Calvin Klein AW16

So it’s a big hug and bye-bye to Francisco Costa and Italo Zucchelli at Calvin Klein. But is it an even bigger hug and a huge hello to Raf Simons at everyone expects? I do hope so.

I’m a fan of much of what Costa did at the runway line but I’m an even bigger fan of Simons and if, as rumoured, he gets to take complete creative control of the wider Calvin Klein brand,  then we should expect good things ahead.

Not that Calvin Klein (which is part of the same giant PVH corporation that also owns Tommy Hilfiger) is saying much.

We know that the company intends to pull overall brand creative direction together, but with Simons still in his non-compete period with Dior, nothing much is likely to happen until the summer.

What that means is no runway show for men in June and no runway show for women in September. Instead the in-house teams will put together collections that key buyers and press will be able to see at special presentations.

Does that matter? Probably not. The high-end Calvin Klein Collection label isn’t exactly the mega seller that the brand’s other lines (like denim and intimates) are. In some ways, it acts like couture does for some French brands – driving overall desirability and valuable publicity that helps to sell the jeans, the perfumes, the bras, the make-up, the sunglasses and more.

Watch this space.