Calvin Klein one of the most popular fashion designers in the world.
If you don’t know the man, you have probably worn some of his designer clothes or seen someone wearing them.
Calvin is the brains behind the transformation of denim wear, men’s underwear,and women’s activewear and he owns the empire that helped achieve this.
For those who don’t know Calvin, he became famous after an investigation on models from his ad campaign was launched by the justice department.
This is the time Calvin Klein earned so much credit and discredit from his name.
Calvin was born in 1942 in Bronx New York. He was a passionate kid about fashion design,and he decided to study fashion in New York.
After that, he went under an apprentice program for a suit manufacturer after which they would then open a company with his friend.
All this never made him as famous as his provocative ad campaigns.
They featured young adults in their underwear,and most people thought he was introducing young people to sexuality at a tender age.
He was criticized for this,and CBS eventually banned the ad campaign, but it was too late.
The ad had made Calvin Klein a brand that was going to stick in people’s heads forever.
Here are some of the shocking secrets on Calvin Klein:
1. He is Super Gay
Even his looks can tell it all (my opinion though).
Calvin Klein is gay,but it was rumored that he is into women too.
This was before many people knew he was gay.
Afterward, Calvin started dating men,and it confused so many people others concluded that he was bisexual.
2. Gay for Hire
Calvin was once in a desperate need for a companion,and the person he went to was Nick Gruber.
He dated him for a while,but it was later found out that he was gay for pay and things didn’t go well for both of them.
Mind you Nick was 50 years younger than Calvin!
3. Bill Clinton wasn’t a Fan
People engage in such outrageous things,but when the president of the United States can’t keep quiet anymore, then it has become too much.
Kate Moss, one of Calvin’s models, appeared in an add,and she was too naked and far too young.
She coined the term Heroin Chic and received a violent backlash even from the president himself.
4. Jewish Immigrant
His father was a Hungarian immigrant while his mother was a dentist from Australia and also an immigrant but does that make him an immigrant too? Well, he was born in the US so that answers the question.
5. Drug Addict
Calvin was a night owl, and this behavior brought him problems.
He struggled with drug and alcohol abuse and had to check himself in rehab in Minnesota.
He recovered but later fought with the same after his company almost became bankrupt but recovered.
6. A Learned School Dropout
Calvin joined High School of Art and Design and matriculated at.
He, however, didn’t graduate,but he later received an honorary Doctorate from Ney York’s Fashion Institute of Technology in 2003.
7. Super-secretive
Before he opened a company with his friend, Calvin worked in a coat shop.
He designed his clothes on the side,and the owner never came to know about it.
8. Divorced Twice
Maybe women aren’t the best for him,and he has come to prove that point.
He was married to Jayne Centre who they had a kid with and divorced in 1974.
He later married his assistant on a buying trip to Italy,and they later divorced in 2006.
9. The Glass and Concrete Mansion
Maybe Klein also wanted to design his house like he did his clothing line.
Calvin bought an estate and tore it down replacing it with a glass and house mansion.
10. The FIT Myth
Calvin was in FIT when a professor suggested that he was too talented and he was wasting his time in school.
The professor encouraged him to leave the school and get into the fashion industry.
What happened is that Calvin had an affair with the professor and the professor was later fired from FIT.
11. A Different Kind of High
His business partner Ian Schrager was released from jail together with Rubell and Calvin wanted them to experience a kind of high.
He took them for a helicopter ride around New York,and they surely did experience the high.
12. Plagiarism
In 1996, Calvin Klein was accused by so many designers of copying from them.
The claims were so adamant that he faxed over his collection to press when the trends from Milan were slowly emerging.
13. Lost Control of His Company
Did you know that today Calvin Klein has no say or control over the company, brand or the brand name Calvin Klein?
He sold the company he fought to build and lost control.
14. Lie Detector Test Relationship
When Nick was dating Calvin who was obsessed with him, he made him take a lie detector test,and according to sources, Calvin still loves Nick.
