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Master of modern design
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CALVIN KLEIN graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1962 at the age of 20. After 1971 he had begun to experiment with sportswear, designing coatdresses, often in knits, hot-pants turnouts, jumpsuits, and classic blazer pantsuits that all shared certain constants of man-tailoring, notably in the way shirts, jackets, and pants were cut and in the use of topstitching. He did not neglect coats; these were available in a range from very casual, made in poplin lined with gingham, to dressier, in tweeds, to almost formal, in suede trimmed with fox.
In 1973, the year he won the first three consecutive Coty awards, Calvin Klein emerged as a top designer who had his finger on the pulse of American women. In the 1970s, his creation was composed of silk evening pants, tank top, shirt jacket, daytime trousers, cardigan sweater, polo shirt, and coat. With various combinations of these items a woman could be dressed for any occasion.
By 1975 Calvin Klein had become a celebrity, and he changed his somewhat homespun earlier image for a more glamorous one. His advertisements began to feature photographs by Chris Von Wangenheim, Deborah Turbeville, and Guy Bourdin, who shot a 1976 ad that showed a Calvin Klein silk blouse on a wire hanger, with label visible at the back of the neck, hanging next to a mirror in which a nude woman was reflected. More and more, Calvin Klein was trading on the idea that the appeal of his clothes, simple as they were, lay in the attitude of the wearer, who affected their look by how far she unbuttoned her shirt, or what she wore--or didn't wear-- underneath her silk slide of a dress or her Calvin Klein jeans . (SD-Agencies)
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