With an emphasis on fit and bringing out a woman’s natural beauty, it’s no wonder his designs are adored by trendsetters and celebrities alike. Besides Queen Rania, his designs have adorned Penelope Cruz, Heidi Klum, Jennifer Lopez, and most recently Kim Kardashian and Keri Hilson (see gallery).

Rami Kashou

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Rami’s story is fascinating. After arriving in the U.S. in 1996, he worked in retail, which eventually led to a buying and merchandising position at a boutique in Los Angeles. After a stint of traveling to Europe as a buyer, he purchased two sewing machines and vigorously studied pattern making. “I would buy a piece, take it apart and inspect it, then I would learn,” he says. After three years of this self-education, he began creating the “One of a Kind” collection, which was picked up by various Los Angeles boutiques. The rest is history…

STATS
Hero: Coco Chanel and Alexander McQueen
Favorite Material: Silk
Song/Singer: Elissa “Tesaddaq Bi Meen”

1. What is the difference between style and fashion?
Fashion is a trend of the moment and it expires the minute the season is over. Whereas style does not have to be fashionable, it’s someone’s self-expression, it’s the way they dress, the way they present themselves — often the two merge.

2. If you could create an outfit for any model or actress, who would it be and why?
Angelina Jolie. I admire her purpose beyond being a huge Hollywood celebrity. She’s obviously beautiful, but what I appreciate is her sense of simplicity and I respect that she does not fall victim to every trend out there. She always shines in what she wears, and

it’s all about the person wearing the dress not the dress wearing the person.

3. What is the funniest or scariest thing that has happened to you during a fashion show?
In my Fall 2004 show, we were getting ready for the finale. In any venue things are likely to be dirty at times — rolling racks and things like that…anyway, the models were all lined up and as the show is about to start, I look at a model in one of the gowns and she has two huge rust stains on the front of the gown. I mean, it’s only a dress but at the time it was a really big deal — if you had dug me a hole and buried me, that would have been fine. I had to have my publicist do a therapy session on me and then we tried to save the dress — we tried to clean it with a wet wipe, blow-dried it — all within a matter of minutes. There was a tie in the front of the dress, so I ended up tying it strategically to fall where the stain was and we pinned it, so it stayed put. That same dress ended up on the front of the calendar for the Los Angeles Times a few days later.

4. What are the best attributes of a designer?
Creativity. A sixth sense — you’re always living in the future as a designer because you have to predict what’s to come. Understanding the psychology of the female (if you’re designing for women) — mind, body, spirit, everything because

fashion is not about making dresses, it’s about making people feel good.

Technicality: to be able to sew, make patterns, speak the language and communicate with the people who do that work, if you’re not. And finally, you have to be adventurous.

5. Where do you get your inspiration?
It could be anything, my last collection (see gallery) was inspired by Frank Gehry’s architecture in the Los Angeles Disney Concert Hall — there were sharp lines, curved lines and I just saw the draping. It could be an old movie or Grecian sculptures, once it was [Mehmet] Erté sketches, there’s really no limit, it’s just what speaks to me, what I respond to, and what I feel.

Some of Rami’s inspirations

6. How did you make the transition from being a designer to becoming a brand?
That’s all about constantly pushing and marketing, putting the work out there. You can be a designer, you can be very talented, very creative but if you don’t have the left-brain, business mind or don’t exercise that, it’s almost impossible to be a brand. It’s a very challenging thing to do — a brand needs a large sum of money, a clear point of view that makes it unique and distinct from other things in the market, and it needs to remain focused and find the balance between creativity and consistency. Because when you identify with a certain brand there needs to be that certain element that remains familiar — the thing that makes it memorable. And it’s important to stay true to yourself and not completely change every season.

For more on Rami’s work, visit www.ramikashou.com

Rania and model Jenna Hurt walk down the Red Carpet

Rania and Jenna pose backstage

Rania shows her design to the press

Posing with Oscar

STATS:
Arial or Helvetica: Helvetica!!!
Favourite Arab dialect: Egyptian, like Nour El-Sherif speaks it.
MAC or PC: Forever Mac!

1. Can you take us through the process of putting together a font?
It starts with an idea that you would sketch out on paper or on a computer. You decide what the design brief is, and go ahead and turn that idea into a typeface that fits the brief. This includes a lot of drawing and redrawing letterforms, and a long process of testing the typeface to see how it works in text. The final phase is font production where the typeface is generated as a working font software.

2. Being a “font maker” isn’t really the usual thing to do, so I’m curious, how did it all begin?
We had an amazing teacher, Samir Sayegh, who gave an Arabic Typography class in university. He got me interested in this topic and I very quickly developed a strong desire to draw Arabic letters. It’s a very small niche, but very fulfilling.

3. How does it feel to be the creator of a font, something people will use day in and day out and will show up on posters, papers, etc?
It’s immensely gratifying. I get a lot of amazing emails from people who love my fonts. It seems that this often overlooked domain touches peoples’ hearts on a very deep level. You wouldn’t expect it, but it’s true.

4. If you had to choose your favourite font, which one would it be, and why?

Of my fonts, it’s a tie between Koufiya, Frutiger Arabic, and Palatino Arabic. Of others it would be Adobe Arabic.

5. Do you feel that the Arab world will ever appreciate typography the same way they appreciate Arabic calligraphy?
If it were done well, then definitely, yes.

6. Where would you ideally like to see your work?
Somewhere far and unexpected. It’s always a jolt when you recognize your own typeface being used. I usually want to go stand next to it and start telling people that it’s mine. Thankfully, I don’t do that.

For more on Nadine and her fonts, visit her blog >>

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About the Author: Danah Abdulla was not born in Canada but has lived here since the age of two. A Palestinian with a degree from the University of Ottawa in something other than Engineering (Mass Communications, minor Commerce), she lives in Toronto where she works as a Digital Cultivator for a big advertising agency. She’s a freelance writer and a blogger. She likes to doodle, read, make jokes, and dance.