Fashioned by Love turns 3

When I think about creating my very first post for Fashioned by Love, I struggle, seriously struggle, to believe that it was three years ago. I still remember that day, I remember coming up with an idea of this blog and its name. I remember the blank page feeling, the nervousness and excitement of starting a new chapter of my life. If only I knew where my little blog would take me…

2013 was a difficult year for me. It started well and then suddenly collapsed in a manner of a card tower because the injury happened and balance was lost. The recovery took several  months and taught me to love flat shoes, maxi dresses and never make too many plans.

So, whilst the year didn’t go exactly as I envisioned, it had its moments of joy, pride and enjoyment, so I want to celebrate them fully (and the same way I did it last year).

In 2013 I wrote 270 posts, shared 52 Monday editorials and 100 stylish quotes.

Was nominated as one of the 10 best UK fashion blogs by Company magazine.

Received an invitation from Harper’s Bazaar for the private opening of the Self-Portraits exhibition created by the magazine and Viva London.

Interviewed gorgeous models Karlina Caune and Alexandra Egorova and British designers Liam Fahy and Kelly Love.

Created Fashioned by Love fashion weeks dedicated to Azzedine Alaia, Donna Karan and Calvin Klein.

Said Good-bye to Marc Jacobs era at Vuitton, Emma Hill – at Mulberry and welcomed back John Galliano.

Continued “5 dresses” with the LWD and lace and started new series of post to share my favourite Bag of the Month and Shoe stories as well as gorgeous collections from the past seasons that could only be described and remembered as Timeless Chic.

Created a few designer-inspired looks for less, from Lanvin and Nina Ricci to Louis Vuitton F/W 2013 and S/S 2005 as well as some random outfits for every occasions, from white jeans (including a budget version), flares and summer ideas to a 1920s evening ensemble…

Talked about spring crops, wearable blooms, leather, safari chic and pattern on pattern trends.

Dreamed of a white summer wardrobe and celebrated Christmas in every shade of blue, pink, white and black.

As the autumn approached, asked some fashion models about their season’s must-haves and showcasted some of the most beautiful grey, pink and camel coats to cocoon in as well as gorgeous leather jackets to be worn by the most stylish among us.

Reviewed some of my favourite fashion reads including The Empress’s New Clothes, Supermodels Diet Secrets (and later wrote about detox 1976-style), The world according to Karl, D.V., Allure and Chloe Attitudes.

And leant, once again, that fashion is such a wonderful, exciting and endlessly inspirational world that I will never be tired of.

Thank you for being with me today and always, for your comments and support! I hope to see you over and over again and give you something to enjoy every day as you stop by Fashioned by Love.

 

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Calvin Klein. The documentary.

This was the very first ever film that told me more about Calvin Klein that I’ve ever known. It was ages ago when the Calvin Klein documentary aired on the Biography channel along side other stories about fashion designers. I watched them all then. Finding this movie was such a joy for it wasn’t just about the story, but the images, the footage – those elements that can instantly inspire and feed the mind. It took me a while to finally discover this treasure. I have missed it tremendously. And I cannot wait to share it with you today.

Photo source: Photographers & press at Calvin Klein show, Japan 1979 via Calvin Klein Tumblr    

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Timeless chic: Calvin Klein Spring 2003

Spring 2003 collection was pure, sensual, ethereal and breathtaking. The fluidity of it, the combination of softly glowing silk, powdery suede and creamy leathers, the semi-transparency were not just beautiful – they were simply timeless and without a doubt worthy of a separate post seamlessly fitting into my Timeless Chic series.

It was the very last collection Calvin Klein designed for the brand before the company was sold to Phillips-Van Heusen for $400 million  with additional $30 million in shares and future revenue royalties for both Klein and Schwartz. Francisco Costa became the new creative director while Klein assumed a consulting role.

Natalia Vodianova who opened the show and appeared in the Spring/Summer 2003 campaign became the highest ever paid face of the brand.

  Photo source: stylebistro.com, Natalia Vodianova photographed by Mario Sorrenti for Calvin Klein Spring/Summer 2003 campaign  

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Calvin Klein jeans

In 1976 a TV commercial featuring Gloria Vanderbilt wearing blue jeans that she and her business partner, Warren Hirsh, recently put into production, appeared on air during the Academy Awards presentation. Until that moment nobody really thought of jeans as a designer item – they were the workers uniform that originated in Nimes and introduced by Levi Strauss to the American market in 1850s. Even the trendiest bell-bottomed pairs manufactured by Faded Glory and Jordache were hardly in demand among the stylish crowd.

Vanderbilt denims changed it all. Suddenly every woman wanted a pair of jeans with an elegant designer logo on a back pocket. For the fashion industry it felt like an explosion and every designer including Anne Klein, Geoffrey Beene and Bill Blass wanted to have their own line.

Klein toyed with an idea for a while struggling to make the final decision until he was approached by Puritan Fashion, a giant dress company run by Carl Rosen, one of “the kings” in the garment industry who was looking for a designer to license a collection of denim “for the public”.

The deal was signed on 29 June 1977. Calvin Klein and Barry Schwartz were offered one million dollars in cash advantage and guaranteed minimum of one million every year for the life of the contract in addition to the royalties for every pair sold.

Designing the first pair didn’t take long for Klein knew exactly what he wanted - indigo-dyed, 100% cotton, straight legged with a shorter rise to accentuate the shape of the bottom and give the jeans an instant sex appeal.

The very first advertising campaign featured Patti Hansen photographed by Charles Tracy. The image of a beautiful blond showcasing her bottom in a seductive pose caused a real scandal among women’s groups and brought $80 million in sales in the first year.

And then came Brooke and her Calvins.

She was 15 when Sheilds got approached by Calvin Klein with an offer to star in his jeans campaign. Brooke was directed by Richard Avedon to play different roles: “a liberated woman, an actress, a teenager, a vamp”… Kleins idea was to advertise the product without actually focusing on it, but rather sending hidden messages to play with people’s imagination.

It worked. In the first week the company sold 400000 pairs of jeans reaching an astonishing number of 2 million sales in a months and bringing £12.5 million in annual royalties. More over, sensual, provoking, beautiful and clever, those adverts caused both demand and controversy, shaping the image of Calvin Klein as a brand and making the clothes even more desirable.

Brooke Shields herself became somewhat of a celebrity and a star. Her image was associated with jeans so strongly that a few years later she came up with the own line of jeans called “Brookes”.

 

Additional read: a wonderful article from the Interview magazine, Calvin Klein: Fashion Design Superstar, Calvin Klein, Obsession: the Lives and Times of Calvin Klein, The House of Klein: Fashion, Controversy, and a Business Obsession 

Photo source: Natalia Vodianova in Calvin Klein Jeans Spring 2003 campaign, Calvin Klein advertising archives, bwgreyscale.com

 

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Calvin Klein perfumes

The only reason the very first Calvin Klein perfume took a year to be born was the fact that it had to be perfect and different from everything Klein ever smelled before. In fact, the designer disliked any form of perfume or cologne. He never used one himself and strongly associated any other fragrance with his school teachers and mother’s friends. He liked musk and imagined his future creation with a code name “Seventh Avenue” as “something floral but not heavy… that doesn’t hang like a cloud over a woman…”, but any further attempts to find the right formula mixed for him by the best noses of International Flavours & Fragrance (IF&F) lead to nothing – Calvin rejected every single concoction including a completely unique smell that everyone fell in love with. The latest creation was then offered to Ralph Lauren who introduced it as his first fragrance that very same year, while Klein and his team had to start everything from scratch.

It all finally happened when Calvin received a custom-made perfume brought for him from Paris by Frances Stein, a former Vogue editor who, after leaving the magazine, spent several years working for Klein. The romantic notes of jasmine and roses seduced him instantly and the bottle was sent to IF&F to be analysed and reproduced.

It turned out to contain the most expensive oils in the world, which meant that the cost of production and retail price would be much higher compared to any other perfume sold at the time, but for Klein achieving perfection was worth breaking the rules.

He soon went against the crowd yet again refusing to buy cheaper stock cases and bottles. Instead, the smooth, “crying out to be touched”, oval-shaped crystal bottles were manufactured in France to guarantee the best clarity of the glass and perfectly fitted stopped.

The beautiful vial containing most precious gold liquid was then photographed by the one and only Irving Penn who was charmed by the sensual geometry of the bottle.

The job was done.

On 6 March 1978 Calvin Klein Ltd. launched their very first perfume called “Calvin Klein”. Sadly, it wasn’t as successful as Klein hoped and begged to be replaced with something more sensual, more day to night, more… unisex.

Obsession, the new oriental and spicy fragrance, a combination of mandarin, bergamot and subtle notes of jasmine, rose and neroli mixed with coriander, taget, armoise, amber and oak moss created by Rourge-Bertram DuPont and poured into blonde tortoiseshell, tantric sculptures and Indian prayer stones -inspired bottle was launched into production in 1985.

Accompanied by a provocative campaign directed by Richard Avedon and filmed by Nestor Almendros with the print ads shot by Bruce Weber, featuring Jose Borain (who was replaced by “kinder and gentle” Kate Moss in 1990s), the new fragrance was absolutely irresistible and made $30 million in whole sales in its first year.

It was followed by Eternity (the name was inspired by the eternity ring presented by Klein to his second wife, Kelly), a blend of freesia, white lily, muguet, narcissus and sandalwood. The serene black and white campaign was focused on fantasy and family and photographed by Richard Avedon.

CK be came in 1996. Contradiction – in 1997. Truth – 2000. Crave and Truth for men – 2002. Each became a bit of an icon, a signature of its time and a scented memory for many.

 

Photo source: Kate Moss photographed by Mario Sorrenti for Obsession campaign 1992, Calvin Klein Classic perfume campaign photographed by Irving Penn 1978, Obsession campaign photographed by Richard Avedon 1985, Eternity campaign photographed by Richard Avedon, fragrantica.com, calvinklein.com

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Stylish quote

 

 

“Polyester feels slimy. It represents everything I hate. it’s synthetic, it’s fake, it’s cheap.”

 

Calvin Klein

 

 

Photo source: Aurelie Claudel for Calvin Klein Truth campaign

 

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Fashionable break

What a week it’s been so far! Fun, challenging, exciting… As much as I have been enjoying writing my little stories, I also couldn’t help but feel the pressure, too, for documenting somebody’s life is a bit like preserving precious titbits of information that one simply cannot afford to lose, spoil or misinterpret. After all there is nothing worse than giving the wrong impression, particularly when you really care about the subject.

And so this morning I allowed myself a little break and become a thoughtful and relaxed reader…

I made a big cup of ceylon tea, wrapped myself up in a warm softness of a huge blanket found in Urbanara boutique (which I highly recommend to everyone who appreciates beautiful living) and then spent some quality time sipping my drink and enjoying one of the best articles about Calvin Klein written by Ingrid Sischy for Vanity Fair back in 2008.

Initially I wanted to cut and paste the entire story, but at the end decided to share a link instead and urge you to follow it whenever you get a chance and savour every word as much as I did.

P.S. Don’t forget a fluffy blanket… It makes everything even better!

Photo source: Stylizimo

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Calvin Klein, stepping into the future

Calvin Klein Ltd. started with $10000 and an elevator-facing rented room on the sixth floor of the York Hotel. The 613 housed a small table, a few chairs and changing booth made with a cloth curtain. Phone calls were made. People came and went. Seasons changed. And the precious samples were still hanging on a pipe rack waiting for the big break.

Then one day on a humid spring afternoon the elevator unexpectedly stopped on the six floor. Within seconds, as the doors slid back and forth with a soft whisper, and people continued their journey upstairs, one of them glanced across the hall and noticed the samples. That somebody was Donald O’Brien, the vice president of Bonwit Teller. That quick glance was enough for him to return. After examining each garment one by one O’Brien he asked Klein to bring them to Mildred Custin, the president of Bonwit Teller and one of the most important people in fashion at the time.

On Saturday excited and nervous Calvin put all the clothes on a rack and wheeled it for twenty-three blocks uptown to the Custin’s office.

Although she remained distant and reserve through the entire meeting, Mildred Custin was enchanted by the quality and style of the samples and the charming young man who designed them. After the meeting was over and to Kleins complete astonishment the grande dame of the retail world placed an order for $50000. More over, once the clothes were delivered to the store she broke the rule displaying the collection in all eight windows – a kind of privilege that was normally reserved for the big brands. A week after a dozen of full-paged adverts were published in the New York Times giving Calvin Klein designs a seal of quality.

Suddenly orders were coming in from every big store around the country including Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman. By the end of their fist financial year Calvin Klein and Barry Schwartz grossed an astonishing one million dollars. They moved to bigger offices and began building their empire.

In April 1970 Calvin Klein held his very first fashion show introducing a fall collection of fifty pieces, but it was in May 1973 when he really set himself apart from the other designers with his collection of seventy four pieces and “the look” – a voluminous coat and shirt dresses, the pure, clean-cut lines, muted colours and all natural, sensual and luxurious grey flannels, British wools and buttery meltons. A month later Klein was nominated with the Coty American Fashion Critics Award as a designer whose work was “recognisable by its unique “brush stroke” and colour palettes as that of a top painter”.

Calvin Klein Spring/Summer 1987

Such a sensational success not only allowed Klein to take his business to another level – it gave him an opportunity to fulfil his ideas for dozens of other products from producing a menswear collection containing thousands of items  made of 799 fabrics, creating his first perfume, introducing Calvin Klein jeans and underwear to designing a more affordable CK line as well as accessories and home collections. He was breaking the rules and changing people’s perception of beauty and fashion forever.

His business was, in a way, his life and his ultimate dream. The perfect world of beauty. The perfect world where every stitch, every button and every colour were exactly as he envisioned. The perfect world that had to be protected from people who one way or another, with words or actions led by greed or envy, tried to destroy it. Klein survived everything. The divorce. The drugs. The love. The loss. The gossip. His company became a worldwide phenomenon and his life – somewhat a legend.

“I think it’s more fun if you have the reputation and people don’t know everything - a little mystery isn’t so bad” he said in his interview to Playboy in 1984. Lets leave it at that…

 

Photo source: Calvin Klein photographed by Bruce Weber for LOVE Spring/Summer 2010, issue 3, Time, Calvin Klein Archives

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Calvin Klein, the beginnings

Since he was five Calvin Richard Klein knew that he wanted to design women’s clothes. While other boys in the Bronx neighbourhood played baseball and did all the things kids do before they grow up, and his brother Barry and sister Alexis kept getting in old sorts of trouble, Calvin spent time watching his grandmother, Molly Stern, a former Hattie Carnegie seamstress, creating gorgeous garments for her customers, accompanying his mother, Flore (or Flo as everyone called her) to the numerous sample sales where she would buy designer clothes, and taking weekend classes in life drawings and sketches. His father, Leo Klein, wasn’t particularly keen on his sons choice, but Flo had a different opinion – as far as she was concerned, Calvin was perfect in every single way. Not that she was wrong about making such a statement. Her son really was good at what he did. First it was the sketches, then, after he was given a sewing machine as a present, designing and making clothes.

Despite his obvious talent, Calvin Klein wasn’t a popular figure in the neighbourhood. Everyone around him felt that he was different and, naturally, they found it difficult to understand or accept. Everyone, but his family and Barry Schwartz, his only friend and the only person Calvin trusted.

The two were introduced by their fathers who use to meet on their way to work, but the friendship that developed between the boys was independent of their families. Barry and Calvin couldn’t have been more different – Barry was athletic, confident and interested in sports and a bit of clever gambling, Calvin, on the other hand, stood tall and remained reserved and shy, only interested in his drawings and fashion illustration that he studied at the School of Industrial Arts.

And yet, the duo was unseparatable. They even made plans on going into business together, opening a chain of supermarkets and making money. If only they knew that that childhood ambition was to become their biggest adventure ever.

In a meantime, before their destiny knocked at Klein’s door, Calvin found himself at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) where the 18-year old went to learn all the tricks of the trade, particularly “how to create something very beautiful, very well cut, very well proportions, and very simple.” It was also at FIT when, inspired by Chanel, Poiret and Jacques Tiffeau, Klein began developing his passion for the purity of design, the quality of fabrics and the love for muted colour palette. He was a quick learner and eager to absorb everything that had to do with fashion and style, so eventually FIT was no longer fit enough for him. At 20 he took a job as a copyboy at Women’s Wear Daily hoping that it would make a good start for him, but the position proved to be a dead end, though giving the young designer quite a few insights about the industry, something that no FIT class would teach him.

It was also the time when Calvin Klein met a girl and fell in love. Jayne Centre was a beautiful strawberry blonde from his neighbourhood, somebody he knew since childhood and dated, on and off, through school. They got married in spring 1964. On 21 October 1966 the couple welcomed an adorable little girl they named Marcia Robin Klein.

After graduating from FIT and trying a couple of job that didn’t have any prospects, Calvin Klein got an interview at Dan Millstein’s company, one of the biggest clothes manufactures at the time. He was hired. The position was a true learning curve. One day he could have been sent to Paris to see the shows and then sketch the clothes for Millstein to copy. Next, he would be stuck in an office cubicle, designing something bright coloured and over the top. For Klein, it felt like prison. The salary wasn’t good either and so after producing yet another yellow design that was too much for Klein’s fine tuned aesthetics to bear, Calvin decided to look for another job.

Halldon Ltd. was a coat company owned by Louis Schlansky who founded the business in 1917. Calvin was welcomed there instantly. He received a better salary, better treatment and most importantly, respect as a young and promising designer. He stayed there until 1967, the year that changed everything.

One day Klein received another job offer that seemed tempting enough to go for. It was Barry who stopped him. Clearly, Calvin’s old friend understood him better than the young designer himself. Instead of cheering, Schwartz asked Klein to consider starting something of his own, rather than wasting his talent on somebody else’s dreams. He even offered to finance the business as much as he could.

It was enough to make Calvin stop and think. Then Klein did something he’s never done before – he asked his father for advice. “I don’t know anything about fashion or what you’ve been studying all these years,” began Leo, “but whatever it is, I have a feeling that you haven’t given it enough of a chance. An opportunity like Barry’s may never come along again, but I think you will be miserable for the rest of your life if you don’t stick it out.” The words cemented the deal.

It took Klein several months to design and produce a dozen of samples that somebody once remembered as “being superbly beautiful, like highly styled Balenciaga classics and the work of a true genius.”

On 28 December 1967, Calvin Klein Ltd. was officially incorporated. It was run by Calvin Klein and Barry Schwartz, best friends and now business partners. Finally, they welcomed their destiny and bravely made their first step into the unknown, but incredibly exciting future. Calvin Klein was only 25 years old.

 

To be continued…

Photo source: Calvin Klein by Tim Mercer, two other photos scanned by me from Obsession: the Lives and Times of Calvin Klein.

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Christy Turlington in Marie Claire 1997

 

It was years ago when I first saw Calvin Klein collections. His designs spoke to me. That purity, those clean lines - so beautiful and unforgettable, they made an impact on my perception of fashion and style. I never knew much about his private life – the amount of information available in Russia back in the 1990s was very limited, but even if I'd heard the gossip and stories that surrounded his persona, it wouldn't change the way I saw this American designer...

 

The genius. One of a kind.

 

Leaning more about the man himself, as I collected materials for the fashion week dedicated to Calvin Klein, was a very interesting experience indeed. I didn’t expect to find out the facts that made the pages of newspapers and magazines. I’ve read stories where people couldn’t hide their bitterness towards Klein and interviews and reviews of pure love.

 

At the end, though, I decided to go with my gut feeling and show Calvin Klein the way I saw him.

 

For the true genius is never flawless and it is the flaws that make him human.

 

I admire the man. And I adore, wholeheartedly adore, his passion for fashion and design, his love for perfection and eye for detail and colour. I also feel that, whilst it was good to hear the good and the bad, I understood Kleins motives, behaviour and decisions whatever they were and despite all the criticism he was often showered with.

 

After all who are we to judge?

 

Lets begin the Calvin Klein week with an editorial from Marie Claire that is, in a way, symbolic. It is created by two women who were a part of the designer's life – Kelly Klein, Calvin’s second wife at the time, as a photographer, and Christy Turlington, the face of Calvin Klein, as a model. More on them later and for now, enjoy the beautiful images…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo source:  Marie Claire US January 1997

(photography: Kelly Klein)

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Vanessa Axente in Calvin Klein Fall 2013 campaign

I am so happy to see Vanessa Axente as the face of Calvin Klein Fall/Winter 2013-14 campaign. I’ve been in love with this girl since I saw her walking for Dior a few seasons ago and am glad I am not the only one who appreciate her beauty. Adore these photos shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. That mischievous smile in her eyes. Such a gorgeous model. And one of the best campaigns of the seasons.

 

Photo source: Calvin Klein Fall/Winter 2013-2014 campaign

 

 

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