Designer and sometime actor Isaac Mizrahi was born on October 14, 1961 in Brooklyn, New York. He is of Syrian Jewish descent and subsequently attended Yeshivah of Flastbush, a private Jewish day school, when he was younger. Upon graduating he moved to the High School of Performing Arts and then the Parsons School of Design.

Mizrahi grew up in a tight-knit Jewish community from birth. He was the son of a garment worker (in various roles) and a mother who was absolutely devoted to the fashion industry; as such Mizrahi was exposed to fashion and clothes-making from an early age, and absorbed all that he learned. By 10 Mizrahi had his own sewing machine, bought by his father, and by 13 he was making clothes for himself, his mother and one of her friends.

Mizrahi had something of a mean streak from early on, however, and he was expelled several times from Yeshiva. He nevertheless showed some aptitude for acting and attended the Performing Arts school, participating in productions and creating his own costumes for use in the productions. By 15 he’d created his own clothing label, IS New York.

By 1979 Mizrahi was at Parsons full time, and after his junior year he got a job at Perry Ellis. Ellis served as a mentor throughout his time at Parsons and Mizrahi began working full-time for the man after his graduation. He worked there for two years before leaving for Jaffrey Banks. During this time Ellis was hit with aids and Mizrahi’s father died.

After his short stint with Jeffrey Banks and another with Calvin Klein Mizrahi pooled money with one of his friends to create his own company for developing women’s wear. The company’s first collection as bought by seven stores, and not long after business started to boom as Mizrahi gained more financial backing and better clients. His menswear collection debuted in 1990.

In 1995 a documentary called Unzipped, based on Mizrahi’s life, was produced, showing Mizrahi’s story and affection for his craft to the world. And the documentary seemed to spark Mizrahi; until this point he’d not turned a profit with his company, but the extra exposure on the big screen helped popularize his clothing and sell it beyond his expectations. By 1997 Mizrahi had made a deal with Japan, Singapore and Korea to distribute his clothes, all of which proved extremely lucrative for the designer.

Despite this Mizrahi closed his fashion business in 1998, thanks largely to profit losses. He decided instead to focus on his production company, Unzipped, which was currently working on a movie version of his book The Adventures of Sandee the Supermodel. He has continued working in the entertainment business ever since, though his clothing designs can still be found in stores. He has also appeared on television, both in fictional roles and as himself, particularly as an interviewer during the Golden Globe awards.