ABSTRACT
As American ready-to-wear designers achieved unprecedented recognition in the 1970s, one of the youngest and most successful was Calvin Klein. His spare, luxurious sportswear was popular, but the designer became a household name through bodyconforming “designer” jeans. Klein and Richard Avedon created a 1980 print and media campaign using Brooke Shields saying seductively, “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins.” From this first flirtatious double entendre, Klein has sustained avantgarde frisson, sexual assertion, and immense recognition, especially for his most ineffable products, jeans, underwear, and fragrance.
