美国国家公共电台 NPR Isaac Mizrahi: From Following Mom Into The Fitting Room, To Fashion Fame

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Isaac Mizrahi says that as he grew up in a Syrian, Jewish Orthodox family in Brooklyn, he often felt like a chubby¹, gay thumb. Today, of course, he's a fashion designer and celebrity², familiar from QVC and "Project Runway All Stars." He's written a memoir³ that details not only his rise to prominence⁴ but rising above some of the shame he was made to feel as a child, the losses of so many fashion figures from the ravages⁵ of AIDS and struggles with his own anxieties, insomnia⁶ and depression. Isaac Mizrahi's memoir is "I.M." He joins us from New York. Thanks so much for being with us.

ISAAC MIZRAHI: Oh, hello.

SIMON: The book opens with a signature moment in your life, and you're 5 years old. You're at the Avenue U variety store in Brooklyn.

MIZRAHI: That's right.

SIMON: And what did you want more than anything else?

MIZRAHI: Well, I wanted a Barbie doll, but a Barbie doll was kind of like the exact thing that would label a kid in those days as someone who was a freak, you know. And as I think the book talks about, you know, it was kind of like this weird⁷ sort of social disease or something that didn't even have a name, you know. Like, they couldn't bring themselves to even think of the idea of being gay. So - yeah, so the Barbie doll was like this emblem⁸ of something, I think.

SIMON: And eventually your mother did get you a Barbie doll.

MIZRAHI: Yes, she allowed me. She kind of looked the other way. I really credit her with that.

SIMON: You did kind of grow up in the women's fitting room at Loehmann's, didn't you?

MIZRAHI: (Laughter) I did, actually. I was always accompanying her there, and I did get this crazy kind of sense of the psychology⁹ of the way women think about clothes. And so it was this crazy, crazy glimpse into that world of the way those women - it was this big communal¹⁰ dressing¹¹ room and people grabbed each other's clothes and it was quite competitive. And yeah - and I noticed some pretty strong psychological ties between women's underclothes and their clothes and who they were.

SIMON: Tell us about the atelier you had in your basement. When you were a high school student, you were all just - you were really a professional designer, too.

MIZRAHI: Yeah, it's a crazy thing. I had this tiny collection with a friend of mine called Sara (ph). We made clothes and sold them to boutiques in New York City. And I had this small atelier in my basement where I made sketches¹², and sometimes I made first prototypes, and I did a lot of sewing down there. I mean, it all started with my fascination¹³ with puppets. I started making puppets when I was, like, I would say, like, 8 years old. I went with my mom to see the original production of "Follies¹⁴," which is this fabulous¹⁵ Stephen Sondheim musical, and I was absolutely like just...

SIMON: (Singing) But I'm here.

MIZRAHI: Exactly. I mean, there I was, right? And it really affected¹⁶ me, and I did this big puppet revue in my garage, and it was called "Follies." And I learned to sew making puppets, you know. And the first things I ever - the first, like, real foray into anything creative was the puppet shows and also this crazy female impersonation that I used to do. I suddenly discovered Streisand. You know, here's this orthodox kid going to see "Funny Girl" when I'm 8 and just going mad thinking, well, she's Jewish and she's so glamorous¹⁷. And it kind of saved me in this way, you know. And so I started to imitate her. I could do her voice great. I did Liza, I did Judy Garland. I did these female impersonations, again, at a time when it wasn't exactly, like, smiled upon for an 8 or a 10-year-old kid to do that.

SIMON: How hard was it to tell your mother who you were?

MIZRAHI: You know, I have to say it was very hard and she said, you know, you really should never tell your father. But it was a big relief to me because I'm not sure my father would have been able to - I really don't know if he would have been able to deal with this, you know.

SIMON: Your father, we'll explain, is gone now.

MIZRAHI: Yes, my father is gone. And that was one of the more difficult things writing about in the book, this idea that as much as I loved him - you know, he went when I was about 20 years old. And I had come out in a kind of half way, right? I was out to most of my friends and even my mom and my sisters. He didn't know, and I was sort of guarding the secret a little bit from him. And I just couldn't bring myself to tell him, you know, and then he passed. And the minute he passed I felt - kind of as much as I would miss him, as much as I loved him, I felt liberated¹⁸. I could not have fulfilled my agenda as an adult at all, my creative agenda or my psychosexual agenda, if my father was with us. I would be guarding that still to this day.

SIMON: For a lot of Americans, we're going through very bad times.

MIZRAHI: Yes, we are.

SIMON: And I wonder how you feel about that, if some of the progress made...

MIZRAHI: I am an optimist¹⁹ and I think it's learned optimism. I think it's learned. I mean, when I was a kid, you could barely talk about certain things. And now not only do we talk about them, but we literally²⁰ act on them. And I think that's progress, you know? And the thing is, like, my mom said the other day - she said this amazing thing. It was so inspiring. You know, she said, oh, all this stuff about old age - you know, she's 91. And she said losing your sight and losing your hearing and you can't walk and you have a walker and you can't eat anything, and she said, I recommend it, you know.

SIMON: (Laughter).

MIZRAHI: I recommend it. And I was like what - I mean, she's brilliant, obviously brilliant. She said as opposed to not seeing stuff, as opposed to not being here, it's fine. Like, I recommend all of those things. And it's - and you see where I get it. You see where I get this sort of learned optimism because there were moments that were very difficult for her in the past 10 years. I mean, she fell, and she had shoulder surgery, and she had her hip²¹ replaced, et cetera, et cetera. And she still recommends it, you know.

And so, like, as I get older, I learn more and more optimism. And I look at where this country is now and I look at us and the political situation and I keep thinking it's really not about this moment. It's about the next moment and how we have that to look forward to, you know. And the progress that we've made, which is not - it's not a figment of our imagination. It might be in kind of genetic²² recess²³ right now, but it's there, and it's definitely coming back.

You know, you can't tell me that all - that this generation, my generation who grew up, like, sort of watching "Sesame Street," OK, where everything was just integrated - right? - that's what we grew up with. War was wrong. Racism²⁴ was wrong. OK. You cannot tell me that that is not going to prevail again in this country. It absolutely will.

SIMON: Isaac Mizrahi - his memoir, "I.M." - thanks so much for being with us.

MIZRAHI: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF RATATAT'S "CREAM ON CHROME")

1 chubby   

adj.丰满的，圆胖的

参考例句：

• He is stocky though not chubby.他长得敦实，可并不发胖。
• The short and chubby gentleman over there is our new director.那个既矮又胖的绅士是我们的新主任。

2 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

3 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

4 prominence   

n.突出；显著；杰出；重要

参考例句：

• He came to prominence during the World Cup in Italy.他在意大利的世界杯赛中声名鹊起。
• This young fashion designer is rising to prominence.这位年轻的时装设计师的声望越来越高。

5 ravages   

劫掠后的残迹，破坏的结果，毁坏后的残迹

参考例句：

• the ravages of war 战争造成的灾难
• It is hard for anyone to escape from the ravages of time. 任何人都很难逃避时间的摧残。

6 insomnia   

n.失眠，失眠症

参考例句：

• Worries and tenseness can lead to insomnia.忧虑和紧张会导致失眠。
• He is suffering from insomnia.他患失眠症。

7 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

8 emblem   

n.象征，标志；徽章

参考例句：

• Her shirt has the company emblem on it.她的衬衫印有公司的标记。
• The eagle was an emblem of strength and courage.鹰是力量和勇气的象征。

9 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

10 communal   

adj.公有的，公共的，公社的，公社制的

参考例句：

• There was a communal toilet on the landing for the four flats.在楼梯平台上有一处公共卫生间供4套公寓使用。
• The toilets and other communal facilities were in a shocking state.厕所及其他公共设施的状况极其糟糕。

11 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

12 sketches   

n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概

参考例句：

• The artist is making sketches for his next painting. 画家正为他的下一幅作品画素描。
• You have to admit that these sketches are true to life. 你得承认这些素描很逼真。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

14 follies   

罪恶，时事讽刺剧； 愚蠢，蠢笨，愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He has given up youthful follies. 他不再做年轻人的荒唐事了。
• The writings of Swift mocked the follies of his age. 斯威夫特的作品嘲弄了他那个时代的愚人。

15 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

16 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

17 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

18 liberated   

a.无拘束的，放纵的

参考例句：

• The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进，解放了那座城市。
• The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应，释放出氧气。

19 optimist   

n.乐观的人，乐观主义者

参考例句：

• We are optimist and realist.我们是乐观主义者，又是现实主义者。
• Peter,ever the optimist,said things were bound to improve.一向乐观的皮特说，事情必定是会好转的。

20 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

21 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

22 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

23 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

24 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。