Calvin Klein

Calvin Richard Klein (born November 19, 1942) is a well-known American fashion designer. His name is also a brand name of clothing marketed by his company, which was launched in 1968. more...

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In addition to clothing, Calvin Klein also gave his name to a range of perfumes, including CK One and CK Be (fragrances for both genders), now owned by Coty Inc. Swatch Group manufactures watches and jewelry under the Calvin Klein and Calvin Klein Jeans brands.

Early years

Born Richard Klein in The Bronx to Jewish Hungarian immigrants, he attended the High School of Industrial Art and he graduated, at 20 years of age, from New York's Fashion Institute of Technology. He did his apprenticeship in 1962 at an oldline cloak-and-suit manufacturer and spent five years designing at other New York shops.

Klein was one of several design leaders raised in the Jewish immigrant community in the Bronx, New York along with Robert Denning and Ralph Lauren. Calvin Klein became a protégé of Baron de Gunzburg through whose introductions he became the toast of the New York elite fashion scene, even before he had his first mainstream success with the launch of his first jeans line. Later, speaking in an interview with Bianca Jagger and Andy Warhol for Interview magazine, published not long after the Baron's death, Klein said: \"He was truly the greatest inspiration of my life... he was my mentor, I was his protégé. If you talk about a person with style and true elegance-- maybe I'm being a snob, but I'll tell you, there was no one like him. I used to think, boy, did he put me through hell sometimes, but boy, was I lucky. I was so lucky to have known him so well for so long.\" Calvin Klein was immediately recognised for his talent after his first major showing at New York Fashion Week. Klein was hailed as the new Yves Saint-Laurent, and was noted for his clean lines and straight cuts on coats and suits.

Creating the Calvin Klein empire

In 1968, Klein and his childhood friend Barry Schwartz, who was to manage the business, then initially founded Calvin Klein Ltd., a coat shop in the York Hotel, in New York City with $10,000. Legend has it that a year later a buyer from Bonwit Teller got off the elevator on the wrong floor, and ended up placing a $50,000 order. It is more likely though, that Klein showed his work to Bonwit Teller staff, which led to the first Calvin Klein collection: a line of men's and women's coats featured at the New York City store.

In 1969, Mr. Klein, who was later described as \"the supreme master of minimalism,\" appeared on the cover of Vogue magazine. By 1971, sportswear, classic blazers as well as lingerie were added to his women's collection portfolio.

In 1973 he was awarded the Coty Award for the first time, which he received for three consecutive years, for his 74-piece womenswear collection. By 1977, annual revenues had jumped to $30 million, and he had licenses for scarves, shoes, belts, furs, sunglasses, and sheets. Klein and Schwartz were making $4 million each. After the company signed licenses for cosmetics, jeans, and menswear, Klein's annual retail volume was estimated at $100 million. In 1978, Klein claimed sales of 200,000 pairs of his famous jeans the first week they were on the market. By 1981, Fortune magazine figured Klein's annual income at $8.5 million a year. In the mid-1970s, he had created a designer-jeans craze by putting his name on the back pocket. The jeans were famously advertised with a commercial featuring a 15-year-old Brooke Shields cooing in 1979/80 that \"nothing comes between me and my Calvins\" and \"I've got seven Calvins in my closet, and if they could talk, I'd be ruined.\" Controversial advertising, including a series of ads featuring adolescents in sexually evocative poses, has been a recurring theme for the company. Shields advertised for Klein underwear in 1984 as well.

Read more at Wikipedia.org