The fashion designer Norma Kamali, 72, has experienced the ebb and flow of the feminist movement for decades.
“We scream a lot and then we hit a wall and we scream a lot and we hit a wall,” said Kamali in an interview Monday with Cheddar. The only way to avoid repeating that loop: “We have to speak to men.”
Only through dialogue will feminists be able to be turn their activism into real change, she said, adding, “we have to say ‘what are your fears? We don’t want to take your power, we want to share the power with you.'"
Kamali launched the [“Stop Objectification”](http://www.stopobjectification.com/) campaign in 2012 to spur change in the fashion industry, which she said has historically thrived on objectifying women.
In an interview with [Teen Vogue](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/norma-kamali-female-objectification), Kamali said the campaign was in part inspired by her own experience being objectified. During her first job interview, she told the magazine, “the man interviewing me asked me to put my portfolio down and turn around for him."
Last year, news media investigations exposed the inappropriate ー and possibly illegal ー behavior a number of powerful men, including the Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. The exposure of such predatory behavior gave rise to the widespread #MeToo movement, in which women shared their stories of harassment as a form of empowerment.
Kamali said that women's stories are helping men and women discuss the issues of gender equality and workplace conduct with a more open mind, doing away with preconceived notions of what a man or a woman should do based on traditional gender roles.
“There isn’t a handbook,” she said. “You don’t have to open a door for women, we’re totally OK with opening the doors ourselves. We want respect and we want to share that respect with men.”
The designer who invented the sleeping bag coat celebrated 50 years in the fashion industry earlier this year. She says [designers of the future](https://cheddar.com/videos/norma-kamali-on-the-future-of-fashion) will stay relevant by adapting to more automated supply chains and finding creative ways to engage with customers.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/norma-kamali-celebrates-50-years-of-fashion-innovation).
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
