CK Calvin Klein looks at awnings for inspiration for its Year of the Pig boar

We knew at least one of the fashion brands will have an embroidered pig logo for the left side of the chest of a polo. We thought it would appear at Paul Smith. But we were wrong. It showed up at CK Calvin Klein.

This could not have been the work of the Raf Simons-led design team, we’re quite convinced. Was this planned without Mr Simons’s knowledge, prior to his departure, we wondered. It is highly possible since it is not quite conceivable to us that Mr Simons would even think of something neither cute nor creative. This is mall rat-friendly, the direction—it seems—that parent company PVH Corp has apparently hoped for the cheaper brands under Calvin Klein.

This striped pig on polo shirts is not the only featureless beast to seduce you into adopting one for Chinese New Year. There is another which appears as all-white fluffy clouds/repeated pattern on crew-neck T-shirts, as well as another, emblazoned on tops, including sweatshirts, that is a stylised outline of Porky’s relative, which could be inspired by the much-maligned Chinatown hogs lined up between Eu Tong Sen Street and New Bridge Road.

Could this be the foretaste of the blah that the sub-brands of Calvin Klein is expected to slip back to? Or, an interim aesthetic? Wait and see?

CK Calvin Klein Chinese New Year ‘Pig’ capsule is in stores. Photo: Chin Boh Kay