Calvin Klein has made a bold statement recently, dissing Kendall Jenner’s place in the brand’s campaigns and making insinuations that if he was still at the helm, she wouldn’t have made the cut.
The CK head honcho, who no longer has complete control over the brand, instead sitting in the hands of Francisco Costa, was speaking at an event at Savannah College of Art and Designer when he was asked about Jenner’s involvement in the sizzling underwear ads.
“You know, I’m really not that familiar with it. I’m honestly not. I’m sure she’s a lovely young woman. It’s not the kind of thing I would have done, even today. Justin Bieber, yes,” he replied.
Going on to praise Justin Bieber, Klein criticised the fact that models are now booked for the amount of followers they have on Instagram, rather than their actual modelling chops.
“When [I say] I like Justin Bieber in the Calvin Klein Underwear [campaign], it’s because I like him – not because he’s got millions of followers,” he said.
“Now, models are paid for how many followers they have. They’re booked not because they represent the essence of the designer, which is what I tried to do — they’re booked because of how many followers they have online.
“I don’t think that, long-term, is going to work. I don’t think that’s a great formula for success for the product you’re trying to sell.
“However, if you take really exquisite photographs of the right people in the right clothes in the right location, and you put it online, that’s fine.”
Taking a swipe at Jenner’s older sister as well, Klein added, “Just putting any old clothes on Kim Kardashian, long-term, isn’t going to do a thing.”
