Word: kamalis
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Scavullo in 1976 chose one of Kamali's bikinis for a Cosmopolitan cover, and since that time she has been known for her sensuous swimsuits. Like a mother hen, she keeps a tight watch on her swim line and handpicks the seamstresses who sew her provocative suits. Says Kamali: "Swimwear is about the most difficult thing to do. It's for an individual's body, and you're responsible for everything, including the cellulite...
Ironically, Kamali once looked with contempt at her present trade. "I thought being a designer was the most superficial goal anyone could have," she says. "It's not like finding a cure for cancer, or being an artist." A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1964, Norma Ar-raez's real goal was to be a painter. But not a starving one. So instead she started out as a fashion illustrator. Wanderlust struck in 1966, however, and she joined an airline as a reservations clerk. On trips abroad, she always stopped in London to pick...
When London's kooky clothes ran low, Kamali began making her own. Years ahead of the fashion pack, Kamali designed hot pants in 1969, the first in the U.S. "I can make something to wear out of anything," is her motto, and true to it, in 1974 Kamali took a nylon parachute, rip cords and all, and produced the first fashionable jumpsuits. A couple of years later, Kamali, owner of a sleeping bag, realized she would no longer have time to go camping, once her favorite pastime. So she cut up the bag, fashioned a fiber-filled coat...
...Kamali's work methods are unique...
Unlike other designers who create from sketches, Kamali drapes a fabric over her own body to see how it falls. She then begins cutting and sewing with the fabric still on her. It is from this master sample that patterns are made. This curious system may well stem from her teen-age days, when she would stitch herself into tight pants, then extricate herself with a seam ripper...