Considering the price and status; the urge to wear a pair of Calvin’s Kleins like Superman, i.e. outside of the trousers, is quite huge. How did the company and designer manage to convince us that the underwear we wore had to be designer as well as the threads on top of it.
It comes from the fact that Klein is a very good designer. He cut his teeth in New York but not through the academic route. He did attend the The High School of Art and Design based in Manhattan and even the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology of New York but did not graduate (he has an honorary Doctorate now!) Instead he served an apprenticeship, paying his dues at the firm of Dan Millstein and then designing through a series of New York Shops in the nineteen sixties.
He then benefited greatly by being given the mentoring and tutelage of one Baron de Gunzburg. The good Baron introduced him to a variety of contacts and he soon became the toast of New York following its famous annual fashion week.
It was his use of denim that made his name but it is the underwear that also made him extra famous. It was soon the fashionable thing to wear your jeans below the waist showing off the label with the great name’s name all over it. A clever piece of advertising showing the jeans halfway up on an abdominally strong man gave people the idea to do it. Still want to do it? Go to https://www.louisboyd.co.uk/brands/calvin-klein.html for some Calvin Klein Clothes.
Quality and a self taught path
Underwear is only part of the story. Calvin Klein has been closely tied to men’s fashion for decades, with successful lines for both men and women, and the menswear range grew well beyond its best known basics into outerwear and other garments.
Much of that reputation rests on a steady focus on quality. The brand has stayed true to its roots, using good fabrics and clean, simple design, which is why its pieces are still seen as a benchmark in men’s fashion.
Klein’s own background helps explain the approach. He grew up in New York in fairly modest circumstances and won a place at one of the city’s top design schools, but he soon left to work in fashion houses, believing hands on experience counted for more than academic success. That decision paid off. He went on to build a global fashion business whose name remains as recognisable today as it has ever been, and he is still regarded as a designer for others to aspire to.
From the Bronx to a global fashion house
Calvin Klein’s own story helps explain how the brand became so aspirational. Like several other Jewish New York designers of his generation, including Ralph Lauren, Klein came from modest beginnings. He grew up in the Bronx, and breaking into fashion from there was far from easy.
His big break came through the guidance of Baron de Gunzburg, a society figure who also owned a fashion magazine. The exposure he gave the young designer made Klein the toast of New York and allowed him to set up his own fashion house in 1968.
From there the brand grew steadily. Bold marketing and advertising put Hollywood stars and top models in Calvin Klein underwear, which turned a basic garment into something people wanted to be seen wearing. Men began to wear their jeans low enough to show the waistband underneath, because having paid for designer underwear, they were not about to hide it.