subject: Brand History: Calvin Klein [print this page] Calvin Klein is the designer who put American fashion on the world stage, almost single-handedly earning it the respect of the worlds fashionistas. In the process, his clean, simple, elegant sportswear not only earned him plaudits in Paris, Milan and London but became the basis of a major brand that was eventually extended to designer jeans and fragrances, mens underwear and watches.
It was not just the quality of his tailoring and his sensitivity to shifting consumer moods that kept him on top for almost half a century, however. His marketing was also perfectly tuned, treading a fine line and, for his many critics, often crossing it between the visually and thematically daring and the shamelessly exploitative.
The teenage Brooke Shields who famously wore nothing under her Calvins - was the first to raise the hackles of the more prudish American consumer. Kleins suggestive underwear ads, his use of very young models in suggestive poses, or very thin models in harsh contexts (what came to be known as heroin chic) also ruffled a few feathers.
Through it all, though, the Calvin Klein aesthetic remained remarkably constant, and those classic lines retained their appeal, whether in womens sportswear or the CK watch collection.
True to type, his more recent watch offerings feature uncluttered faces, elegant lines and neutral tones, sometimes offset by an interesting quirk, an irregularly shaped case, for instance, or hands off-centre on the dial. There is a strong jewelry element in the ladies watch collection, mirroring the design elements in his rings, bracelets and pendants.
