Sex and the ’70s at Calvin Klein


PHOTO COURTESY OF BFA.

Sensuality is one of the ubiquitous, if not governing, house codes at Calvin Klein. So it’s no surprise, then, the brand’s Global Creative Director Kevin Carrigan found inspiration in Mr. Klein’s 1970s-era New York City apartment for his Fall/Winter 2015 sportswear, performance, jeans, accessories, and underwear lines.

Last Thursday, Carrigan presented his new collections at Calvin Klein’s garment district headquarters in New York. Upon entering the space, guests met a tableau of seductive-looking models lounging around a spot-on recreation of Klein’s former bachelor pad: noir shag carpeting, plush lounge seating, and a lone Arco floor lamp, its gleaming chrome dome serving as a makeshift disco ball.

The effect was intoxicating, heady even. In true Calvin form, the look was simple, streamlined, and sublimely chic. Young men and women were clad in sleek silhouettes à la Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin in varying hues of black, navy, and aubergine, and the palest hues of blush and blue. There was even a street-tinged touch of this generation’s insouciant style icon Rihanna in the form of leather overalls hanging off one shoulder paired with a lace bra.

Aside from the mix-matched suits, natty jumpers, bomber jackets, and “active-wear-as-daywear,” swinging gauchos sat alongside a mélange of midi-length ultra-suede frocks in and updated jacket and turtleneck combos.

For the sake of revisiting the hedonistic decade of excess, and in keeping with the brand’s legendary advertisements, there was yet another spot-on recreation in the form of a sauna and male model Joel Meacock.

Meacock sat in solitude, and allowed revelers to approach him at a safe distance, as he reminded them all that nothing comes between him and his Calvin Klein copper and leather wristwatch. How’s that for underwear?