Orchestrated by Fran Tirado and the House of Doll Invasion, the energy was visceral: queer bodies swimming, dancing, and taking up space not only protected, but proudly unhidden. With Tommy Dorfman, Chelsea Manning, and Prabal Gurung in the crowd, and with support flowing toward trans-led orgs like Queer|Art and Advocates for Trans Equality, Doll Invasion etched itself into queer cultural history, proof that a party can be both resistance and revolution.
More than 30 years after the film was first released, Unzipped is returning to theaters in a newly restored 4K version at Tribeca’s Film Forum this week. Following Friday’s first screening, writer, director, actor, activist, and lifelong Mizrahi fan Dunham moderated a conversation with the man of the hour, alongside director Douglas Keeve and executive producer and former brand partner Nina Santisi. Dunham, who recalled the thrill of attending Mizrahi’s fashion shows with her mother throughout the ’90s, dressed for the occasion in a vintage 1994 Mizrahi piece sourced from Vestiaire Collective, matching Mizrahi’s quick wit and charisma as the two bantered their way through the conversation. She recalled Unzipped as the first documentary she had ever seen, one that propelled her hunger for more and whose freshness continues to inspire her today. “It was a new idea to let fashion be funny,” she said. “Fashion was so deathly serious.”
Beginning with Mizrahi reeling from a scathing review of his previous show, the black-and-white fever dream follows him through the fittings, sketches, strange flashes of inspiration, anxieties, and last-minute chaos behind his Fall 1994 collection. ’90s icons Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, and a young Kate Moss float in and out, but it’s Mizrahi’s exuberant, completely unfiltered personality that carries the film. “You were a one-liner machine,” Dunham told him. “It’s like going to the greatest improv show I’ve ever seen.” He teases, dances, sings, and ricochets between panic and delight, foreshadowing a career that has since expanded across television, theater, and cabaret.
“Haven’t you ever seen a damn ballet before?” Mizrahi exclaims at one point, as those around him struggle to understand his idea of separating the runway from backstage with a translucent scrim. Capturing Mizrahi’s humor, instinctiveness, and spontaneity, the seemingly chaotic idea comes to life in the final runway show, with Keeve’s camera physically positioned on the runway to capture it. Behind the scrim, dressers scramble to dress models, who emerge on the other side with poise, polish, and levity. The ballet-inspired set reveals the chaos behind a fashion production while preserving the fantasy on the runway, a risk that ultimately became a highlight of the collection. And after spending most of its runtime in black-and-white, Unzipped suddenly bursts into color for the finale— which, as Dunham noted, captures the sheer joy of watching everything finally come together.
In retrospect, Mizrahi said one of his favorite parts of the documentary is how it captures a fashion industry before the teams of stylists and production companies that now surround major runway productions. He styled the collection himself, made his own dresser cards, and organized the shoe changes, while Santisi handled the scrim that allowed the audience to glimpse the shoe pass backstage. Today, Mizrahi said, fashion can feel “over-prepared.” “I think people like surprise,” he added. “And there’s no surprise anymore in fashion.”
As the panel wrapped, Dunham asked what they hoped would resonate most with viewers today. She herself shared that Unzipped still inspires her to make things, reminding that good art should always make her a little jealous. Mizrahi, with a laugh, exclaimed, “Tell all your straight friends to come and be gay!”
What does intimacy mean to you?
Intimacy to me is trust. It's that moment when someone lets their guard down and you get to see something real. It doesn't necessarily have to be romantic or sexual. It can be a look, a gesture, being comfortable enough to be vulnerable, or even just being still with someone. I think intimacy is really about feeling safe enough to be seen.
How does intimacy show up in your work as a photographer?
I've always photographed people pretty instinctively. I don't like to over-direct or make things feel too perfect. I want people to forget about the camera a little bit. A lot of my work is about getting close, physically and emotionally, and catching those little moments in between the "pictures" — the things that feel almost private. I think that's where intimacy shows up most in my work, in the moments that don't feel performed.
What inspired the images you created for Noén and Made to Be Touched?
The name Made to Be Touched really says so much on its own. I wanted the images to actually feel tactile, like you could almost feel them rather than just look at them. Skin, closeness, texture, movement, the way bodies naturally exist together. I didn't want it to feel overly polished or posed. I wanted it to feel human, sensual and a little imperfect. Like you're witnessing a moment instead of being shown one.
As a centerpiece for the event, there were six TEDDY dupes: five outsourced dupes from the internet, and one OMHU TEDY sofa. On their way into this orange-hued and couch-filled party, guests were presented with clipboards where they were asked to pick their favorite couch, note their own personal celebrity look-alike, and toss their name into the raffle. One lucky person would be chosen and would be able to keep the TEDDY sofa. And who better to crown the winner of the couch look-alike raffle than an already internet-famous look-alike? The guest of honor was none other than Miles Mitchell, who went viral in 2024 for winning the OG Timothee Chalamet contest in NYC that started the look-alike contest trend.
The videographer of the night recounts having told his friend before leaving earlier that day something along the lines of “Yeah, I’m shooting an event tonight. Probably a look-alike contest!” It was a joke. So, imagine the shock on his face when he showed up, and this was precisely what he was shooting. It was a concept that had the room chatting all night. Laughter, disbelief, and excitement were everywhere.
Guests mingled all night to sounds by DJ, Mona Matsuoka, filled with drinks by Misguided Spirits & Orion, and bites by Smør.
