CALVIN KLEIN - CK

CALVIN KLEIN - CK

(born Nov. 19, 1942, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. fashion designer. He attended the Fashion Institute of Technology. He opened his own company in 1968, when casual, hippie-style clothing was in fashion, but took a different direction by designing simple, understated, elegant clothing. Though noted at first for suits and coats, he gradually placed more emphasis on sportswear, particularly interchangeable separates. He was the first designer to win three consecutive Coty Awards for womenswear (1973 – 75). Over the course of the 1980s and '90s he became known for his clothing, cosmetics, linens, and other designer collections, as well as for his erotic advertising photographs, some of which have drawn public protest. His achievements represented the maturation of the American fashion industry.

• Born: 19 November 1942
• Birthplace: New York, New York
• Best Known As: The designer with the famous underwear ads

Fashion designer Calvin Klein is particularly known for his jeans and and for his many provocative underwear advertisements. Klein graduated from New York's Fashion Institute of Technology in 1964 and formed his own company; he became a household name during the designer jeans boom of the late 1970s. His name-brand underwear was a hit in the 1980s, helped along by billboards and print ads featuring nearly-naked models in exotic poses. The ads made stars of several models, including Kate Moss, Mark Wahlberg and Christy Turlington. Klein later branched into other products, most notably the fragrance Obsession. In 2002 his company was acquired by the Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation.
Teen actress Brooke Shields created a stir with her late 1970s ad for Calvin Klein jeans, in which she delivered the line, "You know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing."