Iconic New York fashion designer Norma Kamali has been credited as the New Wave visionary responsible for changing the face of fashion in the early '80s with her signature designs. The sleeping-bag coat. The sweatshirt dress. The high-heeled sneaker. Even leggings.

With such couture accomplishments, you could be forgiven for thinking Ms. Kamali would be content to rest on her laurels, taking lunch in Saint-Tropez with Yves Saint Laurent and Valentino—but you'd be wrong. She's been working hard lately on her esteemed Wellness line of products, as well as launching a Wellness Café in New York.

Wellness? As it turns out, this Fashion Walk of Famer is a former smoking, drinking party girl—a style maven who used to rub shoulders with Andy Warhol at Studio 54 back in the day. How, then, does she account for her youthful glow, which makes her appear easily 20 years younger than the age on her driver's license (62, if you must). She credits it all to olive oil.

Olive oil is the core of the Norma Kamali Wellness collection, along with the aforementioned café, which stocks confections with—yes, olive oil. The genesis of Kamali's passion for olive oil grew out of a pilgrimage to Europe, which saw her on a quest to seek out the best oils of Tuscany, La Mancha and Grasse. "I am very concerned about America consuming so much high-fructose sugar and not nearly enough extra-virgin olive oil," says Kamali. "If Americans cooked with olive oil every day they'd see a profound change. Substitute it for all your fats—eat it, put it on your body."

This Mediterranean fruit oil is chock-full of properties that translate well to a health line: It boosts longevity, helps you see better, think quicker, have suppler skin and stronger bones. Kamali's line consists primarily of natural and organic extra-virgin olive oil-based body and skin care products infused with botanicals, fragrances like Violette, Jazmin and Lavande (oh-so French), ingestibles like Lovely Bubbly (a frizzante, floral-infused soft drink), and the oils themselves of course. The packaging? Quintessential Kamali style—both strong and soft at once, with simple yet exquisite glass apothecary bottles, matte-metallic silver labels and minimal lettering.

Found online at barxv.com and select stores in the U.S. and Europe, the line really showcases best at Kamali's New York fashion boutique-cum-headquarters on West 56th Street. This all-white retail environment features glowing, backlit shelving that displays the Wellness products so that they appear to "float" in a light-as-air atmosphere.

Floral Water Dilute any stressful situation with this calming face spay infused with lavande.	Lavande universal crème Lavish this moisturizer with the soothing effects of lavande all over.	Lovely Bubbly Experience the aroma of this rose-scented soft drink inside and out.

Bestselling author, wellness guru and Kamali friend Dr. Andrew Weil says, "[Norma] has studied my work on nutrition and healthy aging, is committed to following and encouraging others to follow lifestyles that promote wellness and is now distributing products that make that easier, including some of the best extra-virgin olive oils I have tasted. I love using them in my kitchen."

Weil's not alone in his professional praise for what could be dismissed as merely an offshoot of a fashion line. Recently, Kamali was an invited non-medical guest at this year's Nutrition and Health conference in San Diego (and we're quite certain she was the most stylish).

In an industry where the delineation between next big thing and has-been is spaghetti-strap thin, Kamali's three decades in the fashion business have afforded her a unique perspective. While her creativity still blossoms in her designs (both couture and ready-to-wear collections for Spiegel and Everlast), it's her Wellness line that channels her concern for her clients' self-esteem.

"For years I would meet young models at go-sees (fashion-speak for auditions) and they were, and still are for the most part, a mess. These girls are victims of our negligence, with all kinds of ailments—like obsessive-compulsive disorder—and most of these young women have zero knowledge of nutrition. It's time that changed."

For her part, this fashion titan has the credibility to promote an alternative for those who strut the catwalk—or just walk the sidewalk.