How One Designer Could Transform Calvin Klein as We Know It

The company just lost its creative director. His rumored replacement is a name to know.

We all know Calvin Klein. The brand has caught our attention time after time for their advertisements on the women’s side (do you remember that time) and cutting nice suits to compliment their denim and underwear staples for years.

Tuesday’s announcement that the brand would be doing a creative shakeup in their highest echelons means the brand we have come to know and love is in for an update.

Calvin Klein announced Tuesday current Calvin Klein Collection men’s creative director Italo Zuccheli would be exiting the label, joined by his women’s wear counterpart, Francisco Costa. 

The statement stopped short of naming a replacement for the pair (though the in-house design team will continue to work on future collections) saying only that in the future all Calvin Klein brands will be united under one creative vision.

Industry murmurs about who has one vision have pointed to one man: Belgian designer Raf Simons. In his two decades in the industry, the 48-year-old is known not only for his three-year tenure helming the womenswear side of French brand Christian Dior, but arguably pushing the silhouette of menswear three to four times. It’s quite the legacy.

Simons’ design is predicated on the youth. Sometimes that renders itself as angsty, moth eaten oversized sweatshirts; sometimes it’s just simple styling tropes like pairing sneakers with tailoring. That sounds commonplace, but every thing comes from somewhere, and Simons was definitely one of the first high fashion designers to elevate the humble trainers. he continues to do so season after season with his ongoing Adidas collaboration.

If Simons does take the Calvin Klein job — that’s a big if considering that the designer has gone on record criticizing the pace of fashion and the volume of work he has to churn out — it would be quite the win for the American brand. Though our love for the U.S. and our own creatives runs deep, Sanders has logged time working for brands like Jil Sander and Dior which are big names in the luxury fashion space. 

Having that talent stateside would not only be a win for shoppers but a win for the American market, which is routinely criticized by other markets as being too commercial driven. And hopefully, in the end, it means we’ll end up looking just a little more chic under Simons’ reign at the top.