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Inside Veronica Leoni's Buzzy Reinvention of Calvin Klein
Inside Veronica Leoni's Buzzy Reinvention of Calvin Klein

Vogue

timea day ago

  • Entertainment
  • Vogue

Inside Veronica Leoni's Buzzy Reinvention of Calvin Klein

On a rainy day in early May, Veronica Leoni, the Roman creative director behind Calvin Klein, is at a fitting for her spring 2026 collection in New York's garment district, where the company has its headquarters. She examines a dress and a trench coat—all the while refining what she calls the transatlantic vision of the new Calvin Klein Collection: combining the 'casual, deconstructed beauty' of Rome with the fast rhythm of New York's streets. After six years away from the runway, Calvin Klein wants to reclaim its place as the prime mover for contemporary American excellence in minimalist fashion. Enter Leoni, 42, an animated pixie with a sweep of salt-and-pepper hair. When we meet, in a white-walled room next to a bare-bones atelier full of tables with sewing machines and hanging samples, she's wearing a slouchy gray button-down shirt, black drawstring dress pants, and Tabi boots. Tailors and a seamstress are at work as Leoni goes over the garments with her designer and patternmaker. 'My inner trend is actually chaos and disorder,' she says, laughing. 'But I'm beyond a perfectionist—I can see the issue of a pattern from far, and I'm obsessed with 90-degree corners.' Her debut collection for fall 2025 was one of the most anticipated shows of New York Fashion Week, the first time Calvin Klein had shown there since the label decided to stop producing luxury collections—and parted ways with chief creative officer Raf Simons—in 2018. The house's namesake founder, now in his early 80s, sold the business to fashion conglomerate PVH in 2003, and was back in attendance at Leoni's show, along with other faces from the label's heyday: Kate Moss, Christy Turlington, and the photographer Mario Sorrenti, who shot a teenage Moss, his then girlfriend, for the brand's sultry Obsession campaign in 1993. Leoni's mother flew in from Rome; her younger brother, a butcher, came with his two kids. Greta Lee and Bad Bunny, both of whom have starred in Calvin Klein underwear campaigns, were there as well. EASY BREEZY Actor Louisa Jacobson—who can currently be seen in Trophy Boys at the MCC Theater and on the third season of The Gilded Age—wears Calvin Klein Collection. Photographed by Tess Ayano When Leoni and Klein met for a coffee the day before the show, 'He said, 'How can you be with me while you've got a show to prep?' ' Leoni recalls. 'I could spend hours and hours with him.' Klein told her that the collection was hers now, and to do what she liked. Leoni says that the only reason she didn't cry was because 'I was too stressed.' Klein's ex-wife, Kelly Klein, also came to be fitted before the show and seemed to be moved by being back at the headquarters after 20 years away, as was Moss. 'Walking back into the same building where I did my original castings brought back many memories for me,' Moss tells me. 'The doorman, the atelier are still there. Veronica is bringing a fresh energy to the clothes, but you can see she is honoring the timeless minimal chic that Calvin did back in the day.'

PVH beats guidance but continues to struggle
PVH beats guidance but continues to struggle

Yahoo

time02-04-2025

  • Business
  • Yahoo

PVH beats guidance but continues to struggle

This story was originally published on Fashion Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Fashion Dive newsletter. PVH Corp. fourth quarter revenue was down 5% year over year to $2.4 billion, beating the company's previous guidance of a 6% to 7% decrease, according to a Monday earnings report. Full year revenue dropped 6% to $8.7 billion, in line with the lower end of the company's guidance. At the Tommy Hilfiger brand, both Q4 and full year revenue fell 5% year over year. Calvin Klein's fourth quarter revenue dropped 2%, while the brand's full year revenue fell 1%. The company forecasted flat to slightly increased revenue in 2025, but with revenue projected to be flat or down 2% in the first quarter. PVH has been working to boost the value of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger as part of its strategic PVH+ Plan. The company has also made several recent executive changes, including naming a new CEO of Americas in December and appointing Veronica Leoni as creative director of Calvin Klein in May 2024. Alice Price, apparel analyst at GlobalData, said in emailed comments that the company's Q4 improvement suggests the PVH+ Plan 'is starting to have legs, as it focuses on developing its key growth categories, increasing consumer engagement and improving efficiencies.' However, she added that the company's 2025 revenue projections show that 'its strategy still has a long way to go before delivering a full turnaround.' At Tommy Hilfiger, international revenue fell 7% in Q4, with North America revenue remaining flat for the quarter. Full-year revenue figures were the same. Calvin Klein posted a 4% fourth quarter international decrease and a 3% increase in North America for the same period. The brand's full fiscal revenue dropped 1%, with its international revenue down 2% and its North America revenue down 1%. Year-over-year revenue at the company's Heritage Brands dropped 41% in Q4, including a 28% decrease resulting from the sale of its women's intimates business. For the full year, Heritage Brands revenue was down 57% year over year, including a 45% decrease resulting from the sale. 'In a challenging macro, we delivered another year of strong profitability in North America, drove sequential improvements in our wholesale order books in Europe while improving our quality of sales, and we achieved our third consecutive year of growth in Asia Pacific, on a constant currency basis,' CEO Stefan Larsson said in a statement. Revenue from the company's owned and operated stores decreased 4% in the fourth quarter, while revenue from the company's digital commerce business was down 10%. Total Q4 DTC revenue dropped 5%, including a 4% decline from the impact of the 53rd week in fiscal 2023. PVH said its North America growth 'was more than offset by the continuation of the Company's planned strategic reduction of sales in Europe.' Wholesale year-over-year revenue dropped 5% in Q4, including a 2% reduction resulting from the Heritage Brands women's intimates sale. The company also attributed that decline to the reduction of sales in Europe and to North America wholesale shipment timings. Price called the full year results disappointing, and said that PVH's brands have 'lost desirability among discerning consumers.' She also added that the company can't solely attribute its lackluster performance to a challenging economic environment, since rival firm Ralph Lauren continues to outperform. Recommended Reading Calvin Klein's Jeremy Allen White ads turned heads, but the biggest impact may be to the brand's image Sign in to access your portfolio

A new queer style for women
A new queer style for women

Washington Post

time14-02-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Washington Post

A new queer style for women

NEW YORK — Queer women may be the audience most talked about but least served by fashion. Yes, the Jil Sander minimalist tailoring of the 1990s, combined with the rise of Prada's ugly-chic, brought to the world's attention what fashion magazines have called 'lesbian chic.' And yes, the big New York Fashion Week show, the revived Calvin Klein Collection under queer designer Veronica Leoni, recalled that era so much that memes circulated over the past several days suggesting Leoni's muses were the 'power lesbians' featured in a 1999 episode of 'Sex and the City.'

Calvin Klein Returned to NYFW in Carolyn Bessette Kennedy's Old Office
Calvin Klein Returned to NYFW in Carolyn Bessette Kennedy's Old Office

Yahoo

time07-02-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Yahoo

Calvin Klein Returned to NYFW in Carolyn Bessette Kennedy's Old Office

"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." After a six and a half year hiatus, Calvin Klein showed a collection at New York Fashion Week. The Creative Director, Veronica Leoni is new, but the show space was not—the Calvin Klein headquarters at 205 West 39th Street. As editors approached the show space on the ground floor of the building in the heart of New York's Garment District, a wave of nostalgia—of visits here for previews, of picking garment bags for shoots, of past shows—was in the air. The front row held a similar mix of past and present. Calvin Klein himself was there, as well as models long associated with the brand like Kate Moss and Christy Turlington, but there was also Bad Bunny and Cooper Koch. The collection, too, bridged the gap between then and now with an emphasis on the minimalism and tailoring the brand made its signature as well as a bag in the iconic shape of a bottle of CK perfume. Coats were a standout. The show notes highlighted the influence of cinema and the American character, and of underwear too, another trademark of the house. Of course anytime anyone passes this building another piece of its history comes up. This was the office of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, who worked as a publicist for Calvin Klein. This address was in fact believed to be where she first met her future husband, who had come in for a suit fitting. You Might Also Like 12 Weekend Getaway Spas For Every Type of Occasion 13 Beauty Tools to Up Your At-Home Facial Game

Calvin Klein's first female creative director finds succour in a fictional New York
Calvin Klein's first female creative director finds succour in a fictional New York

The Guardian

time07-02-2025

  • Entertainment
  • The Guardian

Calvin Klein's first female creative director finds succour in a fictional New York

Calvin Klein's first female creative director, Veronica Leoni, presented her debut collection on Friday lunchtime, with Kate Moss – the brand's most famous face during the 1990s, when its billboard advertisements ruled the zeitgeist – Calvin Klein himself, now 82, and Christy Turlington in the audience. The brand had a lot riding on Friday's show, its first catwalk presentation for six and a half years, and the highlight of a New York fashion week schedule that has been light on big names as American fashion struggles to compete with European brands owned by the French conglomerates LVMH and Kering. Speaking backstage after the show, Leoni said her biggest challenge was 'to be inspired by the archive, without getting into nostalgia'. On the catwalk, that was expressed through a commitment to minimalism, seen in the opening look of a black mock-turtle knee-length dress and a preponderance of perfectly executed tailoring on the black-white-greige spectrum. There were also more playful elements, including trompe-l'oeil modern monochrome ballgowns destined for awards season, pops of colour (a rose pink, form-fitting, off-the shoulder dress; a flowing tomato-red gown) and tiny animal-print clutch bags inspired by the silhouette of the CK One bottle. Leoni, 41, recently described herself as being of the 'CK One generation'. Some of the standout looks featured a slim silhouette that felt fresh – black trousers and shrunken jumpers over shirts that recalled Gwyneth Paltrow's office wear in Sliding Doors. The moodboard for the collection included photographs of David Byrne, whose influence was felt in oversized shoulders, and Paltrow and Brad Pitt as a couple in the 90s. New York fashion week, which began on Thursday, has the unenviable task of bringing cheer and glamour to a fretful city reeling amid the chaos of Donald Trump's first weeks as president. The brand has felt the impact directly. This week its parent company, PVH – which also owns Tommy Hilfiger – was blacklisted by China in a retaliatory action after Trump imposed a 10% tariff. The results of this action are unclear, but they could include fines and shutdowns. About 18% of PVH's suppliers and factories, and 6% of its sales, are in the region. Little known outside fashion, Leoni – who is Italian and lives in Rome with her wife – has never led a major house, but has an impressive CV working among fashion's most influential minimalists, including Jil Sander, The Row and Celine, the latter under Phoebe Philo. She launched her own brand, Quira, in 2021. Like many who grew up outside America, she said she had a fictional view of the country, and of New York specifically, gleaned from movies and media before she ever visited. Sign up to Fashion Statement Style, with substance: what's really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved after newsletter promotion The collection expressed her 'personal dream of America' and explored characters from the movies that came to life for her on the runway. 'You've got the sexy worker, you've got the taxi driver, you've got Jessica Rabbit, you've got Clark Kent. And I feel that, you know, these kind of moments help to shape a variety of personalities.' Klein, who founded the company in 1968 and who has kept a relatively low profile since he retired from it in 2004, told her after that he was happy with her collection and that 'he found a new coat to buy'. The brand's most recent show, before its catwalk hiatus, took place in 2018, under Belgian designer Raf Simons, now co-designing at Prada. At the time, Simons found inspiration in the horrors of the first Trump administration, presenting a dark view of Americana. This time, its rather more upbeat interpretation of American style was based on a seductive and much longed-for fiction.

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