which themselves are like $300.
16:44I'm not kidding.
16:45And I swear to you, the first one I bought was a fortune.
16:48I don't remember how much it was.
16:49I think it was something like $1,200, which in 1982, for me, was a lot of money.
16:54I think that's a lot of money now.
16:57It was this perfect sort of pigskin thing, like that pigskin with the white stitching.
17:01And that lasted for like 15 years.
17:04Then I got a black sort of kid one with the same setup.
17:08That was $2,000 or $4,000 by then, 15 years later.
17:13And then I went out of my mind and I bought a crocodile one about like 12 years ago for
17:17like $25,000.
17:19I'm not kidding you.
17:19It was so expensive because it's crocodile.
17:22And I still have it.
17:23And I still use it.
17:24And I can't do my agenda on my phone.
17:27I can't do my agenda, share, Google share.
17:30I can't do that.
17:31I can't do it.
17:31I must write it down in this agenda.
17:34In this one format, it's crazy.
17:35But when I got that, it was a life changing because I loved Hermes.
17:41I remember the first time I went, when I was about 17 or 18 years old, I went on the Faubourg
17:46Saint-Honoré by myself.
17:49And I bought my mother this incredible handbag.
17:51And there's a post on it on Instagram where I actually got the bag back because she's
17:57like kind of infirmed and she'll never use it again.
18:00And it's one thing I don't want to disappear that bag because it's like this perfect Bugatti
18:05thing and pigskin with a green interior.
18:08But that was a fortune.
18:10And these were things we could not afford.
18:13We were like little crazy people, me and my friends, who were crazy for Hermes in those
18:18days.
18:19When I was a student at Parsons School of Design, and one of my best friends in the
18:24world is still this person called Peter Spiliopoulos.
18:27You may have heard of Peter.
18:28He worked a very long time in the fashion business.
18:30And now he has a fabulous home collection and he makes these beautiful pots that, you
18:34know, these beautiful vases.
18:35When we were students, Peter and I, at Parsons, it was a different time.
18:39And we had a fashion show at the end of the year.
18:41And there were like, you know, the pumps in the model room that were like, oh, you know,
18:45we'll show our dress with the pumps.
18:46And me and Peter were like, uh-uh, this is not happening.
18:49We cannot have these pumps.
18:49We cannot have these pumps.
18:51The share pumps.
18:51We went to Manolo Blahnik and we split the cost of this one pair of shoes that were like
18:57$800.
18:58So we literally had our last $400 each and we split the cost and we bought Manolo Blahnik's
19:03for the model at Parsons.
19:05And you know what?
19:06Our clothes just looked a lot better than the other clothes because you can't overlook
19:10a bad pump.
19:12It's so true.
19:13And I encourage you not to overlook a bad pump.
19:15I think you should look straight at it and get rid of it, you know?
19:19I love it.
19:19And I love your admiration for Manolo Blahnik.
19:23Oh, darling.
19:24I love him so much.
19:26I mean, he's a friend and also like the funniest person in the world and also a snack.
19:32When I was looking at him as this older gentleman, it was a total snack.
19:36He was so handsome.
19:37Yeah.
19:37And just honestly, of all the kind of luxury shoes out there, Manolo Blahnik's are the
19:43most comfortable.
19:45They're incredibly made.
19:47They're just, they're an actual shoe you can last the night in and so many shoes are not.
19:52And they're fantastic.
19:53When you get the shoe, you will keep the shoe, you know?
19:56Are there any regrets in your closet?
19:58Any outfits you look back on?
20:00You know, I'll tell you what.
20:02It's like I do have this crazy kind of psychology about tailored suits.
20:08I don't know why because I rarely, rarely wear them.
20:11And I have so many of them in a storage space in my closet now.
20:17And it's the sickest thing in the world.
20:19You know, my weight fluctuates a lot, as I said earlier.
20:22I have this crazy, crazy body image.
20:25So I really regret.
20:27I don't know why I have those suits made.
20:29I don't know why I feel it's necessary for people to have suits that they don't wear.
20:33So I regret, like, I would say 80% of the suits I've ever had made.
20:38Why did you get them made?
20:40Like, was it a psychology thing?
20:42Was it like, I've made it.
20:44I have to get this amazing suit from Savarot.
20:46Did you have a lifestyle maybe previously that warranted more of these suits?
20:51And how did you feel in them?
20:52Listen, as a designer, when I was coming up in the world in my 30s,
20:56was predominantly in my 30s, when I was a four, let's say,
21:00or in Savarot, I don't know what the hell that size is, but a small size,
21:03you know, and like worshipping at Manolo Blahnik's, the ground he works on,
21:08and worshipping Hamish Bowles and worshipping these people who really,
21:12so you have to get in the game somehow and get involved in that, right?
21:16So you do it.
21:18And it feels a bit foreign, but it also feels so incredible.
21:21And then the thing that really kept me hooked on Savarot is the way they make clothes.
21:27I'm not saying the way they fit clothes, but the way they make them.
21:30The experience of going.
21:32No, looking at the insides of the suit is so beyond, and the handwork,
21:36really, there is something about the tailoring.
21:38I don't know if it exists.
21:39I have not had a suit made there in years,
21:41but there was something about the way they used to tailor clothes.
21:44And I was shocked.
21:46You know, like someone who understands everything about tailoring and everything
21:50about every fucking thing in this world about how to make clothes,
21:53they were teaching me something.
21:55And that's what was addictive about it.
21:57You know, it's like, what's that pocket?
21:58Oh my God, what's that button?
22:00What's that?
22:01You know, it's like, there was always like some surprise, you know, about the suit.
22:04I don't know.
22:05It seems like you bought them to kind of tick a box or to fit.
22:10Well, it's like inhabiting a world.
22:12We're all sort of like dreaming of something.
22:14And fashion often kind of promises to deliver that.
22:17Or it promises to deliver it.
22:19Maybe it doesn't always, right?
22:20But I'll tell you one thing.
22:21I do remember this one night, darling,
22:24one night of my life when I actually felt extremely elegant and perfect.
22:29I really felt, and it was in this black suit from Anderson Shepard.
22:33The socks were some insane thing that I bought in Italy,
22:36made by nuns in some convent.
22:38Yes.
22:38Seriously.
22:39And the shoe was John Loeb, a custom-made John Loeb shoe.
22:43And I felt thin enough.
22:46And my hair was, everything was great.
22:48And I was going somewhere with Carrie Modine,
22:51who I used to be very good friends with.
22:52We used to go to parties.
22:54And for once in my life, I just felt, that was the one time in my life
22:58that I ever felt like truly, truly elegant in that black suit from Savile Row.
23:03And you still have.
23:05I gave it away because I will never fit in that suit again.
23:08Are you kidding me?
23:09I actually gave it to my musical director, Ben Waltzer,
23:12who actually is the same size as what I used to be when I was 30.
23:16And so, and he fits in it.
23:18And I think he finally retired it after, you know.
23:21But I wore that suit to death.
23:22Well, on to the next then, hopefully.
23:23Yes. Well, yes.
23:25So our next buy is something that you always repeat.
23:30What is something that you always buy
23:32and you go back to and is indispensable to you?
23:36Here's it is.
23:36You ready?
23:37I'm ready to answer that question.
23:38It is this giant shawl from Loro Piana in black cashmere,
23:43which is thick as butter with the blanket fringe.
23:46And it's massive.
23:47And I can't go on a trip in August without this.
23:50I mean, I don't care how hot it is outside.
23:53I have to have that blanket with me at all times.
23:55And through the winter, I have one in my car.
23:57I have one in my other car.
23:59I always keep them in the car because it's freezing
24:01or too cold or something, right?
24:02So I have one in each car.
24:04I have one in, you know, Bridgehampton.
24:07And I have several in boxes just waiting to be used
24:11because I know they're going to stop making this shawl.
24:13Why?
24:13Because everybody stops making everything great.
24:16That's why, you know?
24:17But anyway, so that's the thing that I keep.
24:19And I just buy them because I'm crazy, you know?
24:22And that's a wrap.
24:23You know, they're like, oh, darling,
24:25they're like, you know, six feet long and like two feet wide.
24:29And they're so gorgeous.
24:31And they look so beautiful.
24:33And I love them so much from Loro Piana.
24:35That's what I do.
24:37And what do you think about this whole,
24:39you know, we've gotten into such a trend
24:42in kind of modern day culture of these super expensive,
24:46super luxe, you know, looks and items and things like that.
24:50Do you like buy, is it really about each item for you?
24:53Is it about like, what is?
24:54I don't know.
24:55It's, you know, like I have little patience for most things.
25:00I have little patience for most things.
25:02Like when I see a lot of design,
25:04it just turns me so off, you know?
25:06And by the way, like, I really love a lot of stuff
25:11that's going on in fashion right now.
25:12That person who does Loewe, I forgot his name.
25:14He is such a genius.
25:16Darling, that person is a genius.
25:17That last collection was one of the greatest things.
25:20I don't know enough about it.
25:21I swear, you know how I get my,
25:23I see like the finales of shows
25:25on like three people that I follow.
25:27Yeah.
25:27I swear to God, that's how I know what I'm looking at.
25:30Have you divested a bit from fashion?
25:33You know, yes, I think so.
25:34I think so.
25:35I have.
25:36It's such a hard, hard business to,
25:40it's a hard business to stay in forever.
25:42I feel like, you know, you have to kind of
25:46sell yourself a bill of goods to stay in it.
25:49Like this is better than that.
25:50She's better than she is, you know?
25:52This one is out.
25:53This one's in.
25:54This one's out.
25:56Very, very hard.
25:57You know, the clothes I make now for Macy's or QVC or whatever,
26:00they're just smart little t-shirts
26:03and cashmere sweaters and pull on jeans.
26:05That's it.
26:06That's what I make.
26:07And that's what we work on.
26:09We work on that idea of value, you know?
26:11And I think that's who I am, you know?
26:14That's who I am.
26:14Look at me, right?
26:16It's great.
26:17And it's signature.
26:19I want to talk to you about New York
26:21because so much about when I think about you,
26:23I think about New York.
26:24And I think about,
26:26you've just seen the evolution of style in New York
26:29in a way that very few people have.
26:30And it's so intimately.
26:32And I want you to talk about New York then and now
26:34and the style changes and what you used to see.
26:37And if you think any of that essence and energy's remained.
26:40You know, again.
26:41Yeah.
26:42And you take us from Midwood to, yeah, all the way.
26:45It's a very hard thing to talk about
26:48because, again, it requires different levels of understanding.
26:54You know what I mean?
26:55Because when I was a kid growing up in New York,
26:58I took the train every day at the age of 14, 13 and 14.
27:01I started taking the train every day to 46th Street
27:03to Performing Arts High School,
27:04which is like in the heart of the theater district,
27:07right in the middle of Times Square.
27:09And when I was writing my memoir,
27:10I used the word squalid to describe this period
27:14in Times Square on the subway.
27:16And the editor, who's a little younger than me,
27:17she circled the word.
27:18She's like, is sure you want to use this word.
27:20And I was like, is there a more horrible word
27:22to use than squalid?
27:23Because if there is, that's the word I'm looking for, you know?
27:25And because it was horrible,
27:28but there was something so divine about it.
27:31I don't know what about the kind of squalor
27:34and the contrast of burnt out crazy sort of locations
27:42that were just these bare lots
27:44and then this gorgeous skyscraper
27:46and then some like 19th century church.
27:50And that, you know, it was just the greatest.
27:52You know, when you go to Paris, it's mostly 19th century.
27:54It was planned in the 19th century.
27:56You have a few 18th and 17th century residences
27:59that are amazing.
28:00But mostly it was planned in the 19th century.
28:02We're still living there.
28:02You know, Eiffel Tower, blah, blah, right?
28:04Yes.
28:05Or you go to Rome and you can't go,
28:07you can't walk three steps without seeing,
28:09you know, something that's prehistoric, you know?
28:13But something about New York was always great
28:15in that it was a contrast of things,
28:18old things and new things and things going down
28:20and things you loved going away.
28:23Like that's a big part of being a New Yorker
28:25is living with the hell of losing something you love.
28:29Like, I don't know, like Balducci or something
28:33or Jefferson Market or any of those things
28:35that you just loved.
28:36And then the whole story about Jackie Kennedy
28:39saving Grand Central Station.
28:41Like what a thing, thank God,
28:42because that's really something good.
28:44And then I think she also saved Radio City Musical,
28:47Jackie Kennedy, what a woman, you know?
28:49But anyway, the point is that I need a little decrepitude.
28:52I do, you know, I do personally as a New Yorker growing up,
28:56like you're saying from Midwood, Brooklyn
28:58to 46th Street in New York City to wherever it was,
29:01there was always this little bit of decrepitude
29:03that reminds you of humanity,
29:05that reminds you of the past.
29:07Right, you're alive.
29:08Yeah, I had this one fisherman little, you know,
29:13striped top with a boat neck from Paris
29:15that I got when I was in Paris the first time.
29:17And I wore that thing and it had ink stains on it
29:20and holes and the more ridiculously,
29:24you know, sort of depraved it was,
29:26the more I loved it,
29:27the more I wore it as a badge, you know?
29:29Yeah, things kind of get decrepit.
29:32They need to and they age, darling.
29:36I was in Paris with a friend of mine recently, yesterday,
29:40and we had lunch and she said,
29:41darling, and she looked amazing.
29:43She's a woman who's nearly 80, right?
29:46And she's French and she looked so great.
29:48And maybe she's had a little work and I said,
29:50I feel so fat and then she's like,
29:52don't, don't do it, do not do it.
29:54They look like rats.
29:56These people look like rats.
29:57She started screaming in the middle of this restaurant.
29:59It was really funny.
30:00But you know, you can't, you can't do that.
30:02You have to accept age and accept experience
30:06and accept a little decrepitude, you know?
30:08It's character.
30:10Yes.
30:10What is your dream by?
30:11Is there anything else you're longing to have
30:14as part of your, in your apartment, closets, like?
30:18It sounds so silly, but you know what I really want?
30:21Tell us.
30:22A Maybach.
30:24Oh.
30:25I did not see that coming.
30:26I did not see that one coming.
30:28No, darling, can I just say something?
30:30Car, okay.
30:32One day on, I did this,
30:33she used to do this reality show with Iman
30:36called The Fashion Show.
30:36This was years ago.
30:38And Missy Elliott was the guest judge
30:40and she had a Maybach, darling.
30:42And I remember we had a big pause
30:44because there was a strike, they went on strike
30:46and everybody else went to their dressing room.
30:47She went to her Maybach because it was so divine.
30:50Like that is where Missy Elliott is going
30:52for another two or three hours to pass the time.
30:55And then I went in a Maybach and it's just the best.
30:57I really want a Maybach.
30:58I guess I should have assumed that
31:00it wouldn't be anything fashion
31:01because you have and have had anything you want.
31:04But a Maybach is a good one.
31:05Yeah.
31:06That's the probably the best.
31:06Doesn't everybody kind of want a great car?
31:08I mean.
31:09I mean, don't even ask for a private plane.
31:11Don't do it.
31:11Don't do it.
31:12We're not doing it.
31:13Don't do it.
31:13A Maybach.
31:14We'll start with the Maybach.
31:15Okay.
31:15I can truly say you are an original.
31:18You are one of a kind.
31:20No one else does it like you.
31:22And thank you so much for being a guest.
31:24Oh, my pleasure.
31:25This was such a treat.
31:27Yeah, this was such a treat.
31:29Goodbye.
31:29Goodbye.
31:51Bye.