

Closet
Eli Mizrahi
Entrepreneur. New York
February 20, 2015
November 10, 2021
Of the new crop of digital personas that have emerged as a symptom of the 'gram generation; the Millennial International Man of Mystery is right up there with self-appointed CEOs and fitness stars. Allow us to break down the whole thing here for you: they're virtually never not in the company of beautiful, impossibly cool women; are completely unafraid of bold sartorial choices (velvet smoking jackets, neon-hued sneakers, leather body harnesses... you get the picture); and boast an Instagram with geo-tags that span a host of exotic locales. In other words, that makes Eli Mizrahi the ultimate Millennial International Man of Mystery —you may also know him as the one on all those globe-trotting trips with Selena Gomez, Cara Delevingne, Gigi Hadid, Shay Mitchell and then some... yeah, he's that guy.
As we rolled up to Mizrahi's place in the East Village (a former synagogue), we were admittedly not entirely sure of what to expect. He bounded down the enormous carpeted stairs to greet us; leading us back up to his closet, where he was in the midst of packing for a jaunt through Dubai, Seychelles, Rome, Austria... and then we sort of lost count after that. He'd already laid out and deigned the head-to-toe looks he'd be wearing for his portraits: a velvet midnight blue Valentino tux, 'Bite Me' Philipp Plein tracksuit, La Perla pajamas and head-to-toe Versace, complete with a leather, gold-studded jockstrap Donatella insisted he have. Just to really drive the point home, we weren't kidding when we said he was fearless in the wardrobe department.
Together we pored over his insane closet, each piece complete with an anecdote behind it. Pulling out an Alexander McQueen tuxedo jacket prompted, "there's only five made in the world, one is owned by Christian Louboutin, just in a different color." While after discovering some slouchy silk all-over-print Versace pajamas, we were regaled with, "Fun fact, I hosted Selena Gomez for her birthday on our boat this summer, and she ended up wearing them out for dinner". Pretty sure that trumps any story we had about vintage steals scored on exchange trips.