"What made Calvin a superstar was not our conscious -- need underwear; must get good underwear -- it was our unconscious. What got to us on a dream level was some of the most audacious, culture-pushing marketing this country has ever seen. Sex sells, the cliché says, but it was the genius of Klein to realize that sex without context merely draws attention to itself. What Calvin Klein, designer, wanted to draw attention to was Calvin Klein, trademark. Still, if some of the attention paid to the man himself came along in the bargain; if the border between eponym and product blurred, connoting a state of mind and a way of being that were new and dark and strange and uniquely compelling -- well, that didn't hurt business a bit… 'I create the underwear to make people look sexy,' [Klein says.] 'We design it that way. And that's what we know how to do better than other people. So my point is that when I advertise it, for sure I'm going to show it to its greatest advantage. And I'm going to do it on someone who has an excellent body, someone who's sexy, male or female, doesn't matter.'"
From "The Triumph of Calvinism," New York magazine, Sept. 18, 1995.
• Calvin Klein Designer Bio
• Brand X: Calvin Rocks, September 13, 1999