Isaac Mizrahi, the beloved fashion designer, Project Runway All Stars judge, podcast host, and author also moonlights as a cabaret singer at the Café Carlyle in a one-man show that always sells out. (His next run is February 4–15; don’t say we didn’t warn you.) This singing, dancing, toe-tapping Renaissance man serves a cocktail of wit and irreverence with a side of Cole Porter. Who wouldn’t want to gather around the piano and watch him absolutely rip? If you need a little joy in your life (and who doesn’t?), give Mizrahi a follow on Instagram, where he manages to turn cleaning a hall closet into riveting entertainment. Now gather around, darlings, because here’s a peek into Mizrahi’s wellness routine, which prioritizes indulgence over denial.
WAKE-UP TIME: If I had a go-to-sleep time, I’d have a wake-up time, but I don’t.
BREAKFAST: I’ve been intermittent fasting, so I usually have a large breakfast of egg whites, whole-grain toast, and some form of cheese. Cheese is a big part of my diet.
MORNING JOE: When I’m in Bridgehampton, I drink iced yerba maté, which I brew myself. I fill about 30 bottles and put them in a special refrigerator. When I’m in the city I drink iced coffee. I love iced coffee so much that it keeps me from sleeping because I want to wake up and drink the incredibly delicious iced coffee!
SNACK: It usually involves cheese. And I love Tate’s chocolate-chip cookies. Those are sublime!
VITAMINS and SUPPLEMENTS: If it promises to help, then I take it. I take a joint-and-liver complex, a colon cleanse, and probiotics. I take ridiculous amounts of them! Not to mention the other millions of pills. I do like my pills!
JET-LAG HACK: The farther I go, the less I feel jet-lagged. If I go to Europe, I don’t feel that jet-lagged, but when I go to L.A., I feel so screwed up.
WORKOUT: I hate them. For the most part, I swim. I’ve gone to the same pool since I was 20. Recently, I got a crazy frozen shoulder and had to stop everything, and I gotta tell you, I really like doing nothing. It’s so fun!
MADE TO ORDER: I have my own couture version of workout clothes. I wear black pull-on jersey pants around the clock. It looks like I’m trying to be Liza Minnelli wearing jazz pants from 1978. I wear those and a crewneck T-shirt. I have all these things made for me because no pants or shirts fit me properly.
SELF-CARE: I don’t love massage, facials, or pedicures. It’s like how I feel about exercise. I like doing nothing. I sometimes get my hair lowlighted because otherwise, I’d be fully gray.
MOOD LIFTER: My dogs. I love what they look like when they do nothing! They’re just lying there. It’s so ridiculously adorable.
HAPPY HOUR: A rosé spritzer because I’m a lightweight. Occasionally, I have a straight vodka with a lot of ice and all kinds of citrus. It’s the best drink!
WORST VICE: I don’t know if you think of Xanax or Ativan as a vice, but I don’t shy away from a good Ativan. When you allow yourself to take a Xanax before you go to bed, you just know it’s going to be a good night, because even if you don’t sleep, you don’t give a shit! It’s an occasional, occasional treat.
GUILTY PLEASURE: Watching ridiculous stuff on TV. I watch Gilmore Girls, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, 30 Rock, and The Golden Girls on a loop, and it’s basically a noise machine.
SKIN-CARE M.V.P.’S: I’ve used the same Kiehl’s products since I was 18 years old. I use the Ultra Facial moisturizer and the magical Crème de Corps on my body. I also use shaving soap with a brush from Caswell Massey. Recently, I tried the Kiehl’s shaving cream, and I don’t know what they put in that damn stuff, but your skin is like velvet after.
SCENTS: I wear Le Chevrefeuille and Eau d’Hadrien from Annick Goutal. I also wear this crazy scent my husband got me from Spain. It’s the exact opposite of Le Chevrefeuille. It’s weirdly wintery, spicy, and musky.
HAIR-CARE ESSENTIALS: Are you ready for this, darling? I make my own hair gel! I use a linseed oil, Japan wax, a little bit of scent, and heat them up. Then I pour it into a mold, and it hardens. My hair is like Brillo, so unless I use something very heavy and oily, it will fly away. In a pinch, I’ll use American Crew pomade, and it’s really good.
HOW DO YOU QUICKLY PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER? Spanx. And I wear a little makeup on stage—undereye concealer, foundation, powder, eyebrow filler, and a little undereye liner. The greatest thing I discovered is tinted moisturizer. It brightens you up a little.
IF YOU COULD CHANGE ANYTHING ABOUT YOUR APPEARANCE … I would be 30 pounds thinner and built like Fred Astaire. If only we could all look like Fred Astaire in our clothes, but I will not take Mounjaro! I will be the only one in America—in the whole wide world—who doesn’t take Mounjaro!
FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR APPEARANCE: I have these incredibly large, beautiful, bony hands. Speaking of Fred Astaire—he had prominent hands!
ANY STYLE REGRETS? Can I tell you that I don’t know what I was thinking for most of my early adulthood? I wore what I thought was so chic—incredibly high-waisted pleated trousers (again, it was a Fred Astaire fetish), but I looked more like Fred Mertz than Fred Astaire.
PIECE OF ADVICE YOU WOULD GIVE TO YOUR YOUNGER SELF: I was always around underweight dancers and models and felt like the biggest, clunkiest, kinky-haired person in the room. If I could talk to my 18-year-old self, I would say, “Hey, kid. You are cute. If you weren’t wearing those Fred Mertz pants, you’d be really cute!”
LIFE MOTTO: No matter how many times you’ve learned a lesson, you’ve never really learned it. You’re supposed to learn from your failures, but guess what, darling? You don’t learn a goddamn thing except how to unbury yourself.
BEST THING ABOUT GROWING OLDER: I don’t need to do as much. I never wanted to miss a thing when I was younger, but now, I don’t care.
WHEN DO YOU FEEL THE MOST BEAUTIFUL? This is going to sound like self-loathing, but really, never. I remember one night in my life when I was in my early 40s that I thought I looked so good. It was only once. My hair was great, I was so thin, and I was wearing a gorgeous Savile Row suit that fitted perfectly, John Lobb shoes, and beautiful socks from Italy. It was one magical night in my life.
Holly Parmelee, formerly an associate publisher at Little, Brown and Company, is an editor and writer at Serendipity magazine
