The brand’s first runway show after Raf Simon’s departure in 2018 under a new creative director raises no temperature

Calvin Klein has ben out of our radar for so long that it is hard for us to be excited about the brand again. Sure, there has been the celebrity-heavy revival of their underwear business, but that is not fashion (even if their famous models think so). So when their autumn/winter 2025 show was announced some two months back, we did not think very much it. In fact, parent company PVH Corp had announced in 2019 that they would close their “luxury collections” business as well as attendant stores. Since the label was known as Calvin Klein Collection (during the brief tenure of Raf Simons, it was named the mouthful Calvin Klein 205W39NYC), it was clear they were referring to the runway line. And then it was undead. Just like that. In fashion, the deceased, of course, do come back. Don’t be surprised if Donna Karan would be raised from the fashion grave. Or, Claire McCardell!

In America today, under the current administration, rescinding is quite the thing. The designer tasked with rousing the hibernated brand (a better term?) is Veronica Leoni, a design veteran who, on paper, appears to have the chops for the appointment at Calvin Klein, announced last June. She began her career at Jil Sander, and then was part of the Céline team under Phoebe Philo; she finally joined The Row. You get her aesthetic sensibility. She has her own label, too: Quira, which, in 2023, was selected for the LVMH Prize. So Ms Leoni, the first female CD for Calvin Klein, could be right for the job. The brand, even under its founding designer, always leaned European from a design standpoint, although they had cloaked it under ‘American sportswear’ notion of beautiful and wearable. Ms Leoni has, therefore, made her employer possibly very, very happy, which her predecessor Raf Simons apparently did not.

If Raf Simons was all agog with Ameticana when he was at Calvin Klein, Veronica Leoni is all reminiscent of the early years of the brand, seen through European lenses and executed with modern proportions. Which means shoulder have to be pronounced, oddly flat from the side view), or severely dropped, and the shapes generally roomy and relaxed. And a colour palette that is so muted, it probably endears. If they don’t look especially attention-awakening, it’s because they are not. ‘Elevated basics’ are how they have been described, although these days budging a quarter of an inch upwards is considered elevation. To be fair, the clothes are tasteful pieces that would suit any wardrobe and, if we were to see the pieces upclose, no doubt well cut and made. But those qualities don’t necessarily awaken desire. Discerning shoppers already have superbly produced clothes in their wardrobe, as well as basics at every level. Ms Leoni appears to have a knack for outerwear, as some of them have the desirability of coats that could take the place of the statement piece worn inside that isn’t.

For the most part, the collection is a routine exercise in merchandising: Cover every catergory of clothing (we are sure the models were given their brand’s underclothes to wear) and put some clever styling to good use. Puzzling to us is the inclusion of the round-neck skirt suit that has a whiff of the ’80s (perhaps to better appeal to MAGA grannies), skinny shirts of shadow checks, and totally lame menswear (the shirt’s neckline that go lower than the collarbone and extra long sleeves are not re-inventions). Americans, now in a strange era, might be longing for the good ’ol times, when the big three reigned: Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, and Ralph Lauren. But for the rest of the world, most have moved on. In the past, the bringing back of once-lauded American designer brands had not met with enviable success. Think Halston or Perry Ellis. When so many are ready to be freed of quiet luxury’s hold and with China blacklisting the brand, thanks to the new tariff Washington has announced, it is not certain if Calvin Klein’s born-again aesthetical direction will work for them. That said, it’s just business. They can always close the Collection division, once again.

Photos: Calvin Klein Collection