Calvin Richard Klein (born November 19, 1942) is an American fashion designer who launched the company that later became Calvin Klein Inc., in 1968. In addition to clothing, he also has given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and jewellery.
Klein was born on November 19, 1942, to an Austro-Hungarian Jewish family in the Bronx, New York City, the son of Flore (née Stern; 1909–2006) and Leo Klein.[1][2] Leo was born in Boiany then in Austria-Hungary now in Ukraine and had immigrated to New York, while Flore was born in the United States to immigrants from Galicia and Bukovina, Austria-Hungary (modern day-Ukraine).[3][4]
Klein went to Isobel Rooney Middle School 80 (M.S.80) as a child. He attended the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan and attended New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, leaving for six months after his first year before returning to finish his degree. He received an honorary doctorate from FIT in 2003.[5] He did his apprenticeship in 1962 at an old line cloak-and-suit manufacturer, Dan Millstein,[6] and spent five years designing at other New York City shops.[7] In 1968, he launched his first company with his childhood best friend,[8] Barry K. Schwartz.[8][9]
He became a protégé of Baron de Gunzburg,[9] through whose introductions he became the toast of the New York elite fashion scene even before he had his first mainstream success with the launch of his first jeans line. He was immediately recognized for his talent after his first major showing at New York Fashion Week. He was hailed as the new Yves Saint Laurent, and was noted for his clean lines.[citation needed]
In 1974, Klein designed the tight-fitting signature jeans that went on to gross $200,000 in their first week of sales.[10]
In 1998, Klein participated in a celebrity reading of "The Emperor's New Clothes," for The Starbright Foundation to benefit ill children.[11]
Klein is a supporter of the U.S. Democratic Party, having given over $250,000 to candidates and PACs since 1980.[12]
Klein married Jayne Centre, a textile designer, in 1964.[13] They have a daughter, television producer Marci Klein,[14] who is best known for her work on NBC's Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock. The couple divorced in 1974.[13] In September 1986, Klein married his assistant Kelly Rector in Rome while they were on a buying trip in Italy.[13] She later became a well-known socialite photographer. After separating in 1996, they divorced in April 2006.[9]
Klein dated gay ex-porn star Nicholas Gruber.[15][16][17]
For many years, Klein owned a home in Fire Island Pines, New York on Fire Island.[18] He hosted friends such as artist Andy Warhol, Studio 54 owner Steve Rubell, Fashion designer Chester Weinberg, and media mogul David Geffen.[19] Although he sold the property in 1995, it is still known as "The Calvin Klein House."[20]
In 2003, Klein bought an ocean-front estate in Southampton, New York, on Long Island and demolished it to build a $75 million glass-and-concrete mansion.[9][21] In 2015, he put his Miami Beach, Florida mansion on the market for $16 million.[22] The Florida home sold for $12,850,000 in February 2017. In June 2015, Klein bought a mansion in Los Angeles, California, for $25 million.[23]
In 1974, Klein also became the first designer to receive outstanding design in men's and women's wear from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) award show.[citation needed] In 1983, he was placed on the International Best Dressed List.[24] Also in 1981, 1983, and 1993, he received an award from the CFDA.[25] In 1991, he received the American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award.[26]
Klein made a cameo appearance in season 3, episode 15 ("The Bubble") of the television series 30 Rock.[27] A fictionalized version of him also appears in season 4, episode 12 ("The Pick") of the television series Seinfeld. The name Calvin Klein was used by Marty McFly in the 1985 hit blockbuster movie Back to the Future.
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