Mizrahi touches on lots of topics I wanted to read more about and lots I wanted to read a lot less about.

I might be biased because I already love Isaac Mizrahi as a designer, but I loved this memoir so much. He really made me think about what living your passion could mean.

Great honest writing.

This was a very decent memoir but nothing super ground-breaking. Most of the book was spent on his younger life and only the last quarter or so covers the days of his fame. The timeline jumps around a bit in the beginning which got a little bit confusing for me. There were also certain things that I really wish she had explained more. For example apparently cubas selling shoe designs to manufacturers when he was still in high school that were actually getting created. That's really cool and I would like to know a little bit more about how that all went down. Also, I don't think I've ever read a book that had the word puppet in it so many times lol

CW: lots and loooots of fatphobia. Isaac himself has struggled with his weight his whole life so it's very personal to him but there is lots of discussion about weight and dieting and clothes related to weight, etc. he also has a sort of squat relationship with jewishness, especially relating to assimilation. So keep that in mind if that's something that might be bothersome for you

I ended up not hating it as much as I thought I would, although he remains largely stream of consciousness (almost) and he still uses the word effeminate way too often. He name drops a lot of the time, and his stories start somewhere almost interesting, then by the end of the chapter you realize you took four subject jumps back into him name dropping famous people he’s met.

I can see how the book would be attractive to someone, maybe they are more familiar with the fashion industry, they have lived in New York or they currently do and can go along with the descriptions of the city. But it just didn’t hold much for me. Some of it I related to, being gay in a religious family and coming to terms with the fact that he couldn’t tell his father (mine too died before he “knew” knew of me, if you can make sense of that) and his descriptions of his feelings appeal to me, but he’s just so overtly pompous? Is that the right word for it? I’m not sure, that feels too harsh, but nevertheless somewhere along those lines. He also says things...especially in the beginning, that you just know are fake, or exaggerated. A 6 year old standing up to a clerk telling him his mom “isn’t his honey”? Nope I don’t buy it. He paints himself as this savior of women’s rights, and really he just is overly infatuated with his mother? That sounds harsher than I mean it to, once again, but I just don’t know how to explain it...I’d say read to get the feel but honestly it isn’t worth the read. It’s almost 400 pages of him humble bragging about his career sprinkled in with insights on what it was like to be an closeted/then openly gay man in the 80s.

The book was interesting, the world has changed so much since his book, although you’re never really sure of the timeline he jumps around so much. I would give it 2.5 stars but ya can’t do that here. I wouldn’t recommend the book to anyone unless they were very into fashion, or even had a slight idea of who this man is.

Didn't do it for me. I read enough reviews that said "you'll love this book even if you've never heard of Isaac Mizrahi and couldn't care less about fashion." That's me, on both counts, and I just wasn't interested. I tried, but I just didn't care. Also, pictures would have been nice!!

Definitely must listen (versus read). Isaac’s voice is so original and I could listen to him name drop and list restaurants all day.

I started to read this book and it felt slow to me. Got the audiobook and enjoyed it much more. I found it refreshing that Issac was honest but yet not mean spirited about people in his life. It made me like him even more. I loved all the late 1970-1985ish NYC restaurants and clubs named in the book. It brought me back to that incredible time in NYC. Great memoir to add to your list.

I always liked Isaac Mizrahi, remembered following him in the magazines, the Target collaboration (wishing there were Targets in Canada back then to shop for his clothes), found him hilarious in movies and his talk show.
I learned so much about his childhood, attending P.A. school (FAME! I loved that show) and more from his book that I found extremely fascinating. The fact that I listened to the audiobook with Isaac himself the narrator made it seem like an initmate conversation.