Uomo Classico – Brands

One of America’s top fashion designers, Calvin Klein first made a name for himself by designing clean, uncomplicated
sportswear. He kept his name popular with the public by creating sometimes shocking and always news-making advertising
campaigns.

Calvin Richard Klein was born on November 19, 1942, in the Bronx, New York, where he spent all of his childhood.
Klein was the second of three children born to Flo and Leo Stern. The family lived relatively comfortably. His
grandmother was a seamstress and he acquired his love of sewing from her. His mother encouraged his love of art and fashion.

Advertising was the key to Klein‘s success. He kept the media talking about him by creating controversy (open to
dispute). He was the first to design women’s underwear that looked like men’s jockey shorts. His television ads for jeans
starred Brooke Shields (1965–), who proclaimed: ‘Nothing comes between me and my Calvins.’

Klein developed a reputation for pushing the boundaries of acceptability in his campaigns. Ads of the mid-1990s
featured young teenagers in provocative poses that many regarded as socially irresponsible. Klein eventually cancelled
these ads, but not before the accompanying publicity had made the Calvin Klein brand name a part of everyday
conversation.

Klein‘s three major fragrances, Obsession, Eternity, and Escape, were huge successes, also due in part to
sexually-suggestive advertising. Advertising for his fragrances, CK One and CK Be, continued to challenge the public. Some
ads showed teens taking part in what some regarded as an idealized drug culture. At this time, President Bill Clinton (1946–)
admonished the fashion industry not to glamorize addiction. Klein replied that these ads represented a departure from
phony airbrushed images that were not connected to the reality of today’s world.

Klein‘s design philosophy is rooted in minimalism (extreme simplicity). He typically uses neutral colors or earth
tones (browns), and designs separates (articles of clothing designed to be worn interchangeably with others to form various
combinations) that work in many different ensembles, from day to night and season to season. At the same time his advertising
for jeans and fragrances was being criticized, Calvin Klein clothing was receiving critical acclaim for its clean,
modern lines.

Time magazine named Klein one of the twenty-five most influential Americans in 1996. Klein won the prestigious
Coty Award three times in a row (1973–1975), becoming the youngest designer to ever have that honor. In 1982, 1983, tand 1986
he also captured the Council of Fashion Designers of America Award. In addition Klein built a financially strong
company with the continued advice and help of partner Barry Schwartz, who guided the company through tough financial times in
the late 1980s. Few designers have rivaled his worldwide empire.