5 Need to Know Facts about the Calvin Klein Brand
Here at Messina Hembry we are BIG fans of the Calvin Klein brand and the CK range is one of our best sellers. Whilst we’re fully aware of the beautiful designs and awesome brand, we were interested to learn a bit more about this impressive company and share our findings with you…
In 1968, racy American designer Calvin Klein, launched his self-titled billion dollar fashion brand, providing Americans with sportswear advocating glamour, sexuality and minimalism. Four decades after débuting, Klein sold the company to Phillips van Heusen for a staggering £373 million. As one of the most iconic casual wear fashion houses today, and whilst sports deluxe is still a key 2015/16 trend.
- The Man Behind the Name
Calvin Richard Klein was born 1942 in the Bronx, New York. After being influenced to create fashion by his Grandmother who was a seamstress, he set up a Calvin Klein coat business with his friend Barry Schwartz in 1968. After successfully focusing on men’s sportswear, the pair expanded to include womenswear too.
In 2003 Calvin Klein removed himself from the throne and Brazilian born Francisco Costa took over as creative director for the brand. Costa reinvented the brand utilising the sports chic aesthetic and increased the brand recognition. Calvin himself is now divorced from two women (although recently has been proudly open about his homosexuality) and has one daughter named Marci, he has stepped out of the business for a few years although he is still a member of the company. Despite this, Klein is still one of the most successful American designers in the modern age.
- The Brand
The company is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, NYC with hundreds of stores and concessions across the globe and a major online presence since 2004. The brand was the first to place women in men’s jockey shorts and the brand became established with pushing the boundaries of controversy which recognised the brand as a household name.
The brand advocates fashionable sports and active wear in a casual but seemingly desirable way, using simple cuts; generally designing interchangeable separates using neutral palettes and modern silhouettes.
- The Controversial Advertising
You can’t introduce yourself as a fan of CK without being familiar with the scarcely dressed, seductive campaign advertisements which at the epicentre of commercial controversy, have been ridiculed over the years for encouraging sexualisation of minors. Calvin Klein’s risky advertising campaigns include a rather conspicuous, 1980’s adolescent Brooke Shields, wearing CK jeans and posing next to the tagline “Do you know what comes between me and my Calvin’s? Nothing.” Causing uproar due to the models young age (Shields was a tender 15 years old at the time of shooting), CBS eventually banned the ad campaign.
British modelling icon Kate Moss was also featured in many CK advertising campaigns, posing topless with Mark Wahlberg in 1992 at the pubescent age of just 17. For their Fall/Winter campaign in 1995 Calvin Klein photographed several young looking models posing in the underwear in what looked like a basement – causing controversy and claims that the imagery promoted underage pornography.
However, despite the precarious connotations, the well-known phrase ‘sex sells’ worked in Klein’s favour. Curiously, the accredited designer of men’s and women’s underwear also has a Germanic surname meaning ‘small’ – how’s that for irony?
- The CK Products
Despite Klein cancelling his ‘socially inappropriate’ young model advertising campaigns for his main brand, he still used suggestive images for the sales of his fragrances, which enhanced success and sales for his major fragrances; Escape, Eternity and Obsession. The CK fragrances, jeans and underwear are the most well-known product branches of the CK brand, however Calvin Klein has numerous collections including home, watches & jewellery and lifestyle. The brand is split into several product lines as well, including the Calvin Klein Collection which is the top-end designer black label, CK Calvin Klein which is their grey label, Calvin Klein Sport and so on.
- Awards and Achievements
Klein has won several awards over the years for his clothing lines and was the youngest designer to receive the prestigious Coty Award (three times in a row!) and in 1982, 83 and 1986, he won the Council of Fashion Designers of America Award.
As an avid fan of CK clothing but also as avid bargain hunters, we can’t always justify paying for the full price merchandise. However, we’re here to provide you with a cheaper alternative and who can’t be proud of owning Calvin Klein preloved clothes?!
We always say, the best way to educate is to stimulate – and what better way to stimulate those senses than to climb into an authentic but reasonably priced CK shirt? The sensual advertising may be banned but the feeling when you slip into a pair of twenty-quid original CK jeans will be just as overwhelming!
