Norma Kamali Vintage

thats very admirable ,to let go

 

omg...omg ...omg...i can't imagine nyc without that store...i have got to get that norma kamali skirt i was looking at...and the website isn't even running now...

can you imagine?!?!...tons of vintage norma kamali that has never been worn...?!?!?!
i have to go just to see what's there..!!!

thx so much lena...

 

Adding to the Norma Kamali lovefest:


Evening Ensemble, 1977
Designed by Norma Kamali
(American, b. 1945)
Gift of Eddie Kamali, 1978
(1978.163.2a-c)


Norma Kamali dress from 1972-3, made from lycra/spandex knit. Gift of Hedy Kleinman to The Museum at FIT.


Asymmetrical cutout swimsuit by Norma Kamali, available at Norma Kamali, New York.

<-- That's her!

 

I like her thought process on scaling down the store, and changing the shopping environment. Space is definitely a luxury, but I am over the "super store" mentality. 700 sq ft is TINY though--people always say that we're small at 1800 sqft. I couldn't imagine her doing apparel and her skin care line in that amount of space.

 

yah...the store she has now isn't all that big...it's crazy$$$ real estate though...if she opens a little shop downtown...it could be cool...i think she should do one that is just swim...one that is just jersey...one that is just activewear...etc...all near each other though...like marc jacobs did...on bleecker st...

 

hope the prices will be reasonable...resurrection's prices are notoriously high...

 

so i interned at norma kamali for a very short time and i think pretty much is that she's not making any more at all, that's why she's selling her collections and scaling down her store, because frankly she can't afford the rent. Her XV line is ridiculously expensive. Who wants to pay $50 for a small bottle of olive oil?! Or $10 for a bag of popcorn?!

While interning there I may have probably sold like $20 in merchandise from her XV line. she needs to get over the fact that most of her customers are the ones from the 80's and still only a few of them still shop with her.

As you can tell, the internship was blah lol.

 

thanks for sharing and welcome to the boards...
i'm not sure what you meant by she's not making any more at all...do you mean she's not making anymore of her product line or do you mean she's not producing her collection anymore?...

i so agree with you regardig the products...all that holistic crap...and you can send someone a box of dried roses...why???...and that trend was about 10 years ago anyway...that was a bad move on her part, imo...

 

Hey thanks for the welcome!

I mean in terms of not making anymore, i mean money. Her sales apparently have been extremely low. Also they have extremely poor customer service meaning customers would call all the time and complain about not getting products they paid for, or something being wrong with the quality. After seeing all the non sense, I was like i've got to get out of here lol.

So seeing her put up the building for sale, was no surprise at all.

 

yeah...not a huge shocker...but still...a d*mn shame...she's a real NY'er...hate to see her shut down altogether...hopefully she'll just move on...

fingers crossed that she'll find a solution...she's always participating in charity things and doing things for kids interested in fashion...and-OMO...means on my own...which i always thought was really cool...the fact that she was doing it all on her own... plus...tara subkoff is so blatantly ripping her off with her little ioc dresses...

i just wish norma the best...
thanks for the inside scoop Trini...
very cool...

 

update---this store is still there and now sells both collaborative lines...
Spiegel and Everlast...

 

Not sure this is entirely in line with the topic of this thread, but here is a creation from 1983 from American Vogue photographed by Newton. (scanned by me)