Calvin Klein Fashion Story

Calvin Klein was born on November 19, 1942, to a Jewish family in the Bronx, New York City, the son of Flore  and Leo Klein. Leo had immigrated to New York from Hungary, while Flore was born in the United States to immigrants from Galicia and Buchenland, Austrian Empire (modern day-Ukraine).

Klein went to Isobel Rooney Middle School 80 (M.S.80) as a child. He attended the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan and matriculated at, but never graduated from, New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, receiving an honorary doctorate in 2003. He did his apprenticeship in 1962 at an old line cloak-and-suit manufacturer, Dan Millstein, and spent five years designing at other New York City shops. In 1968, he launched his first company with a childhood friend,Barry K. Schwartz.

He became a protégé of Baron de Gunzburg,through whose introductions he became the toast of the New York elite fashion scene even before he had his first mainstream success with the launch of his first jeans line. He was immediately recognized for his talent after his first major showing at New York Fashion Week. He was hailed as the new Yves Saint Laurent, and was noted for his clean lines.