10  october 26, 2017

Calvin Klein.
Known for his sexually charged ad cam-
Abiquiu, 1984 by paigns that continually pushed the envelope
Bruce Weber. and his minimalist aesthetic, Calvin Klein,
now 74, has put it all out there in a new
book called simply “Calvin Klein.”
Published by Rizzoli New York and
designed by Fabien Baron, the 480-page
book features 330 color and black and
white photographs and sells for $150. While
not heavy on text, it includes the back story
behind many of these provocative images
and Klein’s personal stories about his
upbringing, how he launched his business,
the early days of building the company with
partner Barry Schwartz, his minimalist
design philosophy, and how the company
became a global phenomenon.
“I worked hard and surrounded myself
with enormously talented and like-minded
individuals that helped to make it happen.
I took many risks and made many
mistakes, but I never compromised. That’s
what it takes and means to have a vision.
I stand by everything I did and would not
have done it any other way,” he writes in
the book.
Seductive and controversial imagery,
combined with his minimalist fashion col-
lection, jeans, fragrances, underwear and
home, turned Klein’s label into one of the
most recognizable and successful fashion
brands in the world. This is the first time
that Klein, who began the company in 1968
and sold the business and retired in 2003,
has told his story in a book.
From a teenage Brooke Shields with
nothing between her and her Calvins
­—­which elicited the 1982 “Pig of the Year
Award” from Women Against Pornography
to Kate Moss’ sensuous semi-nude series, to
shockingly seductive photography of male
models in his underwear, Klein’s advertis-
ing constantly broke barriers. Photogra-
phers such as Irving Penn, Richard Avedon,
Bruce Weber and Patrick Demarchelier, and
models such as Christy Turlington, Marky
Mark, Kate Moss and Natalia Vodianova all
contributed to images that were seductive,
original and at times, shocking.
WWD interviewed Klein last week about
his powerful imagery and his minimalist
point of view and whether he feels he’s
gotten his due as a designer.
WWD: What made you decide to
write the book now?
Calvin Klein: I’ve thought about it on
and off for years, but I was too busy. I was
just always doing the work and I didn’t have
the time to go back and reflect on all the
images. Kelly [Klein] really pushed me into
this, and she helped me a great deal with
the book too. And Anna Wintour too. She
said, ‘You have to do it.’ Finally, I decided
now is the moment.
WWD: What was the most surprising
or interesting thing about the process of
putting the book together, and what did
you enjoy about looking back on your
life and work?
C.K.: Somewhat surprising and definitely
interesting was going through 40,000
images to edit. But I had edited all those
images before. I edited everything that we
ever ran. I would always have the shoot
from the photographer and would take it
home and I would decide what I liked the
best. I would have the photographer’s input
or maybe the stylist’s input, and ultimately I
went through everything and decided.
fashion WWD: Did you find other images that,
on second thought, you felt might have

Calvin Klein Talks Seductive

been even better for the ad campaigns?
C.K.: No, I’m pretty consistent. I liked
what I chose to run as national advertising.
I loved the commercials that we’ve done

Ads, Minimalism in New Book

over the years and looking back, there are a
lot of images in the book that we never ran,
which I thought were really interesting and
exciting photographs. What was surprising
This is the first time that Klein, who began the company in 1968 and sold the was we had this idea, that we would juxta-
pose images, and there’s a year on every
business and retired in 2003, has told his story in a book. image. So we took a photograph from the
By Lisa Lockwood Continued on page 11
october 26, 2017 
Calvin Klein Talks
Seductive Ads,
Minimalism in New Book
 continued from page 10
Seventies, and put it with the Nineties, the
next spread is Eighties and maybe 2000.
What it shows is the vision was consistent.
No matter which photographer I worked
with, it was an image we cultivated which
had to do with minimalism, with the
clothes, and being somewhat provocative
when it came to fragrance, jeans and under-
wear, so I had fun. Fabien Baron said to me
there were these different sides of me that
he’s known over the years, and so we made
it into sections: The last section was stories
about the different campaigns.
WWD: What are the different sections
of the book?
C.K.: One is Minimalist, another is Rebel-
lious and the last one is Stories. We didn’t
want to do copy on the photographs and we
didn’t want to put which Calvin Klein com-
pany it was. It’s a book of photography, and
mixing the years and then telling stories at
the end about many of the photographs.
WWD: What period in your life
was your most productive and most
meaningful?
C.K.: I worked like crazy all the time. I
always worked and I was always produc-
ing. If I look at the early years starting the
business from nothing to taking it to Brooke
Shields’ first ad campaign on TV. Those
years we built a global brand before the
Internet. Those years were extraordinary.
Everything evolved, I expanded — fra-
grance, jeans, all these other products.
And made the Collection larger and more
sophisticated.
WWD: Eroticism has continually
infused your ad campaign images. Why
was that so important to your work?
C.K.: Fabien [Baron] once said that that
was me, that’s who I am, that’s one side of
me. Whether it’s erotic, sensual, provoc-
ative, it’s all connected. And there’s this
other thing of minimalism. That had to do
with the way I lived and the clothes that I
made. Working with the talent that I worked
with, the photographers, the models,
the stylists. We pushed the envelope. We
wanted the photographs to stand out and to
scream, “This is who Calvin Klein is.” It was
effective because it was real.
WWD: Do you think those provoca-
tive images would work today?
C.K.: That was the other thing about
doing the book. I realized, of course, I could
run many of these images today. They’re
not dated. And they go back to the Seven-
ties and Eighties.
WWD: Do you feel in this politically
charged atmosphere they would fly? Or
was it a different time in the Eighties
and Nineties?
C.K.: It had nothing to do with politics.
I was accused by Bill Clinton that he didn’t
like my ads when he was running for pres-
ident, and it was family values. We had the
Justice Department investigate us when we
did the campaign that gave the impression
to people of “kiddie porn.” It was just as
provocative then as it would be today. Some
people loved it, and some people would get
upset. And that was the risk you take.
WWD: Tell me about those “kiddie
porn” allegations. How did that make
you feel? What was it like to be in the
midst of a national conversation about
family values? Or what about winning
the “Pig of the Year” award with the
Brooke Shields campaign? Did these
things bother you?
C.K.: We intended always to do some-
thing that was fun and had a sense of
humor to it. I didn’t think we would get the
kind of reaction that we did get. It seemed
absurd to me between the Democrats and
the Republicans talking about family values
and using us as an example. That was the
“kiddie porn.” There’s always a story to
whatever we’ve done. I did what I did, I
don’t have regrets, I didn’t want to offend.
When you put yourself on the line and you
take risks, these things happen.
WWD: Were you always a risk taker?
C.K.: Pretty much. Because I believed
in myself. The reason for doing the book
was two-fold. The proceeds of the book will
go to God’s Love We Deliver. So it’s not for
me or any personal gain. I did it to inspire
students. I speak a great deal at universities
and I speak to design students, graphic
people, marketing, business students,
I’ve touched on so many different areas
throughout my years. They all know my
name. That’s been established decades ago.
But they don’t always know these photo-
graphs of how we communicated to the
world and what we were doing. This was an
opportunity for me to show them what can
be done and how I did it.
WWD: You’ve got a lot of nude photo-
graphs in the book. Were those shot for
ad campaigns?
C.K.: Many of the photographs were not
in campaigns. I chose a number of pho-
tographs that I felt were really beautiful
that we never ran. I felt that made it more
interesting, rather than everything that we
ran nationally. It’s a mix of the two.
WWD: Lately, we’ve been hearing a
lot about sexual harassment on pho-
tography sets and sexual harassment in
general. Did you ever observe that, and
what was the atmosphere like on the
Calvin Klein set?
C.K.: First of all, in the early years I
styled the shoot and I was on the shoot,
but then I got busier and expanded into so
many areas of creating product. I didn’t do
the shoots, and I discussed them with the
photographer and the stylist and I chose the
models and locations, and I was involved
but I wasn’t there to see what was happen-
ing. I know that if anything like that ever
went on, or we asked a model to do some-
thing that he or she was not comfortable
with, we didn’t do it. We totally respected
the model. As far as I know, nothing like
Kate Moss for
Calvin Klein, 1993
by David Sims.
that ever came up. We know it exists. It
existed when I first started and it’s unfor-
tunate. Now I would think people of every
walk of life will be much more conscious
about what they say and what they do as a
result of what’s happening now. Will it stop
everything? No, but it’s a page turner. This
is something that will be a new chapter, and
I think that’s really positive.
WWD: What do you think of the social
media explosion happening today?
C.K.: I think that’s exciting. It’s another
way to communicate to the world what
you’re doing. It’s, quite frankly, easier than
what I had to do. It’s much easier. You just
have to know what you’re doing. You hit
everyone at the same time. Ours was much
more complicated, thinking about which
magazines to advertise in. It would be fun
to be doing it today.
WWD: Back then you ran a 116-page
insert in Vanity Fair. You wouldn’t nec-
essarily see that today.
C.K.: I always did what no one would
do. Nobody did 116-page inserts back then.
Now the money we would spend would
be allocated differently. It’s not necessary
to do that. For instance, no one’s reading
magazines anymore. You put [the money]
where it counts.
WWD: Do you feel like you started
the whole designer jean craze?
C.K.: I think Gloria Vanderbilt was in it
before me. She was a woman of great style
— maybe not a designer. I loved designing
jeans. I wore them throughout my teenage
years through today. I’ve always had a
passion for denim and I’ve always enjoyed
working on the shape and the wash and
working with laundries around the world.
Whether I started it or not doesn’t really
matter. I think I made a contribution.
WWD: Can you articulate or pinpoint
where your minimalist, modernist
point of view came from?
C.K.: It came from my mother. She used
to wear lots of tailored clothing. She wore
names that wouldn’t mean anything to you,
but they did to me. They were expensive,
beautifully tailored.
WWD: Who did she wear?
C.K.:  There was Ben Zuckerman,
11
Seymour Fox. These companies weren’t
designer labels, but were companies that
employed designers. They didn’t promote
them. But they made beautiful clothes.
She had this thing for tailored clothes. I
wouldn’t call them minimalist, but in truth
they were. They were not decorative. It
came from her, and I guess I just had it
myself. I’ve lived that way as soon as I
could. I don’t like lots of decoration. We
used to design dresses in school and they
would say “above the table,” meaning when
a woman sits at dinner she has to have
something of interest “above the table.”
We were taught that in design school, but I
never thought of that.
WWD: As you were maturing as a
designer in the Seventies, what were
the social and cultural factors in play
that most influenced your work?
C.K.: Think of Studio 54. I go back to
the Sixties. It started with Woodstock, and
then in the Seventies, New York was at the
height. There was so much excitement and
freedom, sexual freedom, all kinds of free-
dom. From there came my first Obsession
ads with Josie Borain, and lots of men’s
limbs. You didn’t see their faces but you saw
their bodies. That was indicative of what
was going on. I don’t mean that everyone
was having an orgy, but it existed. I was
influenced by everything that was happen-
ing in my life to begin with. And aware of
what was happening around me.
WWD: So often you are praised for
your marketing and advertising bril-
liance and capturing the zeitgeist that
way. You led the way with the Nineties
minimalism, but are seldom credited
with that. Do you think you’ve gotten
your due as a designer?
C.K.: I certainly do. I’m absolutely
grateful for all the success that I’ve had as a
designer of clothes, of fragrances, of things
for the home. I’m thrilled with the run that
I’ve had. [As far as leading Nineties mini-
malism] I never thought about [it]. Those
are the labels people put on me. I do think
of myself as someone who loves purity and
simplicity, and I’ve been called minimalist
and that’s great, I appreciate that.
WWD: How did you go about finding
models for your ad campaigns?
C.K.: We did searches all the time.
I have used models who belonged to
agencies. The pattern was not that. I used
to send scouts, they used to send me pho-
tographs, Polaroids and stacks and stacks.
When I would see people I was interested
in, I’d have them come to New York. It
was discovering people.
WWD: Was there one particular
model who best exemplifies what Calvin
Klein stood for?
C.K.: If I had to choose one, it was
Christy Turlington. She was under con-
tract with me when she was 17. She is still
perfection. My kind of perfection. Young
people would like to look like her. People
her age or older aren’t threatened by her,
and there’s a refinement that’s truly Christy.
She’s well educated and comes from a
good family. Natalia [Vodianova] was the
last woman I chose and had a contract.
She was fantastic. I didn’t have that many
years with her. Even though people point
to Kate [Moss] because that’s so obvious.
Kate always for me was about jeans, about
the CK collection, younger, fun. Natalia and
Christy had more of the sophistication of
the Collection.
WWD: A perusal of your clothes
shows that they reflect the times. You
never gave into the more hideous
aspects of the Eighties. Your shoulders
may have gotten a little bigger and your
runway hair, as well, but not in ways
that now look like cartoons — or lam-
poons. How did you manage that?
C.K.: [As far as shoulders getting bigger]
They sure did. I’m embarrassed. Looking
back, it makes me ill. I wasn’t really that
Continued on page 12
12 
Calvin Klein Talks
Seductive Ads,
Minimalism in New Book
 continued from page 11
influenced by trends. I was always doing my
own thing. That happened in men’s clothes.
I like shoulders that are strong. I think
during that period we all got a little carried
away. They’re clothes, you buy new ones.
WWD: Was it difficult to stay true to
your minimalist aesthetic through the
opulent Eighties?
C.K.: No, there was always a woman who
didn’t want to look like you could see her
from three blocks away or she didn’t want
to display opulence. She was more sophis-
ticated and quieter in the way she would
dress, and there were women like that all
over the world. That was the woman I was
after. Those women evolved but they didn’t
go from A to Z overnight.
WWD: Around the mid-to-late
Nineties, some art influences starting
appearing in your work. Where did
they come from?
C.K.: I was always influenced by art and
architecture, from the very beginning. I
talk about that in the book. It became more
prevalent at a certain point when I met
Georgia O’Keeffe in Santa Fe, and I spent
time with her, and I loved her work which
is having a wonderful resurgence now. The
colors. She made all the clothes herself,
she sewed them by hand and she had great
style. That’s when I paid even more atten-
tion to the artists. [Mark] Rothko, I used to
use his colors all the time.
WWD: What do you think about
today’s current art-fashion obsession?
C.K.: I’m not aware that there is an
art-fashion obsession.
WWD: What do you think about Raf’s
role in fostering it?
C.K.: I have no comment on that.
WWD: Can you comment on the Cal-
vin Klein company today?
C.K.: No comment.
WWD: Do you pay attention to fash-
ion today and if yes, what do you like
and not like?
C.K.: I haven’t looked at magazines in
years. I look occasionally online. I look
at the way people dress wherever I am. I
spend a lot of time now in Los Angeles. I
live there during the winter months and
am there five, six months a year. I have a
house and it’s a much more casual lifestyle.
But I’m always looking at the way people
look — the hair, the makeup, the whole
thing. It’s more interesting to me to see how
people wear things and choose clothes and
wear them, rather than looking at runway
photographs. That’s not that interesting. I
spent so many years…I never really looked
at the runway photographs anyway. I was
too busy just doing what we were doing.
WWD: Are you enjoying your life in
L.A.?
C.K.: I’m enjoying my life everywhere. I
get to travel. I used to travel to factories and
showrooms around the world. I’ve done
trips to Africa, India and I take photo-
graphs. I’ve done a lot of that well. So I’m
able to do things now that I just didn’t have
the time before and I’m just as busy. The
time just flies.
WWD: What do you think about your
legacy and what do you think it will be?
C.K.: I’ve never thought about it. I
don’t think about it. I don’t think I would
consider the book a legacy. It’s the work.
It’s a part of the work. I had 40,000 images
to choose from. I wish people could see
the commercials. They were great. There
are references to Brooke and what she was
saying and some of the images from TV. In
print, you can’t do very much with the film
and that aspect. That was always interest-
ing. I’m doing a lot of things that I love. I’ve
october 26, 2017
worked on houses and apartments. Before I
was living in a hotel. I used to live in a hotel
for years. I lived in the Carlyle, I lived in
the Mercer. I couldn’t get it together. I just
couldn’t. Now that I have time, I’m going to
get it together, and I love it. I live downtown
in the Richard Meier building. It took five
years. I love it.
WWD: Do you think your clothes get
lost in all the imagery? You’re so well-
known for all the imagery that people
might feel that your clothes take a back-
seat. Does that bother you?
C.K.: The collection was always the
umbrella. It was the first thing, and the
most important thing I would do. It always
got the least amount of marketing and
advertising. Because it’s not a big business.
When you’re on television with fragrance,
and you’re on TV with jeans, you can’t com-
pare. You become a name that the whole
world knows. How many people are going
to Bergdorf’s and Saks to buy my clothes?
It was very small. I had a great run. I’m
grateful to people who bought the clothes,
people who liked them, as well as I am to
people who bought the jeans and every-
thing else that I made. So I had never had
any feeling that people didn’t get what I was
doing and I was treated unfairly. No, I think
Natalia Vodianova for I was treated really well.
Calvin Klein, St. Barts, WWD: What do you think people
2003 by Mario Sorrenti. will consider your greatest contribu-
tion to fashion?
C.K.: I think myself, Ralph Lauren and
“I’m always looking at the way people Donna Karan became the face of Ameri-
can design to the world. And I think that
look — the hair, the makeup, the whole thing. was maybe the best contribution of being
recognized for what we were doing — which
It’s more interesting to me to see how people was something different. Like it or not, it
wear things and choose clothes and wear them, was something different than what Paris
was doing, or London. I think we brought
rather than looking at runway photographs. attention, and now there are lots of Ameri-
That’s not that interesting.” can designers designing in Europe. There’s
a real appreciation. That appreciation was
— Calvin Klein always there for music and film. Now I think
fashion as well.
WWD: Do you plan to go on a book
Tom Hintnaus for tour to promote the book?
Calvin Klein, Santorini, C.K.: The proceeds of the book and then
1982 by Bruce Weber.
some, are going to God’s Love We Deliver.
I would rather the proceeds go to God’s
Love, rather than a book party. I don’t
need to go on television and sell the book.
It will be seen. You and other magazines
and newspapers are covering it. I don’t feel
I need to do that. Also, doing parties and
trips are expensive. I’d rather the money go
to God’s Love.
WWD: You just gave $1 million to
God’s Love?
C.K.: Yes.
WWD: Is there anything that you
haven’t done in your life that you’re
eager to do?
C.K.: That’s one of the reasons why I
wanted to sell the company. I thought I did
everything I wanted to do creatively. There
was so much more to the world that I hadn’t
experienced. So that’s my main reason for
selling. And I miss the collaboration with
people that I loved — photographers, design
assistants. That’s the wonderful thing about
designing. You’re not alone. You’re working
with people. So while I miss that, there’s
so much more that I enjoy that I was never
able to enjoy before. This is the way it
works in life. I get so inspired when I travel.
I did a couple of trips to Africa with Donna
Karan. Amazing. Because the people won’t
look that way 10-20 years from now. They’ll
all start looking like us.
WWD: Do you miss being in the
throes of the fashion world?
C.K.: No, no no. I was more involved
with the people that I would work with
than I was in the fashion world. There were
creative directors, art directors, photog-
raphers, models. Those are the people, I
miss the collaboration. As far as being in
the fashion world, I had enough of that. I
loved it when I did it. I need new things to
stimulate me.
Copyright of WWD: Women's Wear Daily is the property of Penske Business Media, LLC
and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without
the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or
email articles for individual use.