Norma Kamali
speaker
117 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Mar 2025
last heard Mar 2025
Norma Kamali’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
I think I like alone time. I like quiet time. And what I did was, to have that quiet time, I would always have a pencil and paper, and I'd always draw. And I would draw anything. And I would draw dresses. And then I would start to draw things. And I remember one of the first things I drew was this vintage typewriter my mother had. And it was beautiful.
And it was all black and it had these raised lines. letters, and I drew every detail of the typewriter. And it took me some time, and I wanted it to be exact, but it had the beauty of a freehand drawing of something very static. And I remember finishing it and thinking, oh, I want to draw something else. What else? And I would look around. What else can I draw?
I think I drew everything in the apartment that we lived in, literally everything. And if my brother would sit still for a second, I would draw him and say, stop doing that. And I would still keep drawing him. But I found a lot of comfort in drawing because it was always a surprise to see what would happen when I draw something else.
And I did draw a lot of dresses, but I think it had nothing to do with wanting to be a designer. But in the 50s, the clothes of the 50s, you know, as we all know, of these big petticoated skirts and pencil skirts with sweaters. And all the girls that were older that would dress up for their dates or to go to dances that were wearing these clothes were so beautiful.
Irish girls are spectacularly beautiful. And I would draw them and look at their outfits and think, This is so great. The skirt is so full. And I would draw what they were wearing and think, oh, I can't wait until I can go on a date and wear petticoats. And I would wear petticoats to school. And at the time, white bucks were very popular.
And in order to keep white bucks clean, you'd always have this big powder thing to put on the white bucks. So I would go into my classroom. I remember with this big petticoat skirt that was wider than the room between the desks. And I'd walk through and the skirts wouldn't fit through. And then I'd have, you'd see white footprints because I put so much powder on my box that I'd turn around.
I'm like, oh, my God, my footprints are all over it. But that's when I realized that dressing up could be so much fun and wear petticoats and ponytails and sweaters backwards and just be cool. So that was sort of the beginning. So you loved fashion to some extent. I didn't realize that it was fashion. We didn't know about fashion. It wasn't a conversation.
It was, what are the clothes of the time? Don't forget it's the 50s. And the fashion of the 50s was very high elegance or elegance. Paris-type fashion, which we never knew about in our neighborhood, or what movie stars were wearing. And so what the girls in the neighborhood mostly wore was what movie stars were wearing. And that wasn't Paris fashion.
It was sort of like popular kind of look of the day.
I wanted to be a painter. And my mother was very clear about the fact that she wouldn't be able to put me through college. So if I wanted to go, I had to get a scholarship. And that I better think of something other than painting. I better think of something that you can actually get a job. So I got a scholarship to FIT.
And I had some grants that I won for some of my paintings that gave me money for art supplies. So I was able to go to FIT and study fashion illustration. So here I was drawing dresses, which was my comfort zone. And of course, I could afford it because of the scholarships. And then that was where I was. But I didn't really dream to be a fashion illustrator. That wasn't in my mind.
I actually had a really good portfolio and I had a lot of support from one of the instructors there who, Anna Ishikawa, who was just unbelievable. She was very strict. She would make everybody cry. But if you got a compliment from her, I remember she complimented my portfolio. She never complimented anybody. She complimented my portfolio. that I was taking for my job interviews.
And there was a white noise. I couldn't even hear anything after that. It was like, what did she say? So I felt confident about my portfolio. And I went on a job interview for fashion illustration at a garment industry company. And It was a situation that was really one about objectifying a young girl coming for a job. And it was humiliating and embarrassing.
I think, you know, this first big job interview is important. So you dress appropriately. You make sure that whatever the presentation is, it's really great. And I was very serious about it. And of course, I hear my mother's voice, get a job, get a job, get a job. You better get this job, Norma. And so I walk in and he has his feet up on his desk. He's eating a tuna sandwich.
And he tells me to put my portfolio down and come over to him and turn around for him. I remember I just couldn't hold it in. And I just started crying and running out of the office with my portfolio. Like tripping over myself, basically, and feeling just awful and coming home. And of course, my mother, did you get the job? And I was like, no, mom, I didn't.
And I couldn't even hear what else she was saying. And I remember. The place you would look for a job was the New York Times. So they would have a big classified section. I actually think it should still exist, this, because it was a great way to find a job. And so I was looking at all the jobs and I thought, I really want to travel.
And at the time, working at the airlines like Pan Am and TWA and Northwest Orient, that was really a great job, not as a stewardess, but in the office. And I had zero office skills. I didn't know how to type. Actually, I still don't know how to type. And I got the job and I was shocked that I got it because it was very strict and a difficult interview.
So the next thing I know, I'm sitting in front of a Univac computer and I'm amazed at the information that the computer is presenting, and I thought to myself, whoa, this is really something. So I If you think that's a big leap from my childhood to this UNIVAC computer, and it's still the mid 60s, we're not talking about years ahead.
I spent four years at Northwest Airlines and traveled to London round trip for $29 for the four years. So it was as if I was living in London for that period of time. And that's when, obviously, that was the beginning of a revolution that, starting with baby boomers, changed everything. And fashion changed completely. And I loved it.
And I started buying clothes from Biba and Bus Stop and other designers, bringing them to New York for friends. And then I opened a store.
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