Calvin Klein

In 1964, Calvin Klein married Jayne Centre, a textile designer by profession. The couple was blessed with a daughter, Marci, who currently holds the profile of Talent Producer for NBC’s Saturday Night Live. His marriage to Jayne ended in a divorce in 1974.

In 1986, he married his assistant Kelly Rector. This union too wasn’t successful for long. The couple separated in 1996 and legally divorced in 2006.

Calvin Richard Klein was born to Flo and Leo Stern on November 19, 1942 in Bronx, New York. He was the second of the three children that the couple had.

Ever since he was a child, he intently watched his grandmother who was a seamstress. As such, he soon developed a love for sewing, which only deepened to become his passion and later profession.

Interestingly, when kids of his age played sports, he spend hours sketching designs and sewing fashionable outfits. His mother encouraged his love for fashion and art.

Upon finishing his elementary studies, he gained admission at the High School of Art and Design. Matriculating from the same, he enrolled at the esteemed Fashion Institute of Technology in New York from where he graduated in 1962.

Klein’s first step in the professional and glamorous world of fashion came on 1962 as an apprentice worker for Dan Millestein, who owned a cloak and suit house. Enthusiastic and keen, he worked hard day and night to better his own designs. Meanwhile, he designed for other New York shops as well.

In 1968, he collaborated with his childhood buddy, Barry Schwartz, to establish his own company, Calvin Klein. At the time of its initiation, the company was limited to being a coat shop.

Klein bagged his first order from the Bonwit Teller—a large New York City clothing store. Interestingly, the order came as a result of sheer luck. A coat buyer from Bonwit Teller mistakenly got off on the wrong floor of a hotel on which Klein’ workroom was located and wandered into the workroom. Watching him work, she made a huge order worth $50,000.

His first order was a huge hit and earned him rave reviews from both the public and fashion press. The store executives were impressed with his work and encouraged him to expand his line to sportswear as well.

By 1971, Calvin Klein Company had grown dramatically. The establishment traded not just in coats, but sportswear, classic blazers and lingerie in its women’s collection. Within a matter of time, the Klein Empire became huge and highly successful and included couture line-up that provided its female customers highly fashionable custom-made attires.

While Klein’s sense of fashion and style was highly lauded and greatly demanded ever since his brand was launched, it was his signature tight-fitting jeans that gave him the cult status that he enjoys till date. The jeans revolutionized the way people looked at denim wear.

The boom of the signature jeans served as a prelude for the forthcoming foray into the men’s innerwear that steered the company to big financial gain. His designed boxer shorts titled ‘Calvins’ acted as a catalyst grossing stunning growth rate for the company.