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Calvin Klein
was raised in the Jewish
immigrant community in the
Bronx, New York. Calvin
Klein was a proteg
of
Baron de Gunzburg through
whose introductions he became
the toast of the New York
elite fashion scene before
he had his first mainstream
success with the launch
of his first jeans line.
Calvin Klein was immediately
recognised for his talent
after his first major showing
at New York Fashion Week.
He was hailed as the new
Yves
Saint-Laurent,
and was noted for his clean
lines and strait cuts on
coats and suits.
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."
The Calvin Klein company, like many in the fashion industry, is known for its eye-catching advertising. It is noted by many conservative organizations for its use of seemingly-underage models in pseudo-provocative poses.
In addition to clothing, Calvin Klein also gave his name to a range of perfumes, including CK One and CK Be (fragrances for everyone, regardless of gender), now owned by "Coty Inc.". Swatch manufactures watches under the Calvin Klein brand (which it owns).
Klein was the victim of a pieing in 2001 at a fashion premier at New York's Lincoln Center.
Advertising
- Calvin Klein's advertising campaigns are frequently controversial, but prove this can be very successful - to the point of making a blitz career. One of his male underwear models, Mark Wahlberg, went on to fame as hip hop star 'Marky Mark', launching himself into the Hollywood scene as well. Another Hollywood star owing his respectable career to the Calvin Klein advertisements is Antonio Sabato Jr..
- They also play with emerging technologies. When advertising cKone perfume in 1999, they employed a very unusual and groundbreaking campaign that displayed e-mail addresses in print advertisements, targeted at teenagers (such as anna@ckone.com or nick@ckone.com). When these teens mailed these addresses, they would be placed on a mailing list that sent them mails with vague details about the models' lives, with fake details meant to make them more relatable. These mails came at unpredictable intervals, and were supposed to give readers the feeling that they had some connection with these characters. Though the mailing lists were discontinued in 2002, the campaign has inspired similar marketing tactics for movies and other retail products.
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/calvin_klein 1/8/06 |
About Calvin Klein
Designer Definition (from U.S Department of Labor)
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