Fashion Reverie looks back at Norma Kamali’s iconic parachute collection. Since the late 1960s Norma Kamali has pushed the proverbial fashion envelope, using such non-traditional fabrics as mud cloth, chenille bed spreads and tablecloth as the material for her cutting-edge collections.
In the mid-70s, Kamali explored the concept of garments made with parachute fabric. “In the early 70s, Victor Hugo, assistant to Halston’s creative director, gave me a wonderful gift of an all-silk parachute,” Norma explains. “It was a vintage parachute from the Korean War … I promised I would make him a jumpsuit from the parachute and I did, but I also made skirts, jackets, gowns, big bags, pants, swimsuits, tops, and just about anything you can think of.”
Over the past three decades, garments with a parachute aesthetic and made out of parachute fabric have become one of Norma Kamala’s biggest selling items. And for spring 2012, Kamali re-introduced her parachute aesthetic in a limited edition cult collection featuring frothy frocks, fishtail dresses and camisoles.
—Staff
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