Isaac Mizrahi Releases His Debut Memoir This Month

New York fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi’s life story is one for the books…so he wrote a book. The Bridgehamptonite’s autobiography, I.M. A Memoir, is set to release on February 26.

I.M. A Memoir will provide an intimate look into Mizrahi’s life as an openly gay man born into a Syrian Jewish Orthodox family. In the book, Mizrahi writes with elegant wit as he delves into his struggles with weight, insomnia, depression and the lasting emotional toll of the horrific AIDS epidemic.

For a preview on what to expect, on February 6, Mizrahi posted an Instagram photo with a breathtaking quote from the book, “The visions I had of my future had mostly to do with fulfilling my dreams about art, show business, design but also dreams about being fully understood.”

The memoir will show a new side of Mizrahi that past books haven’t. In 2016, two releases focused on his career from a third party perspective. The Isaac Mizrahi Pictures: New York City 1989–1993 features a collection of photos, taken by British photographer Nick Waplington, that showcases the painstaking weeks before the designer’s grand, biannual fashion shows. In the retrospective survey Isaac Mizrahi: An Unruly History, three essayists discuss Mizrahi’s place in the fashion history, as well as his unique design aesthetic. While Mizrahi was interviewed for the survey, it’s nowhere near as deep a dive into his life as is found in I.M. A Memoir.

While the memoir isn’t set to officially release for another two weeks, it’s already received praise from fellow East Ender Andy Cohen. The Shelter Island resident raves, “I.M. has everything! It’s colorful, hysterical, touching, bold and heartbreaking. It’s about coming of age, creativity, being yourself, Jewish mothers, fashion, art, loss and glamour. I loved it.”

Cohen isn’t the only Hamptons celebrity to be captivated by Mizrahi’s writing. On January 31, he posted a video to Instagram announcing that on the February 26 release date, he will host a book signing and discussion with Hamptonite Debra Messing at Symphony Space in New York City.