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| Calvin Klein - Master Of Provocative Ad Campaign. |
"I think there's something incredibly sexy about a woman wearing her boyfriend's T-shirt and underwear" - Calvin Klein.
Birth
Calvin Richard Klein was born on November 9, 1942. He was born to a Jewish-Hungarian family in Bronx, New york. His father was Flore and mother Leo Klein. He was second of the three children. He acquired his love of sewing from his grandmother who was a seamstress.
Early Life
As a child, Klein went to Isobel Rooney Middle School 80. He attended The High School Of Art And Design, Manhattan. While the Children of his age were busy playing sports, partying, Klein was busy studying, designing, sketching and sewing. Later, he joined New York's esteemed Fashion Institute of Technology in 1960.
His first job was a copyboy role in the art department at WWD in 1961. In 1963, he graduated from Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), with a Fine Arts degree. After graduation, his first job was in a dress manufacturing company which used a fabric called "Whipped Cream". He was not satisfied with his job, asked for a raise of hundred dollar which the company declined and he quit.
He then worked as an apprentice in a coat and suit manufacturing company led by Dan Millstein. He was a sketcher there. He worked day and night, perfecting his stitching and designing skills. Millestein used to take Klein to the Paris Haute Couture shows, to copy the designs of clothes they saw at the show. Klein was not happy with Millstein as he was not a easy going boss and quit. After that, Klein joined a company called Halldon Ltd. His work at Halldon, got him his first mention in press, being included in Tobe report in April,1967. He soon tired of his role and decided to quit.
Success
In 1968, Klein along with his childhood friend Barry Schwartz started a company Calvin Klein Inc of coat business. There first ever order was a mere luck.Donald O'Brien, the then Vice-President of Bonwit Teller, was on his way to a different appointment where he accidentally rushed into Kleins fashion studio. Donald saw the collection of Klein, hanging to the door of studio and was greatly impressed. O'Brien the invited Mildred Custin, President of Bonwit Teller to Klein's studio.
They decided to launch his designs and made a huge order of 50 thousand dollars which was very huge at that time. Bonwit Teller ran full page Ad campaigns showing Klein's collection in New York Times. Very soon, Bergdorf Goodman and Saks also placed huge orders which resulted in Calvin Klein Ltd to gross a million dollars in its first year of business.
After tasting success, Klein shifted his office to a building where his former employer Dan Millstein was based. He wanted to show-off his success to his old boss. Klein managed to run his first fashion show in April, 1970. He touched 5 million dollar mark by the end of 1971. In a need to expand further, Klein decided to buy the space of his old boss Dan Millstein as that company suffered huge losses. Millstein intentionally quoted heavy price but Klein paid the money and bought the entire equipment and office space. He was the ownes that office where once he was a employee.
Provocative,Controversial Ads
Klein has generated tons of publicity for the ad campaigns of his brand which were provocative and controversial. His ads are sexually provocative targeting youth. One of the most talked ads was his commercial featuring a teenage Brookie Shields stating " Do you what comes between me and my Calvins ? Nothing." That ad along with another was banned by all the TV stations. Although those ads were banned, Klein got his publicity even more. In 1995, CK jeans lebel produced images featuring young models that evoked amateur pornography. President Bill Clinton spoke out against the images and launched an investigation to determine the age of models.
In 1973,1974, he won the Coty American Fashion Critics award. He then started his own frangrance line. Cosmetics was one of the area that didn't work well for Klein. He was married for 10 years to Jayne Centre, they had a daughter. They later got divorced and Klein married Kelly Rector in 1986. In 2006, they also got divorced.
