Known for his innovative designs, signature draping and always doing his best, Rami Kashou always seeks to bring the goddess in every woman with elegance, femininity and style. These being some of many reasons he was successful in project runway and celebrities like Jessica Alba, Penelope Cruz, Dita Von Teese, Heidi Klum, Jennifer Lopez and Fergie, to name a few, loved his designs. Fustany had a chat with Rami to let you know more about him and his interesting journey.  

F: Tell us more about your journey and how did you start?

R: It has always been a childhood dream of mine and I have always known I wanted to be a designer. My mother was very much into fashion before she passed away in an early age. She was Miss Jordan at one point. I remember being interested in what she was wearing. My stepmother came into the picture later; she would let me design her clothes. It all started when the neighbors would come over and they would look at my sketches. Then I was asked to design their dresses. It led to my first traditional fashion show in school where I choreographed and directed all of the embroidered Palestinian gowns and the traditional wear. Afterwards I knew the minute I finished high school that I was going to go to design school and my parents were very supportive of the whole idea. I ended up going to the United States and took a few courses but never finished design.

Afterwards I decided to engage in the retail business and started working in Hollywood. I had all the ideas and the drive and passion for it, I just didn't know how to get myself in that circle. I went to second hand stores, bought used jackets, dresses and vintage pieces, which I would just take apart to study the pattern process. I began to sew throughout my free time on the weekends and I was very much into it. The vision was very strong and I felt like nothing is going to stop me. From there on I started calling up stores that might have been interested in up and coming designer's work. I got turned down at first but then I got an appointment through a friend to this really nice boutique in West Hollywood. I walked in with my mannequin and my collection and at the time I was doing one of a kind; sewn designs, recycled sweaters, furs and leather and she loved the pieces. One store became three stores and it happened that some of these stores had celebrities that shop there often.

I got introduced to Jessica Alba through one of the stores because she liked the pieces, so that's how I started to work with celebrities and at the same time I was selling some of the pieces at the boutique I was working at as well. Eventually I knew that the time has come where I needed to leave the retail business and just dedicate my time to design. I was then contacted by a nonprofit organization called Genart that gives a helping hand to small new designers. I was one of eight designers and that was my first show. I got afterwards a nice review in the Los Angeles Times, more stylists and people became aware of my work. It helped with more sales which led to a publicist and I got to cover Women's Wear Daily. Then I started working with more celebrities, more stores and showed my work in different high end boutiques; it was a transition. It was a long journey but I accomplished a lot of good things. 

F: Why did you join Project Runway and how did it affect your career?

R: I was skeptical about being in a reality TV show, because you sell your privacy away to the public which was scary but at the same time I thought about it as a business move. For a designer like myself who is self financed and has a small business, I needed that kind of exposure that I don't think that any money can really pay for. It was a gamble, it was a big risk; you are going on this show and you don't know any little turn you might lose a challenge and you go home. The show lasted on television for three months, so for three months people got to see my work and I was fortunate enough to be a finalist and go to the fashion week. It opened a lot of doors for me; I didn't know that it was as big as it is until I left.

I got an amazingly positive feedback and support. For instance, I was honored in the Los Angeles City Hall and I was invited to the Home Shopping Network, where you sell clothes on television. I designed clothes for the network, was a guest there and sold my designs; you sell thousands of pieces within three minutes. It was great advertisement for my brand and I got a lot of requests through the website for special orders and it introduced a whole new direction for me; bridal gowns. In the past year I designed seven wedding gowns. It might be a new path for me but I am enjoying it very much.

Middle Eastern press was really great; I got featured on Alarabeya and Alhorra, so that was really nice to be able to cross over to the Middle East. I got amazing opportunities like I'm now working on costume designing for musicals that might be on Broadway New York, which is a new venture. It helped the sales and advertisement and I'm working with more celebrities now because they automatically know your name and brand. I was one of the lucky ones, the judges liked my work and I lasted so long. I had my first Arabic wedding in Lebanon, I just designed a wedding gown for a Lebanese bride and it was this big beautiful wedding. So that is the reward, I don't think this bride would have heard about me had I not put myself out there on something on that level.

F: Tell us more about your upcoming collection and your future plans? 

R: The upcoming collection is Spring/Summer 2010 and it is going to be a collection that is focused on detail architecture for both the cocktail hour and the evening; it will also have hints of bridal but at the same time not exclusive to that. I am going to do it in a new presentation and instead of a runway show I am planning on shooting it as a fashion art installation, where you can see fabric in motion and the manipulation of designs and how different types of fabrics react to motion of the body. It is more of a 3D visual kind of effect that I think would be really nice as it will be accessible to more than just people coming to a show.

The next plan is hopefully trying to work on doing a show in the Middle East, as I am getting a lot of clients from the Middle East. So the goal would be to work with more Middle Eastern women and celebrities. There is definitely a market for Middle Eastern women; because they can relate to my clothes. I always like to design things that are elegant and sexy in a respectful way and in a way it kind of goes with the culture. My clothes aren't revealing in a way that is controversial. This is something I want to focus on, being a Palestinian as myself and a proud Arab who was born and raised in Palestine; I would like to be connected to that side of the world as well as much as I am to the United States.

F: Where do you get your inspiration while designing?

R: Generally my inspiration is women. I think that every season is a new way how you can redefine a woman's natural beauty, so that never goes out of style. Elegance, sophistication they are always elements that outline what it is from my point of view. In terms of specific stories, details and ideas for a collection it really is about manipulation of materials. Mixing different fabrics and different types of silk, like chiffon and silk organza, it's really more about the focus of the shape and textures and architectures and organic shapes; all these details play a part in the gown. So other than that I have been inspired by vintage pieces, old Hollywood movies, music; it could be anything really.   

F: What is the importance of celebrities wearing your designs?

R: It is always a plus to work with a celebrity that you respect their work and you like. After the show, Heidi Klum requested me to design some looks for her and my designs appeared in all the magazines when she was photographed, wearing them. It gave me a lot of publicity because someone like Heidi Klum, who is an amazing supermodel, people look up to and what she wears, so that was very beneficial for me as well. It helps the brand, the publicity and helps the sales of course.

F: What's your favorite quote? 

R: There's more than one. Well the first one that comes to mind is "At the end of the day it's just clothes". If there's this one theme that goes differently than the way you expected there are so many feelings and emotions tied into it. It can be very dramatic at times but I have to remind myself it's just clothes; because it's a form of art, it's an idea, so much goes behind one dress and one design, and it's more serious than the way it seems.

"Never take no for an answer"

"Thoughts become things" so whatever you put into your mind and whatever you're determined to do it will eventually materialize if you want it bad enough and you focus on it.  In other words anything is possible.

F: If you look back, what would you change or do differently?

R: I think everything happens for a reason, there's nothing really that I regret. Everything I did in terms of work I tried my best and worked hard. I wouldn't change anything, because even a mistake can get me to where I am today. Sometimes out of a negative experience a positive thing comes out of it.

 F: If you weren't a fashion designer, what would you be? 

R: A chef, I love to cook. I would open a restaurant and be the chef with an international cuisine having the Middle Eastern flavor. The way we spice and we use flavor into food is amazing but I would even apply it to western food.

F: Three things you can't live without?

R: Coffee, music and art; these are three things just from the top of my head that I could think of. 

F: What is the most important quality in a woman that you like to highlight with your designs?

R: Her face; I think the design should revolve around the woman wearing my design and not my design wearing her. So in a way when I design it's kind of like framing who she is as a person.

F: Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

R: I would love to have a boutique in the Middle East and I would also love to have one somewhere in the United States possibly New York and still keeping it kind of exclusive in a way where a woman can come and possibly meet with me and have things costum made but also buy ready to wear. I would love to have an accessory line ready such as handbags and shoes.  

For more information about Rami Kashou, visit www.ramikashou.com