Sweet Chic: Stylish Treats to Dress Up for Any Occasion
(DESSERT DRESSED TO THE NINES
Todays baker faces a gr...)
DESSERT DRESSED TO THE NINES
Todays baker faces a great challenge: With little time and a limited repertoire, she often needs to whip up a delicious dessert thats dressed to impress. Rachel Schifter Thebault, founder and head confectioner of Tribeca Treats in New York City, knows all about making a sweet statement. Combining a confectioners expertise with fashion sense, she shares a scrumptious cache of popular dessert recipes that can be accessorized to fit any occasion.
Whats more, transforming a basic dessert into a masterpiece brimming with personality and flair can be easy, quick, and fun. In the same way youd plan an outfit, Sweet Chic pieces together a Devils Food Cakethe little black dress of delightswith such irresistible accessories as Caramel Buttercream (think knee-high boots) for ultimate decadence, turns Vanilla Cookies (the crisp oxford shirt) into Strawberry Shortcakes ideal for casual or dressy occasions, and blends brownies (the cashmere sweater of confectionery) with a swirl of mint for a showstopping number.
Gorgeous and appetizing color photos throughout reveal how a change of icing here and a substitute topping there can take a simple dessert from Sunday brunch to a date-night treat. Mix and match more than seventy recipes for cookies, cakes, and confections, including Peanut Butter and Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies, Brownie Sundae Parfait, Mini Smores Cupcakes, Wasabi-Black Sesame Truffles, and so much more.
Whether youre a novice baker hoping to master the basics or an experienced one looking to add a little versatility to your existing creations, Sweet Chic is a clever and practical guide for memorable desserts, a one-sweet-fits-all way to make a tantalizing impression.
Foreword by Isaac Mizrahi
(The award-winning fashion designer and trend-setter offer...)
The award-winning fashion designer and trend-setter offers his innovative approach to looking terrific with style, using twelve real women facing real-life wardrobe dilemmas to walk readers through the fundamental process of defining one's personal style and including hundreds of tips on fashion, accessories, color choice, makeup, skin care, and more.
Isaac Mizrahi is an American fashion designer, TV presenter, and Chief Designer of the Isaac Mizrahi brand for Xcel Brands. Based in New York City, he is best known for his eponymous fashion lines. Mizrahi currently serves as a judge on Project Runway: All Stars.
Background
Isaac Mizrahi was born in Brooklyn, New York, October 14, 1961, the youngest child and only son of Zeke and Sarah Mizrahi. He would often accompany his mother on shopping trips to Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman.
Zeke Mizrahi worked in the garment industry, first as a pattern cutter on Wooster Street and later as a childrenswear manufacturer. Isaac's mother was instrumental in exposing him to fashion at an early age. A devoted fashion lover, Sarah Mizrahi exposed young Isaac to the genius of designers Balenciagas, Chanel, and Norman Norell. He would often accompany his mother on shopping trips to Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman. She would also take Isaac to the ballet and to movies. When Isaac was eight, his family moved to the middle-class Midwood section of Brooklyn. He contracted spinal meningitis during this time and his confinement was spent eating junk food and viewing television, especially old movies.
Education
Mizrahi was expelled several times from the strict Yeshiva school he attended for impersonating rabbis and scribbling fashion sketches in his Bible. At six years old, the school required him to begin psychotherapy or they would not let him return. One Yeshiva teacher encouraged him to audition for Manhattan's High School of the Performing Arts-the school used as a basis in the movie and television series Fame. He was accepted and took diction, speech, singing, dance, and academic classes. He had a small role in Fame and wore a costume of his own design. At 15, while attending the Performing Arts High School, Mizrahi produced clothing under his first label, IS New York.
When Sarah Haddad's husband fell ill, IS New York closed. Mizrahi continued to sketch his ideas. Zeke Mizrahi showed the sketches to a childrenswear designer, Ellie Fishman, who suggested that Isaac should attend the Parson's School of Design.
After graduating from the Yeshiva in 1979 he enrolled in Parsons full time. By his junior year at Parsons Mizrahi was an outstanding student. His junior collection, a final project, was videotaped by the school to show to future classes.
Career
The 1961 remake of Back Street, about an affair between a fashion designer and a married man, was a pivotal event in Mizrahi's development. The glamour of the fashion industry depicted in the movie became an inspiration to him to design clothes. When Isaac was 10 years old, Zeke Mizrahi bought a sewing machine for him. Isaac set up a workroom in the basement and created clothes for puppets for neighborhood birthday parties.
At 13, Isaac was designing clothes for himself, his mother, and a close friend of his mother, Sarah Haddad. His financial mentor for IS New York was Sarah Haddad. Mizrahi got a job at Perry Ellis for the summer following his junior year. Perry Ellis was Mizrahi's first industry mentor, the man he called "my guardian angel. " He continued to work for Ellis part-time during his senior year and was hired after his graduation. In 1983 Ellis fell ill from AIDS. During this time Isaac's father died. After working at Perry Ellis for two years after graduation, Mizrahi left the company and joined Jeffrey Banks to help spearhead a new womenswear collection. He remained at Jeffrey Banks for a short time due to the withdrawal of financial backing by the parent company.
Mizrahi then joined Calvin Klein, but remained there for less than a year because of personnel changes. During his short time at Calvin Klein he created one of the company's most interesting collections, highlighted by streamlined red suits.
After leaving Calvin Klein, in June 1987 he and Sarah Haddad-Cheney pooled $50, 000 each and opened Mizrahi's own womenswear company. They occupied a loft on Greene Street in SoHo. Seven stores bought the first season's collection. By the first collection show in April 1988 Haddad-Cheney had secured additional financing from the owners of Gitano Jeans company.
In 1990 the company's workrooms and showroom moved to an expanded space on Wooster Street. Mizrahi's menswear collection premiered in April 1990. In 1995, Douglas Keeve directed a 79-minute documentary entitled Unzipped in which home movie clips of Mizrahi's childhood are pieced together with excerpts of his influences (including Mary Tyler Moore and the 1922 documentary Nanook of the North) which won the Audience Award at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival and was praised for being "funny, succinct and modestly instructive about a fairly recondite business, " Martha Duffy commented in her article for Time.
The film presented a thorough portrayal of Mizrahi, the man-so fearful of rejection he hovers near depression. Viewers even see a few temper tantrums. His hard work and success, however, surge him out of dejection and one appreciates Mizrahi, the artist-a designer with a flamboyant personality.
Audiences also learn a good deal about the fashion world from drawing board to catwalk. Besides the praise Keeve garnered for his documentary, viewers previously unfamiliar with Isaac Mizrahi learned that he doesn't take his success for granted, maintaining both a sense of humor and perspective.
Audiences saw real-life footage of Mizrahi as a hyperactive baby, sketching fur pants while in bed, teasing supermodel Naomi Campbell about her navel ring, and crying when he reads about Jean-Paul Gaultier beating Mizrahi to the runway with a fashion first. Unzipped seemed to be the extra spark in Mizrahi's fire.
Although his company had been earning $10 million a year, a 1995 Newsweek article noted that he had yet to turn a profit. After Mizrahi made his debut on the silver screen, his popularity and recognition became even more prominent. When Mizrahi launched a new collection in February 1996 in New York, he also broadcast it live via satellite to locations outside the state. His new "Isaac" label featured two pink stars instead of A's, declaring, "Our motto is, Inside every woman is a star. '" He's been tapped as star material himself, being called the Calvin Klein of Generation X.
The year 1997 proved to be a milestone in Mizrahi's career. He announced an unprecedented deal with three major Asian markets in Japan, Singapore, and Korea which included freestanding stores, in-store shops, wholesale distribution, manufacturing, and sublicenses in Japan and shops and distribution in Southeast Asia, an online ABC source reported. The deal was estimated to generate at least $150 million in retail sales by the year 2000.
"Le Miz, " "Le Wiz, " or "The Miz, " as he was nicknamed, was compared with such design greats as Claire McCardell, Geoffrey Beene, Halston, and Norman Norell.
Achievements
In 1989, after two collections, Mizrahi received his first award, the Council of Fashion Designers of America's Perry Ellis Award for new fashion talent. In 1990 Mizrahi received the coveted CFDA Designer of the Year Award. He was also named best designer of 1990 by the Fashion Footwear Association of New York, and Crain's New York Business included him in their annual "40 Under 40" award for great strides in business at a young age.
His creations have been referred to as "classics, with a twist, " "a blend of ease and elegance, " and "simple shapes, clear colors and unlabored touches of wit"-all hallmarks of American style.
Mizrahi has worked as the costume designer for three Broadway revivals, including two plays (The Women (2001) and Barefoot in the Park (2006)), and one operetta (Threepenny Opera (2006)).
For his work on The Women, Mizrahi won the 2002 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design.
Mizrahi was the costume designer for the Metropolitan Opera production of Orfeo ed Euridice (2008), directed by Mark Morris. Mizrahi has been a longtime collaborator with Morris in a partnership dating from 1997, when Mizrahi created costumes for a Morris film project with Yo-Yo Ma, Falling Down Stairs, from Ma's Inspired By Bach series.
