The Designer Report: Raf Simons At Calvin Klein 205W39NYC

Rather than explicitly refer to this rich history, Simons takes a sideways look. ‘A lot of brands tend to lean on nostalgia and people buy into it,’ says Elgar Johnson, fashion director at GQ Style. ‘It doesn’t feel like this with Calvin, it has longevity.’ The designer has gradually made his mark, moving women’s and men’s collections into one show in New York and adding 205W39NYC to the brand name – the street address of the company. He uses unexpected detail to nod to the universe of this much-loved label, but shifts its perspective. On waistbands of jeans or the corner of a sweater, Shields’ leg-up pose is found in silhouette, or the number 205 is embroidered onto a roll neck. This reframing looks to be his policy going forward. ‘What I want to say about Calvin’s heritage and its marketing power is that I need to abstract it in my head and then see how I’m going to deal with it,’ Simons explained to Vanity Fair in 2017.