54 | OCTOBER 31 • 2024 J
N
ARTS&LIFE
DESIGN
I
n the development of his var-
ied entertainment career, Isaac
Mizrahi collected records with
music by Burt Bacharach, sang
Bacharach-composed songs in
performance, communicated with
Bacharach and designed costumes
for a Bacharach-centered dance
show, The Look of Love, coming to
Michigan.
The Mark Morris Dance Group
will perform in Mizrahi-designed
costumes, and the choreography
will be seen Nov. 2-3 at the Detroit
Opera House. The show features 14
Bacharach hits with musical collabo-
rations planned by Ethan Iverson.
The Bacharach tribute launches
Dance@Detroit Opera’s 24/25 Season
and includes numbers written with
lyricist Hal David. Among the songs
audiences will hear are “What the
World Needs Now,” “Raindrops Keep
Falling on My Head” and “Walk on
By.” Musicians are at piano, trumpet,
bass and drums with Broadway star
Marcy Harriell on lead vocals.
“I like the idea of this show,” said
Mizrahi, who traveled to Michigan
in 2019 to introduce his Jewish con-
tent book, I.M.: A Memoir, to assem-
bled members of Hadassah. “Burt
Bacharach music is a big part of our
history, and I love the opportunity to
work on something like this.
“I had a few different ideas about
the way to capture the sophistication
of the music, and the first idea I had
was to keep it black and white. I pre-
sented that idea to Mark, and he said
to think about colors.
“I listened to the music again, and
I got to build this intense palette,
which I thought was a direct expres-
sion of the music. I culled it, and
what I ended up wanting to make
were clothes I thought would move
beautifully and not necessarily be
nostalgic of the period but embrac-
ing it.”
Mizrahi has worked in
a number of shows with
Morris, director and cho-
reographer. One was Gluck’s
Orfeo ed Euridice for the New
York Metropolitan Opera.
While working on costume design
for the Bacharach show, Mizrahi
noted there were plain chairs and
pillows as part of the routines, and
he suggested they be covered with
colors matching the varied colors of
the outfits.
For the costumes, Mizrahi used
material that’s like a synthetic
stretchy kind of gabardine. He
thought it had beautiful movement
like silk. It has a floating effect, and
it’s available in a huge array of colors.
“I met Burt Bacharach in the
1990s,” Mizrahi said of the composer
with Jewish heritage. “I was hired by
Interview magazine to interview him.
I couldn’t believe it was happening
that I met him. Here and there, he
would
call about
something, or I
would be in touch. I saw him in Los
Angeles just before he died, and it
was a real bonus to my life.”
DRESSING THE DANCERS
For the dance show, premiered in
2022, Mizrahi did not have the
outfits made by a commercial firm.
Instead, he used the skills of an
associate, Marla Wonboy, to make
them.
“I wanted the costumes to clarify
the idea that Mark had,” Mizrahi
said. “I wanted to make the show feel
balanced and beautiful and express
the colors in the music. I wanted it
to feel that every single color was an
individual.
Isaac Mizrahi created
costumes for the Burt
Bacharach tribute The
Look of Love.
Designed
withLove
SUZANNE CHESSLER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Isaac
Mizrahi
CHRISTOPHER DUGGAN
CHRISTOPHER DUGGAN