Isaac Mizrahi Show Trades in Weather Simulation for Old-School Tech

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After last year's weather-simulating, golf cart joy-riding extravaganza, we had high expectations for some serious theatrics at the Isaac Mizrahi Spring 2011 runway show. We weren't the only ones in the audience with expectations. Before the show, Bravo exec and Real Housewives wrangler Andy Cohen gushed, "The great thing about Isaac is that he always puts on a show and to me, it’s a must see show because it’s always different and it’s always, it’s just always exciting. Last year, he made it rain and it was incredible, so I just want to see what he does."

Well, so did we.

Bummer though: the only thing theatrical in the house was probably Johnny Weir wearing what looked like roadkill on his shoulder.

The retro and ironic "IM Xerox" theme was pretty thoughtful and inspired, even though the New York Times blog complained that the invitations looked "kind of cheap" until they realized that the Xerox copied note (creative and budget-friendly!) was the theme of the show. The inky and smudged designs and prints were a theme throughout the collection. At one point the black and white Xerox-ed multiple times look carried through to pastel watercolor patterns and then onto a slinky charcoal black sequin and paillette number. Some of the dresses even looked structured and paper-like, folded into Origami-ish, ruched trains at the back.

At the end of the show Isaac walked the entire runway to shake hands and high five the audience, which was a nice personal touch. We suppose some sort of over the top production gimmick would have been difficult with The Office-friendly theme. Ooh—what about making the runway entrance a Xerox copier and having the models shoot out of what looks like a paper tray? Okay, okay, show's over. There's always next year.
· All Fashion Week Coverage [Racked]
· Mizrahi: Celebrating the Unoriginal [NYT Blog]