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<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p>\nWhen Francisco Costa left his family home in rural Brazil in 1981 for the bright lights of New York City, he was a wet-behind-the-ears 20 year old who didn’t speak a word of English. But he had a dream: he was determined to work in the fashion industry. Fashion was in his blood; his mother, Maria-Francisca \u2013 whose death prompted Costa\u2019s move to the States \u2013 owned a children\u2019s wear factory where he worked after school. And even as an industrious teenager, her clothes-mad son organised fashion shows for local charities. <\/p>\n
Once on American soil, this unrelenting work ethic stood the young Costa in good stead \u2013 by day he took language classes; and by night he trained at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Twenty years of being in the right place at the right time later, he bagged the top job at Calvin Klein. Taking over from Klein could have been like accepting a poisoned chalice. But the Brazilian has more than proved himself. He has maintained the brand\u2019s minimal aesthetic whilst injecting cutting-edge design and luxury fabrics. He has transformed a company best known for its jeans and underwear advertising into a catwalk fixture. And, perhaps most impressively, he has emerged from Klein\u2019s shadow as a designer in his own right. <\/p>\n
Costa himself isn\u2019t having any of it. \u201cMy legacy here is miniscule compared to what Calvin has done,\u201d claims the self-deprecating 47-year-old. \u201cIt\u2019s just like an update deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
What was your first fashion moment?<\/strong>
\nVery scary. It was the early 70s and I was invited to spend a week with my uncle and aunt because there was a state fair on with horses and cows. Anyway, I insisted on getting a new wardrobe. So I went to the seamstress in my tiny hometown and had a burgundy wool gabardine safari suit made, with bell-bottoms and a belt. My cousins were looking at me like, \u2018Who is this freak?\u2019 It was so embarrassing. I should have learnt then!
\n
\nHow did you get to where you are today?<\/strong>
\nWork, work, work. In New York I enrolled on a language course at Hunter College \u2013 I couldn\u2019t understand a word the teacher was saying. Then I entered a contest at the Fashion Institute of Technology and won a scholarship. My first break was a job with the head designer for Bill Blass. It was owned by a major company then, called the He-Ro Group, who promoted me to assistant designer at Oscar de la Renta. When they folded, Oscar invited me to work with him at Balmain. Then I got a call from Gucci to meet with Tom Ford one morning. I didn\u2019t have enough time to get a portfolio together but Tom said, \u2018I\u2019d love you to come in with me. Get a lawyer!\u2019 A year before leaving Gucci, Calvin called me up.
\n
\nWhy do you think you got the Calvin Klein job?<\/strong>
\nI know that Calvin was bored at the time. He wanted something different. I think he wanted something fun, and my background was very diverse.<\/p>\nHow did you grow into the Calvin Klein brand?<\/strong>
\nBy making mistakes! I could never recreate what Calvin has done and it would be mediocre of me to try. I just go on. The collection I just showed was tailored. Last season was all about dresses. I\u2019ve evolved. That\u2019s how we do it. <\/p>\nHow did you feel about taking over from such a legend?<\/strong>
\nI never felt it. I worked with him for a year and a half, then the company got sold and immediately most of the studio left. I had so much work ahead of me that it was all about getting the next collection out. There wasn\u2019t time to think. <\/p>\nHow would you explain the label\u2019s forty years at the top? <\/strong>
\nThe label will never die because it is amazing. PVH (Phillips-Van Heusen) that owns Calvin Klein is like 130 years old\u2026 what I have to do is bring it forward. Respect the past, but move things on. In a way, I feel like we\u2019re just starting out.
\n
\nHow will fashion change in the next forty years?<\/strong>
\nI think it will go through a tough period. I feel like I want to say fashion won\u2019t exist. Seasons won\u2019t, that\u2019s for sure\u2026
\n
\nIs it accurate to describe the Calvin Klein aesthetic as \u2018minimal\u2019?<\/strong>
\nI think it is so much more than that. Calvin is thought of as an American minimalist because he took that position later. But he never would have been if he hadn\u2019t explored other phases first. He was a reductionist; it came down to editing. Today the word \u2018minimal\u2019 is less relevant. It\u2019s about creating a product that ages well.
\n
\nWhat was the most important lesson he taught you?<\/strong>
\nHe was very curious and very excited about the process. He was very genuine in his approach to everything. He loved fabric. I\u2019ve never experienced that with anybody else. We would go and spend weeks looking at fabric. It was insane. Like a fabric lobotomy.
\n
\nWho was your favourite Calvin Klein poster boy or girl?<\/strong>
\nBrooke Shields was a huge influence. I was still living in Brazil when the whole thing started and she would come on television in those commercials and was the craziest, sexiest thing. I didn\u2019t know who Calvin was, really. But Brooke we knew from those incredible commercials \u2013 \u201cThere\u2019s nothing between me and my Calvins.\u201d Of course I remember Marky Mark\u2019s body all over New York City too. <\/p>\nIs New York still vital to the Calvin Klein brand? <\/strong>
\nI think so. There\u2019s a coolness and openness about it. It\u2019s full of action, full of movement. Calvin was a very New York person. <\/p>\nWhat has been your favourite collection for Calvin Klein so far?<\/strong>
\nMy favourite collection is Spring 2009. It\u2019s very challenging. It wasn\u2019t the most commercial but I had fun doing it. It sounds pretentious but for Spring the clothes had an identity. Everything had a pulse; they had a personality and a sense of humour. They had energy. I took pictures of my previous collection, cut them up, then mixed them up like a puzzle. I moved the shapes around to create different things then tried to make that happen in reality.
\n
\nHow important is it to push boundaries with silhouette and construction?<\/strong>
\nVery. As a concept becomes reality you have to take it all the way. Maybe we don\u2019t do it enough but we try. It\u2019s very much a Calvin trait. Calvin was all about the future. He used to tell me: \u2018There\u2019s nothing that is right, and there\u2019s nothing that is wrong. It\u2019s the timing that makes it work. Don\u2019t get intimidated, look forward.\u2019 That was his curiosity coming through. What\u2019s new? What\u2019s next? How do we do it? I love that. <\/p>\nPortrait: Beau Grealy
\nPhotography: Kent Larsson
\nWords: Ben Perdue<\/p>\n
A full version of this article first appeared in<\/em> Wonderland #17, Feb\/Mar 2009<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the Calvin Klein label turns forty, Wonderland catches up with womenswear designer Francisco Costa to talk Brooke Shields, bell-bottoms and filling Calvin\u2019s big shoes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9418],"tags":[175,127,177,100,174,168,176],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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