AN EVOLUTION
Contents: 4-8
Introduction - Calvin Klein
9 - 10
Sportswear
11-14
Jeans
15 - 24
1980s and Underwear
25 - 34
1990s and Heroin Chic
35- 38
2000s and Controversies
Calvin Richard Klein was born on 19th November 1942 in the Bronx, New York. As a child he rejected boyhood activites and spent much of his time sewing and drawing. He attended New York’s High School of Art and Design, before graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1962. Having left education in 1962, Klein undertook an apprenticeship for designer Dan Miillstein in New York City’s famed garment district. It wasn’t until 1968 that Klein founded his own company, Calvin Klein Ltd., with help and financial backing from his childhood friend Barry Schwartz. The company was later changed to Calvin Klein Inc.. His initial focus was on outerwear, and Klein prospered after receiving a mass order of coats from retailer Bonxit Teller. Some years later, Klein had become successful enough to buy out his former mentor Millstein and occupied his offices. In 1972 Klein expanded his design range to include women’s sportswear. Working with a neutral palette described in Adweek as “modern, subdued and monochromatic”, Klein introduced a line of ‘signature’
separates, including sweaters, skirts, dress skirts and pants that were applicable to both day and evening wear. By the late 70s, Klein made a name for himself as a young, wealthy and talented designer, appearing often in his advertisements. With the success of the 70s, Klein’s brand appeal lead to the introduction of menswear, accessories, lingerie, eyewear and subsequently expanded into frangrances. However, once the early 1990s hit, Calvin Klein had to sell his underwear and jeans divisions in order to reduce debt. In spite of this, the firm has since prospered and expanded into global markets. Known for his marketing talents, Klein went on to hire such photographers as Richard Avedon, Diane Arbus, Bruce Weber and Irving Penn for many of his photography shoots and television commercials. In 1973, Klein was selected by 400 fashion reporters as the winner of the Coty American Fashion Critics Award. He went on to win two more of the same award (in 1974 and 1975) and on 25th June 1975 was elected to the American Hall of Fame of Fashion.
“I felt that the American lifestyle had changed, for the most part, women today spend their time and energy working in addition to participating in all aspects of home and community. Their lives have changed and there is little time for wardrobe planning.� - Calvin Klein
“Calvin Klein has an innate but nonconformist sense of classic line and a unique understanding of today’s blend of casualness, luxury, and moderate price. “
In spite of his numerous awards and enormous commercial success, Klein found himself at the centre of controversy in the mid 1990s. An advertising campaign featuring young models in intimate poses drew a lot of negative attention and Klein was forced to withdraw the advertisement following critics claims that they were likened to child pornography. In spite of this, Kleins various fashion lines still held worldwide appeal, with a retail presence of Klein boutiques provided in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Klein was quoted in Womens Wear Daily stating “Global expansion is a strategy that will take us beyond 2000 to accomplish what we’ve set out to do.” It is thought that Calvin Klein almost single-handedly boosted the status of the United States in the fashion design world. In the early 1970s when economy was the trend, Klein brought simplicity, elegence and luxury to a more affordable level. His use of every day materials like cotton and wool took the place of more popular and expensive fabrics. As well as this Klein made a name of rejecting the use of colour, favouring very neutral tones.
Klein’s greatest innovation to the fashion world can now often be referred to as “casual chic”. His designs coined this term due to their reliance on the use of separates, allowing wearers to mix and match, creating a variety of outfits. Womens Wear Daily also quoted Klein to say “I’ve always had a clear design philosophy and point of view about being modern, sophiscticated, sexy, clean and minimal. They all aply to my design aesthetic.” As well as being an innovator in the design world, Klein’s advertising and marketing techniques were costly, controvercial, and have propelled the fashion world into popular culture. Much of the success of these campaigns is brought about by the consequent publicity, which undoubtably helped Klein expand his empire. In this process, he changed the way the fashion was marketed industry-wide. “If people set out to be controversial, they’ll never make it. But if something is really good, interesting or thought-provoking, you get into risk-taking and pushing boundaries and questioning values, and it can be ultimately controversial. We need newness and excitement in fashion. That’s what puts the fun in clothes!” - Klein, 1994
One of the main factors contributing to Clavin Klein Inc.’s financial success was it’s much lower prices than two of it’s biggest competitors; Ralph Lauren and Anne Klein, and so the firm won the loyalty of young working women as well as older wealthier buyers. Calvin Klein merchandise became so popular that the company had the allowance to choose which stores they wanted to carry their products and blacklisted those that tried to return unsold goods to the company. In 1978, over seven hundred buyers and reporters were turned away from Klein’s Fall fashion show, and the buyers who did get in placed $28 million worth of orders in 48 hours. Klein’s first menswear collection was introduced in 1978. Klein told the New York Times that he approached designing men’s clothing in the same way he approached designing for women, saying “they’re for Americans who like simple, comfortable but stylish clothes - but with nothing overscale or extreme.” This was also the year that Klein introduced his own line of fragrances, along with a complete make-up collection of 18 beauty and skin-care products, which exaggerated neutral colours, giving the face a natural effect when wearing it. However, the perfume that was needed to anchor the whole collection never caught on with the public, and in 1980 the frangrance and make up business was sold to Minnetonka Inc.
“I’ve always had a clear design philosophy and point of view about being modern, sophisticated, sexy, clean, and minimal. They all apply to my design aesthetic.” - Calvin Klein
Calvin Klein jeans however were set to become the company’s most successful asset. Klein tried to capitalise on the craze for designer jeans in 1976 but at $50 a pair, it was a failure. However, in the following year, Calvin Klein Inc. made a deal to redesign the product fpr Puritans Fashion Corp., the largest dress manufacturers in the world. In Klein’s redesign, he raised the groin of his jeans, accentuating the crotch and pulled the seam behind them to give the rear of the jeans more shape. The image below shows a Times Square billboard of model Patti Hanson on her hands and knees, which her back arched, clearly showing the Calvin klein label on the right hip of the jeans she is wearing. This billboard caused a sensation and remained up in Times Square for fours years.By 1979, Calvin Klein jeans were only second to Gloria Vanderbilt in the designer jeans sales, holding one fifth of the market, probably due to a company spokesman’s statement: “The tighter they are, the better they sell”. However, it may have been the introduction of the designer jeans label that initiated and probably caused Calvin Klein’s reputation for being an advocate of the phrase ‘sex sells’.
“They knew exactly what they wanted, there was no hesitation. You went in, and you knew you were going to get a great photo.” -Patti Hansen
“I look at these pictures now and I still am sort of shocked that they became so legendary. You can’t plan on being iconic.” - Brooke Shields
One of the biggest lifts to Calvin Klein’s jeans was the television advertisement (directed by Richard Avedon), featuring a little known 15 year-old model/actress, Brooke Shields, pulling provocative poses in a skin tight pair of Calvin Klein Jeans. One of the most memorable quotes from the ad, was Shields pronouncing “Do you know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.” In another later commercial, she stated “I’ve got seven Calvins in my closet. If they could talk, I’d be ruined”. This commercial in particular made several suggestions towards underage sexuality, and this struck a nerve with the public, and following a sea of complaints made by them, these two ads were banned from being aired in New York. This was the first introduction of what would become many sexually provocative advertisements, as in spite of the criticisms made towards Klein, the sales for his company were constantly climbing at a steady pace. Klein was able to shrug the criticisms off as at this point the sales of his jeans had risen to two million per month. After this he went on to add a jeans-inspired collection to his company, including shirts, skirts and jackets, all also licensed to Puritan. In 1980, these products accounted for approximately $100 million worht of sales.
“I think there’s something very sexy about a woman wearing her boyfriend’s T-shirt and underwear.” - Calvin Klein
In 1982, Klein made his first venture into the underwear business, once again exploiting the supposed allure of the youth in provocative poses in order to push the product. A photographer that Klein frequently used for these ads was Bruce Weber, whose ads always resemble his first, which featured a beefy Olympic pole vaulter, in a variety of well endowed poses. The company rented space in 25 bus shelters around New York to display Klein’s underwear advertisements, and all 25 had their glass shattered and posters torn down and stolen overnight. However, what happened next was seemingly predictable - a line of womens underwear that featured mens-style briefs and boxers (that retained the fly front). The mens line was part of the Bidermann license while the women’s line came into such high demand that Calvin Klein’s own manufacturing capabilities couldn’t match up and so in 1984, the division was sold to Kayser Roth Corp., for approximately $11.2 million. Klein continued to design and generate advertising for women’s underwear, going on to add lines of hoisery and nightwear. In 1982, Puritans Fashions was 9 percent owned by Klein and Schwartz and had sales of $245.6 million, of which 94 percent was licensed to Clavin Klein products. However, the designer jeans boom did eventually end and in order to protect their investment, Klein and Schwartz bought almost all the shares they didn’t already hold in 1983.
“Between love and madness, lies obsession.” -Robert R. Taylor
In 1985, Minnetonka launched a new perfume entitled Obsession at $170 an ounce, and Calvin Klein created a ‘heavy-breathing’ print and TV commercial campaign, costing more than $17 million in just 10 months. This was closely followed by a $6 million campaign for the release of Obsession for Men. One of the Bruce Weber print adds featured two naked men closely entwined with one woman, a second with a couple pressing their groins together, and a third, exhibiting three naked women entangled in each other. A survey conducted later in the decase ranked Obsession advertisements as the most memorable print ads of the year (for four consecutive years). The TV commercials maintained the same idea for the fragrance, displaying a female as the object of obsession or desire by a boy, a young man, and older man and then an older women. Due to obsession rapidly becoming the second best selling fragrance in the world, and with the combination of Obsession for Men and a following line of body products, Calvin Klein sales broke the $100 million mark by 1987.
“I love Calvin. I bless and thank him for being such a huge part of my career.� -Christy Turlington
In 1988, Calvin Klein introduced a more floral fragrance to complement the oriental scent of Obsession, entitled Eternity. This scent was marketed in the form of perfumes, colognes, cologne-spray and body cream. Having recently married his second wife, Klein developed a much softer and more sensual $18 million promotional campaign which was more centered around the themes of love, marriage, spirituality and commitment. By the end of the year of it’s release, Eternity had brought in $35 million. Minnetonka (which was still 14 percent owned by the Calvin Klein Sports division) was sold in 1989, and the Calvin Klein frangrance and cosmetics lines covered $376.2 million of it. One of the most loved ads for Eternity was the 1995 Peter Lindbergh-shot campaign featuring Christy Turlington and Mark Vanderloo. In early 2014, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the fragrance this ad was rereleased. The campaign was Turlington’s first association with the brand, but she went on to star in an equally as iconic campaign for Calvin Klein’s underwear. Also in 1989, Calvin Klein opened it’s first free-standing, full-line store, in a suburb in Dallas. Products included in store were Calvin Klein Sport lines for both men and women, men and women’s underwear and nightwear, hoisery, shoes, outerwear, accessories, cosmetics and fragrances.
“After work you get away. You escape and you do it with style.” - Calvin Klein
Calvin Klein introduced a collection consisting of silk scarves in 1991, which was licensed to Ray Strauss Unlimited. In the same year, the company resumed designing for their menswear lines, this time licensing them to an Italian Manufacturer, Gruppo GFT. Sunglasses and eyewear became part of the franchise, each bearing the emblem or Calvin Klein. These were at the time made by Starline Optical Corp., and were licensed to Marchon Eyewear. However, the biggest news of that year was the introduction of Escape, a ‘fruity and floral’ scent, costing $115 an ounce. It proved a hit and was followed by Escape for Men in 1993. In spite of the success of Escape, Calvin Klein was financially struggling in the new decase. The company’s revenue dropped by 13 percent in 1990, invoking a $4.3 million loss. This was the third time in five years that the company had been in a red zone. The Puritan/ Calvin Klein Sports devision lost $14.2 million alone, and their previous big target market of younger women could not longer afford the designer’s flagship collection, and as a result were not buying Calvin Klein clothing at all. A sexually suggestive insert for Calvin Klein Jeans in Vanity Fair in October 1991 failed to stimulate sales, prompting U.S. retailers to contend that Klein had fallen out of touch with their customers.
“I wanted someone who was natural, always thin. I was looking for the complete opposite of that glamour type that came before Kate.� - Calvin Klein
The company was restored to financial health, mostly due to the efforts of David Geffen, and entertainment tycoon who was also an old friend of Klein’s. The firm was able to pay off it’s loan by licensing the underwear business to Warnaco Group Inc., who also won the license for a new line or men’s accessories. There were suggestions in the fashion marketing world that with the closing of the “decadent” 1980s, ‘sex sells’ was no longer the case. Undeterred by this, Klein introduced a new line of underwear in 1992, along with an ad campaign featuring Marky Mark (Mark Wahlberg), a muscular rapper at the time. The campaign was hugely successful to both a yung male and female audience, bringing in $85 million to the company within just 12 months. In 1994, a partnership named Designer Holdings Ltd. bought Calvin Klein’s fading jeans collection for $50 million, to make way for Calvin Kleins 1996 venture with the introduction of a khaki collection (also licensed to Designer Holdings, along with CK Calvin Klein Jeans Kids, and CK Calvin Klein Kids Underwear, also introduced in 1996). In 1997 Designer Holdings was aquired by Warnaco.
“The campaign was misunderstood. ... People didn’t get that it’s about modern young people who have an independent spirit and do the things they want to and can’t be told or sold.” In 1994, Calvin Klein introduced their first unisex fragrance, cKone, which became another hit grossing $60 million in it’s first three months of sale. It was soon followed by cKbe in 1996, accompanied by a $20 million promotional print and TV campaign directed by Richard Avedon, featuring young models exposing piercings and tattoos. It transpired that only 4 percent of people expressed liking for the ads, compared to a 57 percent that said they disliked them. However, it was teenagers that were being attracted to the ads, and they liked precisely what the general public didn’t like. Calvin Klein jeans continued to cause controversy in their advertisements. New posters featuring Kate Moss were embellished with stickers reading “Feed this woman” by a group called Boycott Anorexic Marketing. While the company was able to ignore the group, they were unable to ignore the reaction created by its campaign for CK Jeans in the summer of 1995, featuring supposed teenage models in states of undress that “suggested auditions for low-budget porn movies.” This was the first time the company was forced to pull the ads. A U.s. Justice Department investication ended without charges to Calvin Klein after it was determined that no minors were used in the ads.
“Nothing tastes as good as skinn - Kate Moss The series of advertisements featuring a then 19-year-old Kate Moss ended up causing a ripple effect in the fashion world, and was the biggest contributor to the birth of “Heroin chic”. The appearance of Heroin Chic was characterised by young female’s with pale skin, boney figures and dark circles underneath already glassy eyes. The featured ad exemplifies the waif-like heroin chic figure. There are many others that also exhibit the stringy and unkempt looking hair and unfocused, far away eyes. In the previous decade, which idolised the vibrant and healthy-looking image that models like Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer embodied, few people will have found these images sexy or desirable, but perhaps the reputation that Klein had brought this into fashion. Klein went on to use the allure of heroin chic for his newest Obsession ad, in which Moss continues to appear gaunt and disoriented. Being spread nude across a dishevelled looking couch sells a lifestyle of living in a drug den over the glamour that the company previously seemed to exude. This collection of ads caused a storm from anti-drug organisations, who argued that the ads made drug use look appealing to a younger generation. It was reported in 1996 that heroin use in teenagers had incressed from 22,500 to 40,000 in 5 years. Whether or not this can be attricuted to Calvin Klein ads and the exploitation of heroin chic is debatable. Calvin Klein was still condemned by Bill Clinton for glamourising the look.
ny feels.�
Instead of attempting to shy away from the advertising techniques that were causing controversies for the company, Calvin Klein instead made it their identity. Their forever edgy campaigns were continually delving into more controvercial realms. The genius of their campaigns lies in their simple ‘CK equals sexy’ ethos. A 2009 Calvin Klein Jeans billboard in Times Square made huge hints towards group sex. However, some critics thought of this ad as more ‘fair’ than Calvin Klein’s previous campaign, as this was one of few that showed men and women as equal entities. Depending on the target audience, the company had a tendency to fluctuate between a dominant male or female, some scenes showing more men than women and others more women than men. Calvin Klein does manage to be pretty careful in their openly fairly sexist advertisements, as there is always and alternate or component to each campaign, in which the sexes reverse roles. Each fragrance and line of clothing is accompanied by a male or female counterpart. While this advertisement was suggestive and perhaps inappropriate to be brandished on Times Square in front of all age groups, the Calvin Klein Jeans ad to follow caused the company to be forced to ban yet another series of advertisements.
“The genius of their advertising lies in the ‘CK = sexy’ reputation.”
“Whilst the act depicted could be consensual, the impact and take out is that the scene is suggestive of violence and rape. It also demeans men by implying sexualised violence towards women.”
- Herald Sun
The new face of the brand, model Lara Stone was not what caused the featured photographic campaign to attract attention in 2010. This ad was first banned in Australia, as the position that Stone was put in, lying on her back with more than one shirtless male model holding her hair or placing his hand beneath her, made “suggestions towards violence and rape”. On top of this, they appear in the image to be in a public park in an urban space, given the wire fence behind them.. While this ad was part of a series, it was this particular image that caused an outcry from activists, claiming the image promoted the concept of gang rape in order to sell cothing. Some claim it was the angry expression of the ‘look-out guy’ in the bottom left corner that suggests an air of intimidation about the whole scene. However, the public knew that this approach of rique ads that ‘push the envelope’ were nothing new to the brand, especially given the 2008 billboard showcasing actress Eva Mendes in a barely clothed embrace with two men. It is the clear exploitation of the term ‘sex sells’ that has landed Calvin Klein in hot water plenty of times over 40 years, but his followers have remained loyal, and juxtaposed much of what critics have to say about his marketing techniques. In some cases, the public beleive that much of Calvin Kleins more stripped down ads just gave the human form an odd charm