Calvin Klein Education Background

Calvin Klein was born on November 19, 1942 in the Bronx. During his formative years, he taught himself to sketch and sew, and enjoyed those things so much that he went to the High School of Art and Design in New York, and then entered the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology.

Upon graduation, he interned for five years in a Seventh Avenue fashion house, often spending nights working on designs of his own. His close friend Barry Schwartz helped him to create his first business in 1968. It was a line of coats, and Klein’s first large order magically happened when a Bonwit Teller buyer got off the elevator on the wrong floor and came upon Klein’s design studio. With store owner feedback and additional orders, Klein realized it was time to expand his line.
His fashion line took off, and he is widely known for his Calvin Klein jeans and the slightly controversial advertisements, with a teenage Brooke Shields saying coyly, “Nothing comes between me and my Calvin Klein jeans.”
At that point, Calvin Klein became a household name. Scantily clad models in Calvin Klein underwear graced the billboards in Times Square, and he expanded into colognes and fragrances, luggage and accessories.