I always think about our clothes as
being sensual and modern but when you
start showing the body well then you can
have some fun in a nation marked by
change one name emerge to become a
constant figure in American fashion for
over four decades from the sexual energy
of a studio 54 days to his iconic
campaigns of the ages and minds is this
boy from the Bronx redefined how we
think of cloves and the body forever
join me as I meet the perfectionist
behind the name and discover more about
a bonafide ID icon Calvin Klein I've
always known from the time I was I mean
honestly about five or six years old
exactly what I wanted to do my mother
loved clothes and she dressed us really
well and my grandmother made clothes for
people by the time it was time for high
school I knew it was going to be fashion
and then I knew I'd go on to a college
that specialized in fashion as well and
couldn't wait to get out into the
industry but was it always a business
that you wanted to do was design always
something that you hope to turn into
business my father was a businessman and
my parents discussed business all the
time I had always had a sense that I
would want to be the designer but I'd
want to be able to control what I was
designing and not have said the person
who was manufacturing the product tell
me what to do of my first job the man
who hired me is that you could have a
nice two or three million dollar
business and I thought to myself I don't
think so I think I want to do something
bigger what was what was an American
fashion like then what was the state of
fashion in the US this is so mid to late
1960s well I was inspired by the mirror
woman who I thought was modern young she
wanted a career she wanted a family she
had a family she did all of these things
and she needed clothes that fit that
lifestyle well as it turned out there
were women all over the world that were
doing the same thing after the first
successful sale of his own designs
Klein's business picked up momentum his
clothes took a cord with the American
Pie in public success followed fast from
the very beginning the clothes were
always minimal the clothes were always
pure I mean I don't like a lot of
decoration and I just don't think it's
modern and I think pairing anything down
to its its purity and the the essentials
is very difficult to do and ultimately I
think helps make people look really
beautiful did you think that maybe the
whole design thing it might not work out
at some point no I never thought it
wouldn't work out but I saw a lot of
talented people disappear because you
have to be driven you have to have
confidence in yourself you have to find
an image you have to find something that
you have that's somewhat unique and then
find a way to communicate but I I ended
up thinking I'm not going to go to
Madison Avenue advertising agency to to
run ads in ID or any other magazine I
could do that myself I went into the
fragrance business myself I thought when
fragrance companies came to me and asked
me to do perfume I thought they'll never
understand the way I work and I thought
I'd better you know I'll do it I'll open
up my own fragrance company I lost a lot
of money in a couple of years and
learned my lesson
but to create things that the world
hopefully we'll want you have to be part
of the world it was the years of studio
54 and it was all about sex drugs and
rock'n'roll I worked hard and I played
hard and you did I mean seven is New
York was the place to be wasn't it you
know that was that was that was the time
four o'clock in the morning someone
comes up and says how would you like to
design blue jeans and I thought he's
crazy you know but I called my business
partner I'm on the way to the airport
and I said you know is this person came
up with something I something I think
could be fun to do and it turned out to
be a huge business and I said I think we
should advertise the jeans on TV 1980
the plane announces himself on
television with an ad campaign shot by
Richard Avedon and starring a young
Brooke Shields
one of the first commercials that we did
Brooke Shields she was really young her
legs are sort of in a position and the
camera moved very slowly across her body
and then comes in on her face and she
says you know what comes between me and
my Calvin's
nothing then it was shocking but it was
very deliberately it was provocative
well yes we were thrown off the air on
television overnight and next thing
front page of newspapers full-page of
Brooke Shields we got so much free
publicity not not for publicity
continued well into the 1990s its
Stephens studio I see a image of someone
in underwear photographed against knotty
pine wood and a shag carpet sort of pink
purple and it was clearly very
suggestive and I said to the group as
you see that picture I said what about
if the campaign would jeans but look
like that
and so Stephen said would you do that
and I said yes do that he did Klein
spoke directly to America's youth taking
the tried-and-tested idea that sex sells
and pushing it further than he ever had
before the Mizell shot commercials are
an instant hit with the country's young
what Klein underestimated however was
the extent which soundbite politics were
increasingly dominating the country and
the only people that hated the adverts
more than the parents were the
politicians Bill Clinton was running for
president and Family Values was a big
issue between the Democrats and
Republicans and Bill Clinton says those
Calvin Klein commercials you know I
don't like them they're not good and
then the Justice Department in
Washington came after us if it's
photographed on an erogenous zone it's
considered pornography
who knew any of this you have to be a
wire as well as his ability to shock
Klein retained an amazing capacity for
talent spotting I was driving along
Sunset Boulevard and I see this
great-looking guy running and so I
stopped the car jumped out introduced
myself and I said what do you do he said
I'm in school he's them a triathlete I
said have you ever modeled he said no I
said good and this was told Tom hit now
yes we were introducing the men's
underwear and we photographed him in
this beautiful white environment in
Santorini and he's standing there in our
underwear and I'm saying oh my god this
is just amazing people in New York were
breaking the bus stop shelters these
posters were under glass and they were
breaking the glass and stealing the
posters and so the people from the city
who called me I said well how much do
the shelter's cost anyway they said was
$500 to replace each glass I said it's
okay let them keep breaking it we'll pay
for it the advertising was
was was breakthrough in those days was a
it was a bit shocking and and that was
something I enjoyed and did that come
from you that desire to shock you know
that kind of I did I used the word shock
I shouldn't have I would say provoke
well I'd love to talk about the stuff
that you did with Kate Marx of course
and those great obsession serenity
pitches so I decided there had to be a
new type and I was thinking actually of
a French actress Vanessa Paradis I
couldn't get her and so Kate walked into
a photographer's studio Patrick to
Marcia and Patrick knew what I was
aiming for and he called me he says I
think someone just came to see me that
you might be interested in she came to
me and she and she showed me photographs
of herself that a boyfriend at the time
Mario Sorrenti
who's a wonderful photographer and
filmmaker they would hit his private
photographs of Kate which they've
managed to share with me I could tell in
a second that he was obsessed with her
and we decided to send the two of them
to an island and I said just photograph
her film her photograph her we'll make
something of it and that was the
beginning of her in imaging and then you
cross pattée with Marky Mark who was
very masculine the white rapper called
Marky Mark's and I saw him he was on the
cover of Rolling Stone wearing my jeans
and underwear and his body was
perfection and he was funny too
we did a commercial we did him him
rapping he called me and he said this is
terrible as did you think you could do
better and he said absolutely I said
okay write it let's see what you come up
with Marky Mark's Calvin's campaign made
him a poster boy for 90s
hyper-masculinity everything was bigger
and to a young Kate Moss's dismay that
included the ego did he and Kate get on
did he and Kate get on us
no no I've worked with models where they
had a love affair after they finished a
commercial of ours because all they were
doing was making love during the
commercial anyway and then the next five
years they're still making love
it didn't happen with Kate and Mark now
the images are still valid they're still
hot they're so sexy they still say
something the the photography is
wonderful
nothing happened by accident there was a
strategy behind everything that we've
done and sometimes it was research
market research but most of the time it
was I had a feeling about something and
I trusted my feelings in 2002 those
feelings told plying the time had come
to sell his business
hey we discuss how he views it today and
what fives he would give to young
designers hoping to follow in his
footsteps
right now the company's running some
great imaging with Justin Bieber and
kendall Jenner and you know people are
photographing themselves and then social
media has changed everything but I see
the company right on with with what
they're doing before we finish I just
want to ask what advice you would give
to young designers first on out today
there is a lot of competition there's a
lot of talent out there I think maybe
the most important thing is finding your
own identity and and even though people
say you should you you should be doing
this or that or no do what you believe
even when you're not confident believe
that you know better than what what
people are telling you to do I think
that's really important
tapping client thank you very much thank
you
so most of the people used to look at me
in a weird way just because I was super
tall which is very rare in India
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