Considering that Norma Kamali is forever looking forward in terms of how best to show and sell her clothes, it s no wonder she appears far younger than her 60-some years. After seeing Werner Herzog s 3-D documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams a few months ago, Kamali became obsessed with the technology. "It s not as exciting as Avatar, but I realized, Oh wow, you can really see that guy s shirt! " she explained at her morning presentation. She began experimenting, and the result is a groovy little 3-D film of girls dancing in her new Spring collection, which she screened on loop, and more importantly, the introduction of 3-D-enabled e-commerce for Spring. (Customers can see the looks on pages that will go live on normakamali3d.com tomorrow.)
Unfortunately, the exercise does require those goofy glasses: Kamali had a bunch made to look like her signature cat-eye frame, which customers can request from her Facebook page or Web site. Eighteen thousand people have done so since September 8. But perhaps they won t have to for long—the designer pointed out that both Apple and Sony are working on glasses-free technology.
As for the clothes, Kamali said she designed to the technology, using elements that would pop on the screen, like tiers of fringe, sequins, and graphic black-and-white stripes and polka dots. The look was typically fun—a bit pop, and slightly camp in a sixties/eighties vein. It s what Kamali does well, and it s the reason her fans go to her, but you wonder why her focus on the future sometimes leaves her designs out of the picture.
