BODY WATCH : She’s Got Designs on Fitness
Fashion designer Norma Kamali has been churning out the season’s looks pushing 30 years now. Equally impressive is how well she looks upon reaching 50 last June.
Kamali talked to us about working out in her Manhattan home--with five pooches running around. “I love miniature dachshunds. Miniatures are very sturdy little things. They know no barriers.” Neither does Kamali.
Question: You’ve credited exercise for your being slim and toned. How long have you been at it?
Answer: I started exercising in the ‘80s when I stopped smoking. Smoking . . . yikes! Remember that? About two years ago, I began Pilates. I found the most change with this form of exercise than with anything I’d done before. It took longer, but the change affected everything from how you stand, breathe and then, of course, how you eat.
Q: What’s your full exercise routine like?
A: Now I integrate Pilates--mat work--with some equipment I own like a Nautilus Skate Machine, which I love. I spend time competing against myself to go faster. I have a rowing machine, plus I lift weights for arm exercises. I’m not great but I try to be consistent no matter how I feel about exercise.
Q: How often do you exercise at home?
A: I try to exercise daily between one to two hours. When my schedule is really tight--especially before collections--I can’t spend time at gyms. I keep buying equipment. It is taking over my home, so now I’m planning a separate space for it.
Q: Do you ever get to the gym?
A: I love gyms and trying all types. It’s especially inspiring for designing a gym [wear] line. Young men are the most creative with color and combining pieces.
Q: What do you wear?
A: At gyms I like to wear a vest with pockets to hang my music and keys, etc. At home, a bra and panty.
Q: Do you enjoy listening to any particular music while you’re working out?
A: My favorite music that moves me emotionally and physically is what I listen to over and over again--Etta James, Buddy Guy, Prince, Eric Clapton.
Q: Do you find that certain rituals enhance the workout?
A: I think there is something to that. Things like taking a shower and fixing your hair and what you eat. I’m usually really hungry after exercising and if I don’t have the right food around I’m upset because I might eat something really awful [and that] breaks the whole routine.
Q: What would be awful to eat?
A: There are varieties of food I wouldn’t have like chocolate or a Coca-Cola, but I would have really good healthy foods.
Q: What would that be?
A: Depends on the time of day. I exercise late at night so I drink water and eat fruit.
Q: When you don’t have time to do your full routine is there a particular exercise you don’t skip?
A: When there are time constraints or I’m pooped from work and can’t think about exercise, I lie in bed and do leg raises and crunches. I try to do 30 each leg, with as many repeats as I can muster. The reason I stay in bed is then I collapse into a deep sleep!
Q: Describe that bed, please.
A: My favorite is a huge bed. It’s big and comfy and not metal . . . a monstrosity . . . big and cozy and cushiony.
Q: Give us a hint on what to do when we just don’t feel like exercising.
A: The best thing is to go look in the mirror and you’re never going to think [that]. . . . And when you feel like you look good that’s when you tend to want to continue to exercise anyway.
Q: And how about a fashion tip for those mornings when we’ve torn apart the closet and every outfit still looks lousy?
A: Those are the days you should ignore what you see in the mirror and pretend that everything is great [including] the way you look. We may slump and not be smiling but if we pretend that all is fine . . . we look fine. Smile and stand straight and put on what you think you look great in. Of course, if you can’t zipper it up, then find a nice big comfy white shirt or floaty outfit.
* Guest Workout runs every other Tuesday in Life & Style.
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‘When my schedule is really tight . . . I can’t spend time at gyms. I keep buying equipment. It is taking over my home. . . .’-- Norma Kamali, Fashion designer
