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