Despite his career ups (Target, Liz Claiborne) and downs ("The Fashion Show"), there are two things about Isaac Mizrahi that haven't changed a bit since 1995: his gravity-defying hair and oversized personality. Both were on display last night at the Metropolitan Museum of Art during a Q&A hosted by Harold Koda, the institution's top curator.

Immediately following the session, there was a showing of Unzipped, the 1995 documentary that was directed by Mizrahi's then-boyfriend Douglas Keeve (they broke up over the film). As any true fashionphile would know, it chronicles the designer's Fall '94 collection from inspiration (Eskimos! Mary Tyler Moore!) to execution (Linda, Kate and Cindy jaunting down the runway in ballroom skirts and cropped sweaters) and post-show blues.



Since the public talk and viewing was tied to The Model As Muse exhibit (which closes August 9th), Mizrahi's work with supermodels was a major point of conversation, among other things. If you couldn't make it, no fear, we collected the sound bites after the jump.

ON WORKING WITH THE SUPERS:
"I got to know the girls at Calvin Klein and they were nobodies then. So when I started my company, I was like 'Oh girls, want to be in my show?' and they showed up. These girls were my friends, they weren't supermodels to me. I gave them clothes for a long time. My accountants would say, 'Oh pay them, it's much better.' But I would prefer them to have the clothes because it was a more meaningful exchange."

ON RACY SUPERMODEL BEHAVIOR:
"I remember one collection, Christy and Linda got down to the end of the runway and kissed each other in this sort of lesbian way, and back then it was like pre-lesbian! I didn't plan that. I was shocked."

ON THE FIRST TIME HE SAW LINDA EVANGELISTA:
"I was working at Calvin Klein on 39th Street, and someone-not Calvin, not the design team-was doing a model casting. I was going up to work and in the elevator there was Linda Evangelista in this little Patricia Underwood-like top hat. I went upstairs to ask about her and they said, 'Nah, we didn't like her.' And I was like, 'Excuse me, that girl's amazing!' True story."

ON HIS SUPERMODEL MUSE:
"The girl who really lived in my head a lot is Veronica Webb. She still does. I used to joke that we could leave Veronica in the room and she'd do the fitting herself because she has such an incredible sense of style."

ON WHAT'S SEXY AND MODEL SYMPATHY:
"Those people in those clubs, what is less sexy than those people? I would much rather be like a real person now than, like, a B Model, anyways, like a tall, sexy 20-year-old girl. God forbid! In the fall campaign we have Coco Rocha. And it's like, 'Poor Coco, I guess she can be in the pictures,' and that's really my attitude."

ABOUT THE LIZ CLAIBORNE CAMPAIGN:
"It's about real people and loving them. And actually loving them. Sometimes the model is the worst part of the picture. [Photographer] Arthur Elgort is a big part of that."

WHO HE IS THINKING OF WHEN HE DESIGNS:
"Me! I like wide-legged pants. I wear them and I think the woman in me needs these wide-legged pants."

ON KARL LAGERFELD:
"One of the funniest things anyone ever said about me was when Karl Lagerfeld said, 'Oh, he does a lot of self-promotion.' I thought that was really ironic coming from Karl."