Designer Naeem Khan celebrates 20th anniversary at New York Fashion Week
NEW YORK -- He has dressed everyone from Michelle Obama to Kate Middleton, and recently Viola Davis and Pamela Anderson.
On the final night of New York Fashion Week, CBS2 caught up with designer Naeem Khan.
"In fashion, 20 years go by in a minute," Khan said.
Khan presented 50 glittering and sparkling new looks at his 20th anniversary show for his "House of Khan," and made sure at the end his dog was included in the fun.
But before that victory lap, the 64-year-old legendary designer shared with a VIP crowd his latest work: bold, dramatic, wearable.
"I've been known for fringe. I've been doing fringe for, like, 15 years, and I just feel when a dress moves, and it moves by itself, where you're not even moving, you know, just a little move and the whole dress is moving, I think there is such an entrance and it's so beautiful to see all that movement," Khan said.
"He has, like, effortless glamour, which is so hard to get. Like it's a dress that comes past and you stop and, I turned to the lady next to me and I was like, 'The material is just beautiful,'" one woman said.
"I had a dream and that dream when I was 14 to be a designer and to dress the first lady the United States. When you dream ... dreams come true, but you also have to work hard and you have to be dedicated to it to such a point that every cell of your body has to be dedicated to your job and just going for it with everything you have," Khan said.
He continued, "To do clothes for important people ... royalty, the moments and what do you put them in is so important. If you look at Pamela Anderson, what she was wearing, it was so appropriate, like it was taking something of her past and making it into an evening dress."
As for Viola Davis, Khan said, "Viola, amazing. All that movement and all the geometry of making that dress, all the different techniques in it, and she is such a legend."
A rose was given to everyone in attendance at a show that is being described as a love-filled gift to women's fashion.
"It's about happiness. It's about living life. It's as simple as the colors of life," Khan said.
"I'm a fellow designer, and I'm always just awed by his craft. I mean, it's amazing, the technique that comes through in every dress. And he learned his dress-making craft ... as a teenager, so it comes through it every way. I think the real challenge is to make clothes that women want to wear. That's so important. Naeem understands that when a woman goes out at night, she wants to look glamorous and gorgeous and spectacular, and he does it every single time," fashion designer and author Jeffrey Banks said.
"I think having a positive mind with having a love for life, I think it keeps you going," Khan said.
He said he still feels like that little kid in his native India, with the big dreams, who made it big after moving to New York in the 1970s.
And now, youthful excitement and constant expansion keeps driving him, with new exhibitions, new stores, and always more glamour.
