Influential Fashion Designer of Today

Influential Fashion Designer of Today

Calvin Richard Klein was born on November 19, 1942, in the Bronx, New York. From 1959-1962 he attended the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York ("Calvin Richard Klein"). At FIT, the classes were "tedious" and the curriculum "pedantically oriented to learning a trade" (Gaines and Churcher 41). Klein was bored, but he used the time and exposure to styles FIT provided to discover his own tastes of what is good and what is not. He found loved natural fabrics and hated synthetic ones. Bright colors turned him off; he preferred quieter shades of brown and beige. During this time the youthful, modern sportswear of French designer Jacques Tiffeau influenced Klein's evolving outlook, as did the stylist practicality of American designer Claire McCarell. The student Klein spent a lot of time at studying the worldwide collection of garments held at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Gaines and Churcher 41-42).

In 1962, Klein entered the fashion industry as a sketcher for Dan Millstein, a superstar of fashion of those times who had designed the dress Marilyn Monroe wore to her wedding to Joe DiMaggio. Klein found the experience challenging, frustrating, but valuable. People described Millstein as a tyrant, and working for him was difficult. Having Klein work on the "missy" line, he didn't fully utilize the young man's talents. Klein really wanted to please Millstein but never felt fully appreciated. Nonetheless, he benefited from working with Millstein, including going to Paris where his official role was to memorize and later sketch to the smallest detail the pieces his boss liked. When possible, Klein explored Paris on his own and absorbed the fashion of the street which he liked more than what he saw on the runway (Gaines and Churcher 48-54).

Klein quit working for Millstein and took a job with Halldon Ltd., a company that manufactured fake fur coats. That kind of product didn't really interest Klein, but the work environment at Halldon was more pleasant and more supportive than at Millstein's company, and there Klein first began to make a name for himself in the industry (Gaines and Churcher 65-66).

Klein and another former Millstein designer, Abe Morenstein, began working together as independent designers. While Klein was getting a lot of attention and job offers, he was thinking about starting their own company (Gaines and Churcher 69-70). In 1968, with the help of his long-time friend Barry Schwartz, Klein took the leap and fulfilled his entrepreneurial dream ("Calvin Klein").

With his own company, Klein was able to pursue his vision of what fashion could be. At first, the company designed women's coats, but it soon branched out into other areas. Klein applied the simple, clean lines of his coats to women's sportswear, producing practical yet fashionable clothes. His designs gave women seeking empowerment "tailored suiting with an authoritative image without the loss of a feminine quality" ("Calvin Richard Klein"). Klein produced popular scents like Obsession, Eternity, and Escape, and he transformed men's underwear from utilitarian undergarments into something clean, simple, and sexy ("Calvin Klein").

The clean lines and subtle colors of Klein's works rebelled against the ornate and overwrought products of the 1960s and 1970s. He helped to create a truly American style that was distinct from European fashion houses. His line of jeans started the designer label trend. His advertising campaigns featuring actress Brooke Shields injected sexuality into marketing while his ads that featured young girls in provocative poses strongly challenged America's mores. Similarly, his scent CK One broke new ground as the first scent for both men and women ("Calvin Richard Klein").