The Tab Talks to Calvin Klein

Calvin Klein, the man who built a $7 billion empire based on classy designs and sexy smalls, shops at Uniqlo.

Yes, the place that was behind the puffer jacket renaissance caters to one of the finest design minds of the modern era: “They do fantastic things. They’re simple, well done and their prices are really great.”

Accordingly, in person Klein is understated. His dark, well-tailored suit, black high tops and sleek hair cut sitting at odds with the fact that he turned seventy last year. For over three decades he built an empire that stretched all over the world.

You don’t have to know fashion to know the name. In fact, it’s so recognizable – like Disney, or Google – that you can forget that behind the brand there once was a man. But who is the figure behind the global machine?

CK laying it down

His philosophy, at least, can be boiled down to three essentials:

Obsession. He’s an image maker not just a clothes designer. To sell a pair of jeans, he realised you had to sell the lifestyle that lay beyond it. “You have to be sharp to be successful in the fashion business.”

Eternity. His motto is ‘repetition is reputation’ so he built a niche for himself but he was never dull. See the Mark ‘Marky Mark‘ Wahlberg campaign below and note the lingering camerawork on his todger. Or the naughtiness of making Brooke Shields declare that ‘nothing’ was the only thing between her and her CK jeans.

Euphoria. Big business kneeled at the feet of the boy from the Bronx who built a $2 billion dollar empire on the strength of his name. Selling sex and desire – although Klein prefers the epithet ‘sensual’ for his clothing – was his secret.

“There’s a lot of psychology involved” in selling boxers, he tells us. Men wanted clothes that remind them that they too could achieve the body beautiful. Pants are not about pants at all but ‘about the skin’ underneath.

Declaring that the label is “all an extension of who I am”, it’s difficult to see how Klein could have gone through with letting go of reins of the company in 2003.

But he’s remarkably zen about leaving behind a world increasingly dominated by big business rather than auteur figures like himself. He cites the anger of designer friends who have similarly let their companies go: “They can’t stand what their companies are doing!”

Basking in his ambient glow

Despite leaving the fashion world behind in 2003 he’s defensive about any claims of the industry’s frivolity. The New York fashion scene “is the biggest business in the state, it employs the most people”, and yet he laments the narrow-mindedness of people who underestimate the industry’s clout.

But Klein is optimistic about the state of the business on a smaller scale, aside from Uniqlo he admires high street stores like “Zara, H & M, J-Crew, Topman, Topshop”.

And Klein’s parting advice to students struggling towards sophistication? Remember: “You don’t have to spend a lot of money to dress well”.