A designer, entrepreneur and innovator, Kamali has proven herself time and again to be a fashion maverick. Kamali has been credited with many firsts throughout her 56-year career, including the sleeping bag coat; sweats as ready-to-wear; parachute clothing; sensuous swimwear, and her jersey knit collections.
With half of Saudi Arabia’s population under age 30, Saudi Arabia is among the global markets seeing a youthquake. She said Saudi Arabia has all the new gyms — women didn’t go to gyms 10 years ago. She said if a new gym opens in Singapore or London that is great, they’ll have it two weeks later in Saudi Arabia.
Over the years Kamali has been ahead of the pack when it comes to incorporating technology into her business. She was among the first designers to launch e-commerce , and offered a try-before-you-buy home service in 1998. The Norma Kamali iPhone app launched in 2009 at the SoHo Apple Store, and in 2010, she introduced ScanLife barcodes that allowed shoppers to buy directly off of mannequins and through her store windows.
What she does is prompt what she wants. So if she wants to do a swimwear collection or a dress collection, she can program exactly what she would like, without defining completely what it is, but putting in the kind of prompt that will open a generative experience of as many styles of swimwear. She said she has swimwear from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. She puts in the prompt and gets images and a new version, and combinations of things she’s done.
“So at some point, when I reach 120 and I decide to check out of the universe, my team can literally use this program. And the brand really has a life because I’ve been the only designer for 56 years. There’s an authenticity that exists,” said the designer, who was the recipient of the CFDA Board of Directors Special Tribute Award in 2005 and the CFDA’s Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.
“It was the first time that I became known globally. And I had already been in business for quite a few years. And that was a good thing because I was able to fall on my face quietly and pick myself up where a lot of designers who get a lot of fame early have a hard time making a mistake in public.”
Kamali said she doesn’t have plans to open any stores in the Middle East, but other people have presented a desire to do that for her. “Stores are important and are part of the lifestyle. And I also think e-commerce is important.” Throughout her career, Kamali’s aesthetic has evolved but she’s always kept an authenticity. “I think everybody has to evolve to stay alive. And you have to learn new things, grow and change in many ways. But I think if you’re authentic, there’s a certain fingerprint that you have that never disappears,” Kamali said.