By Kari Molvar

In our series My Detox, T asks creative people to share the homemade recipes they count on to cleanse and refresh.
“Lemon and ginger will take you where you want to go,” says the New York-based designer, author and wellness entrepreneur Norma Kamali, referring to the simple tonic — made by steeping sliced lemon and ginger in hot water — that she drinks at the start and end of each day. “It’s de-bloating, cleanses the system and reduces acidity,” she says, “and it just makes me feel good.” Growing up in Manhattan in the 1950s, Kamali was raised with a holistic approach to health and well-being. Her Lebanese mother would often prepare fresh juices — made from carrots, celery and spinach —for the family and do stretches and calisthenics in the living room of their apartment on East 78th Street. Kamali channeled her own interest in the body into fashion design. She graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1963 and, five years later, launched her eponymous fashion label, whose innovative, modern takes on sportswear — striking slim-cut swimsuits, billowy silk dresses with parachute-like drawstrings, sleeping-bag-style puffer coats— have had a lasting influence on the way we dress.
Staying fit and healthy is “the ultimate key tobeauty,” says Kamali, 74, who in 2001 opened a forward-thinking wellness cafe within her West 56th Street boutique (it has since closed, but Kamali plans to bring it back next year). The space sold everything from kale chips to organic facial scrubs to her own brand of olive oil, which she recommends for its array of fatty acids and antioxidants and its skin moisturizing capabilities. Kamali also fits in some form of exercise every day — usually the barre workout Physique 57, yoga or gyrokinesis, a body-alignment method involving fluid, elongating movements — and she is similarly committed to alternative approaches to healing, including acupuncture facials (she co-wrote a book, “Facing East,” with her acupuncturist, Dr. Jingduan Yang, in 2016), light-box therapy and Thai massages.