Isaac Mizrahi’s Sandee the Supermodel with paper dolls

I bought this waaaaaay back when it came out in 1997. Between the adorable paper dolls and Isaac Mizrahi (I was/am quite a fan) I was in love. It’s definitely a slice of pop culture which even now, only 16 years later, seems incredibly naive. Mizrahi pokes fun at fashion and modeling, from ageism (Sandee is revealed to be 30! gasp!), the waif look (Sandee loses too much weight and Isaac recommends she gain some), to being too fat for fashion (Sandee’s busting out of the sample sizes even though she looks nearly the same. After she’s fired from Prada, Westwood, & Chanel, Isaac rolls with it and creates the “New New Look.”) Heroin chic and the bdsm look are parodied by Sandee’s disastrous makeover- an obvious act of sabotage (She’s quickly given a makeunder by Isaac’s assistant, Dee Lish).  Sandee’s rival, Dorothy, sports a coke habit and extensive plastic surgery and there’s a handsome bisexual photographer who everyone falls in love with. With cameos by Madonna, Anjelica Huston, Anna Wintour, JFK jr, Dominick Dunne, as well as stand ins for Diana Vreeland, and Carrie Donovan, it’s a bitchy and loving tribute to fashion.

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