With 1970s and 1980s fashion hits, including the Diana dress, the sleeping-bag coat, the first outfit deemed “athleisure,” and the red swimsuit that made Farrah Fawcett America’s top-selling poster girl, Kamali became known for innovative yet affordable, comfortable clothes that captured the zeitgeist. She has run her eponymous brand as the lead designer and sole proprietor for 56 years—what she describes as controlling her own destiny in a career she loves. Now 78, she says she’ll keep at it for a few more decades.
A version of this article appeared in the January–February 2024 issue of Harvard Business Review.
