She’s a sculptor with a keen eye for style. Lamis Khamis tells 7DAYS how she customised her career

Scouring the clothes stores and sifting through rails of trousers and shirts to cut up and customise, Lamis Khamis knew she wanted to follow a career in fashion. And as she sat on her bed, painstakingly hand stitching her garments, she imagined that one day she’d be able to sell her offerings in the shops.

Little did she know, celebrities would also be lapping up her creations and magazines would snap her designs on the likes of Kylie Minogue, Paris Hilton and the Pussycat Dolls.

Lamis, who was born in Iraq, raised in London and now lives in Dubai, started making her own clothes at a young age because she couldn’t find what she wanted in the shops.

“As I didn’t have the skills at the time to use a sewing machine, I was good at hand stitching. Throughout my teenage years I would go shopping to buy plain pieces of clothing like denim trousers or T-shirts and then would spend hours finding unusual trimmings to change the look of it. I would add patches, badges, buttons, sequins and beads,” she explains.

“I would go to markets such as Camden and Portobello and also to the bead shop in Covent Garden. These places are still an inspiration for what I create today.”

Despite the popularity of her work, Lamis surprisingly never had any formal training in fashion. She’s actually a trained artist who studied ceramics and sculpture.

She says: “Fashion has changed so much from what it used to be. I don’t feel you need the skills to make the garment. You just need the ideas. Most manufacturers have their own in-house pattern makers, cutters and quality control.”

Lamis says she uses her sculpture design skills to communicate her requirements to manufacturers with sketches and detailed drawings of measurements of each garment.

“I would do the same if it was a piece of sculpture.

The only difference is that it’s a different material. “In sculpture I might be sketching ideas to be used on metal like steel. In fashion it would be fabric. It’s the same process from start to finish, making constant decisions until you reach the final design which you have originally sketched.”

Lamis says she loves designing clothes regardless of whether they’ll be worn by A-listers or the woman on the street.

“It’s not important to me if celebrities wear my clothes, but some of my customers really love the celebrities that I have dressed so they like to buy similar pieces. There is nothing wrong with it - it’s normal in today’s culture,” she says.

“I dressed Katie Price very early on in her career. She is more famous in the UK than Paris Hilton and also the most photographed celebrity in the UK. I admire her as she is a very good mother, the way she manages to juggle her career with her family life. I love strong and independent women and I suppose that is why I am drawn to people like Paris Hilton and Katie Price. I get on very well with both of them - they are very down to earth.”And Lamis’ fashion tip for 2010?

As 7DAYS predicted last week - military wear.

She adds: “I think combat and army clothes are going to be really big for 2010, all customised, printed and ripped which is great for me as I make combat army clothes every season.

“Also, oversized T-shirts, jackets and dresses adding a lot of volume on the shoulders. Not high shoulder pads like 2009, but large oversized dropped shoulder pads or vast shoulders very late 1980’s to early 1990’s style, matched with a small waistline.

“Colours will be neutrals, browns, beiges, dusty pinks, blues, navy and of course army green.”

Find Lamis Khamis’ designs at Tiger Lily boutiques in Wafi and on Al Wasl Road