Nasty Gal is antifashion in that we encourage girls to choose what fashion means to them. We aren’t just following, and neither are our customers. I’m getting more and more comfortable with one foot in the fashion world and one foot out. As I’ve gotten to know more people in the fashion industry, it’s been refreshing to realize that a lot of them respect me because, as an outsider, I have a unique point of view.
Had I tried to fit in, Nasty Gal would have crashed and burned a long time ago. The last thing the world needs is another boring person or another boring brand, so embrace all the things that make you different. Alter your clothes all you want, but don’t you dare alter your inner freak—she’s got your back as much as I do.
Getting What You Want Even When You No Longer Want It
Far and away, the hardest thing for me to get used to about Nasty Gal’s meteoric rise is that my own profile has risen with it. For years I prided myself on being anonymous, an expert at the art of avoiding human interaction. But today I could be walking along picking my nose, grabbing my boyfriend’s butt, or trying on lip gloss in Sephora when suddenly someone sidles up to me and says, “You know, I really love Nasty Gal.”
There’s no way around it: The success of Nasty Gal means that my life has permanently changed. I’ve been tagged on Twitter by people who saw me going through airport security, running down a mountain in Big Sur, and sitting in the driveway of my own house. I’ve had people I don’t know come up to me at parties and introduce themselves by saying, “Hey, I heard we’re neighbors!” They’re thrilled, but I’m thinking, Who are you and how do you know where I live?
I once Instagrammed a picture of my poodle, Donna, without realizing that my phone number was visible on her tag. When I started to get calls and texts from strangers, I was forced into changing the number that I’d had for years.
Once, at a meeting with my bank, they gave me a gift. It was a book called Silent Safety: Best Practices for Protecting the Affluent. The book had chapters with titles such as “Yacht Security” and “Surviving a Hostage Situation.” I thought it was absurd, until it began to terrify me. Holy shit, is this the way I’m supposed to live my life now?
I’m not complaining—this is all just stuff that I’m still getting used to. For example, it’s weird to go through life being congratulated on a daily basis. In a single year, I had a profile in Forbes, was on the cover of Entrepreneur, listed on CNNMoney’s 40 Under 40, Inc.com’s 30 Under 30, and named by Inc. magazine as the fastest-growing retailer in the country. Our office has consumed a whole hell of a lot of champagne, but how many bottles can you pop? Remember, #GIRLBOSS: It’s not cool to get drunk on your own success.
PORTRAIT OF A #GIRLBOSS:
Norma Kamali, Fashion Designer and Entrepreneur
When I was young, I was so smart and was sure I could do anything. I was convinced I could be a painter and did everything from intensive life drawing while worshipping Michelangelo to studying art history and painting with a passion. My mother convinced me that painting may not be the best way to earn a living and pay rent.
I was very lucky to receive scholarships and grants for my paintings, but also a scholarship to FIT. There I studied fashion illustration and found my way into design after traveling to London in the 1960s. I opened a store in 1967 and have been in business ever since.
I learned early on the motto “Know thyself.” I think if you have a unique point of view and stay relevant and authentic, you will make an impression. You have to be excited and passionate about your ideas to make them work. Chances are it will take twenty of those good ideas before one sticks and has a chance to become real, but a good idea is only good if there is a well-thought-out plan to make it a reality.
The most important thing to do is to take risks. The risks are where breakthroughs happen, and big shifts take you to new places and create opportunities. They can be really scary and intimidating, but that means it is taking you out of your comfort zone.
All designers look at life through a creative lens and are inclined to create their brand of beauty in their everyday lives. I am happy to say it brings me joy and I love doing it for others as well. I prefer to be creative first and famous last.
My mother told me when I was eleven years old, “Learn how to take care of yourself so that the man you marry is the man you choose to be with and not just the man who will take care of you.” Women have an opportunity now to change the world. We are all aware of the movement toward women becoming a significant force in the chance for real dynamic change. When things aren’t working so well, like now, it becomes a disruptive time.
My advice would be to dream and never stop dreaming. Making my dreams come true has always inspired me to work hard. One dream is never enough, and your dream can be molded and finessed along the way to become relevant and successful.
8
On Hiring, Staying Employed, and Firing
I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.
—Estée Lauder
It’s a huge testament to Nasty Gal that so many people want to work there. I’m incredibly proud of the team that I’ve hired. You would be hard-pressed to find a harder-working, more creative bunch of freaks anywhere in the world.
In my relatively short career, I’ve hired and been hired multiple times, fired and been fired a few times, and stayed employed once (yay, Nasty Gal!). That qualifies me to give advice on all three.
On Hiring
I was always able to get a job—although keeping it was sometimes a different story. Even when I applied for a minimum wage job at the outlet mall, I handed in a résumé with my application, and that résumé always had an objective neatly typed out at the top, such as “To procure a sales position at a respected retail establishment.” If I dropped an application off and wasn’t able to speak with the manager in person, I always followed up with a phone call, or dropped by again to annoy the establishment into remembering me. I hit the manager with everything that I had, convincing him or her that I wanted nothing more in the world than a chance to spend my afternoons helping old ladies slide their feet into a pair of orthopedic pumps.
And that’s my first rule of hiring: Although playing hard to get might be cute in the dating world, it won’t fly with potential employers. They don’t have time to court you, so you had better romance the hell out of them. Competition is stiff—particularly in a tight job market and tough economy—so unless you can sweep someone off his or her feet, unemployed you will stay. Ideally, you’ll be applying for a job that you genuinely think is interesting and exciting. If you’re not, #GIRLBOSS, then fake it till you make it.
The Necessary Eviclass="underline" Cover Letters
It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.