An alumna of Saint Laurent — who also worked at Chloé under both Phoebe Philo and Clare Waight Keller earlier in her career — Kamali is the latest in a string of female designers to helm the Paris-based fashion house.Sarah Burton as creative director of Alexander McQueen
Born in Germany in 1981, Kamali studied fashion design at the Trier University of Applied Sciences and then graduated from Central Saint Martins, a constituent college of the University of the Arts in London, in 2007, beginning her career at Chloé as part of Philo’s team. Riccardo Bellini, president and chief executive officer at Chloé, said Kamali’s “extraordinary creative talent, extensive experience and unique connection with the brand’s legacy and values make her a natural choice for the maison.”
The designer, who hails from Uruguay, seemed to relish the role, upping Chloé’s shoe game by designing the low-impact Nama sneaker, and introducing a host of recycled and upcycled fabrics into her ready-to-wear collections. During a joint interview last February, Hearst and Bellini reported that revenues at Chloé gained 60 percent in the two years after the designer took up the creative helm, with recycled denim and linen Woody tote bags among items selling briskly — and all leaving a small environmental footprint.