Once a high-flying couture star, these days Isaac Mizrahi is best known as a TV personality and as the man who made Target a fashion destination.

Born to Syrian Jewish parents and raised in Brooklyn, Mizrahi wasn't anything like the other boys at the Yeshiva of Flatbush: He found more acceptance when he switched to the High School of Performing Arts in Manhattan, where he pursued his passion for theater and even had a tiny part in the movie Fame. Parsons was the next stop and with financing from family friends, he launched his own label in 1987 and quickly became one of the brightest talents on the fashion scene, earning acclaim for his sophisticated 1950s-inspired cocktail dresses. Alas, over the next few years Mizrahi had a difficult time capitalizing on the early acclaim. After failing to turn a profit in 1998 his financial backer, Chanel, backed out and his company went under.

However, in 2003, he returned to fashion in a big way when he relaunched his label and unveiled a line of women's sportswear and accessories for Target. The line proved a major success for the retailer, and it also helped pave the way for now notorious Target fashion collaborations. In January 2008 Mizrahi defected from Target for a brief, disastrous stint at Liz Claiborne as creative director. Not one to sit on the sidelines for long, Isaac consistently has plenty of other projects on his plate. He continues to design costumes for film, dance and theater companies, such as the Met and Threepenny Opera, and gratuitously pops up on TV shows, from The Isaac Mizrahi Show to Project Runway All-Stars (and a cameo on Sex and the City, but of course). He even raised a few eyebrows as a red carpet reporter for E! at the 2006 Golden Globes when he copped a feel of Scarlett Johansson's boob.

The bandana-and-flip-flop-wearing fashion impresario married his longtime boyfriend Arnold Germer in a civil ceremony in 2011. [Image via Getty]