Norma Kamali is Transforming the Future of Fashion with AI

By MIT News
April 22, 2025

Norma Kamali is a well-known fashion designer.
She built a long career over fifty years.
She loves new art.
She works with AI to shape new fashion.
Celebrities like Whitney Houston and Jessica Biel have worn her work.
Now she mixes style with smart tools.

Embracing AI to Create New Art

Kamali met experts in Abu Dhabi.
They spoke with her after a show of her Walmart work.
The experts asked her to try an AI fashion tool.
She planned a tool that uses her 57-year archive.
She called it a "closed-loop AI tool."
This tool builds on what she did before.
"I thought, AI could be my Karl Lagerfeld," she said.
Her words make a link between past and future.

Kamali joined a course at MIT Professional Education in 2023.
The course "Applied Generative AI for Digital Transformation" taught her new skills.
The course helped her pair her art with AI.
She said, "I was not sure how much I could do at first… the more I learned, the more ideas I had."
Her words show her steady move from doubt to many ideas.
She worked with prompts and training data.
Each word and idea built on the last.

Creative Work with Art and AI

Kamali worked with a model by Maison Meta.
She used AI to rework a famous look of hers.
Her design had black garments with silver studs.
She fed the AI with small changes of her shapes.
Each prompt led to new results.
"It felt like magic," she said.
Her voice binds art to tech in clear steps.

Kamali found value in AI errors.
These small faults gave her fresh art forms.
She said, "Some of the best fashion is odd."
Her work shows that tech can be a kind friend to art.

A New Era in Fashion

Bhaskar Pant from MIT Professional Education spoke about change.
He said, "While some worry over AI, we help people reach new heights."
His words support Kamali’s path.
Her work with AI has changed how she views art.
She sees that a machine adds to art in a new way.
As sewing skills fade, new tools work with the old.

Sustainability through Technology

Kamali sees more than art when she thinks on AI.
She sees a way to cut waste and lower chemical use.
She paints a picture of picking the right fabric with a machine.
She says, "Imagine you design a dress online and a machine makes it step by step."
Her words bind green ideas with smart use of tech.

Abel Sanchez at MIT teaches the same course.
He said Kamali is part of a group that uses AI for change.
He said, "Generative AI opens many ways for business to rework its design, its process, and its links with buyers."
His voice links knowledge to new work.

The Future of AI in Fashion

Kamali now displays her AI art on her website next to her old work.
Her work stands as a guide for new ideas.
Her style binds tech and art as close neighbors.
Each sentence of her work adds to a new discussion.

She knows that AI moves fast.
She said, "AI moves so fast, I will need to study more."
For those who feel lost, she paints this picture:
"Imagine landing in a small town where the language is unknown, food is strange, and you feel lost.
That is what it is like if you do not learn about AI. The train left; it is time to join."

Kamali keeps her mind open for each new step.
"Why stop now?" she asks.
Her words tie art, tech, and change in each new idea.