Klein Quotes

I, Lawrence Klein, was born in Omaha, Nebraska, as were my elder brother and younger sister.

Within a few years the name 'Maria Sharapova' will be a brand as universally recognized as Calvin Klein, BMW and Rolex.

I love Calvin Klein underwear. That's the only kind of underwear I wear.

Companies like Nike already use Graffiti as a standard variety in their marketing campaigns and the first people who read Naomi Klein's 'No Logo' were marketing gurus who wanted to know what they shouldn't do.

I'm usually the sparkle in a closet full of conservative clothes.

Either that or my customer has a closet full of my clothes and a few conservative suits from Calvin Klein. I think you've got to give a girl what's missing from her closet. If something jazzy, tacky or sexy is what's missing, I provide it.

I pledge to support the American workforce by wearing only American designers: Calvin Klein between Memorial Day and Labor Day, Donna Karan the rest of the year. Unless I wake up and the day is screaming for me to put on a bikini for my fellow Americans. Country first.

Just the other day, my assistant was on the line with Calvin Klein. Golly, I usually shop at Sears.

I spent two weeks prancing around a studio in Queens in my underwear with nine other guys. They were long days. But what the hell, it was Calvin Klein.

George Klein says that Elvis had five real friends outside of his circle, and I was blessed to be one of them. I spent a lot of time with Elvis in Vegas and at Graceland.

The trouble is small, the fun is great. [Ger., Die Muh'ist klein, der Spass ist gross.]

Am I surprised that Joe Klein [pseudonymous author of Primary Colors which he denied writing] lied? No, because in my opinion reporters lie all the time.

I don't know if I've got swept up. It's so shocking when you hear that Calvin Klein wants you for their new campaign. You're like "who me?". I guess you have to decide where you draw the line between you saying, this is fun, pretty and fabulous, and being over-exposed.

The New York Times Bestseller 'The Amateur,' written by Ed Klein, former editor of the 'New York Times Magazine,' is one of the best books I've read.

I think Calvin [Klein] is a minimalist.

Jeff Klein, one of the earliest champions of Conscious Capitalism, offers a highly practical yet profoundly intuitive blueprint for achieving your purpose-and making a difference at work. You will return to Working for Good again and again. It belongs on your desk and in your heart.

I really like Calvin Klein for his classic simplicity.

I also think Prabal Gurung designs some great pieces that work well for me. My mom has such great style she's my biggest influence.

I wanted to design a line based on Hollywood's Golden Era.

I talked with Stephen Burrows and with Willi Smith and with one or two other people, but it just seems like such a hard field to break into. I need someone like Calvin Klein's manager to get behind me!

I think Naomi Klein was very astute with her book 'Shock Doctrine.' We make money on disaster.

I love the focus and bravery of European designers, but I love the nonchalance and throwaway aspect of America that has made Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein two of the greatest icons. I try to bridge those two worlds in my work. The clothes may be couture on the runway but there's an attitude that's very street and that comes from America.

I have very strong feelings about what modern fame means, and the toxicity of it. I read Naomi Klein's No Logo when I was 15. It's one of the things that's shaped my relationship to fame - to endorsements, to selling things. I've taken a certain path in terms of all that stuff.

Of course, we always get references from the past, but that doesn't mean that the clothes have to look like the past. We need to look forward, which is why I'm fascinated by new materials, technologies, techniques, and unusual ways to use colors or textures. It's very applicable to Calvin Klein because Calvin Klein has always been about modern-ness.

I always like to make sense of things that, in theory, would not make any sense together. It's true that the core of Calvin Klein has been . . . I don't want to say conservative, but real clothes that are worn by everybody.

The most inspiring thing for me about Calvin Klein was how subversive the advertising's message was. That's what drove me in my creative process and also in my creating now. The new advertising campaign is Calvin Klein the way I see it today. It's also bringing back the kind of subversive element that I always saw in Calvin Klein's campaigns.

I only do what I do. For me, it is a craft. It's got to be my own thing - otherwise, I would never be successful. I could easily go to the archives and pull 1987 or 1991 collection by Calvin Klein. But when you look in there, you realize that it was never about one piece. It was about the collections as bodies of work.

You think of luxury when you think of Calvin Klein.

He created this lifestyle that's really desirable, so our whole project has that quality of being lasting.

It's so hard to actually find that niche for yourself.

It's like when Nicolas Ghesquiére found Balenciaga. I hate to sound esoteric, but there is something about a house that leads you to that one chair, that one corner, where you just sit and feel comfortable. I feel very comfortable at Calvin Klein. My name is associated with it enough, and we have a fantastic team here.

You can't compare us, but I do think that Calvin Klein influenced his way of working. Calvin created this whole aesthetic with imagery - the whole sex thing. I can see that Calvin influence on his work. What Calvin has created is untouchable. My legacy, whatever it is I'm doing here, is miniscule compared to what he has done. It's just like an update deal.

I didn't know who Calvin Klein was, really.

But Brooke Shields, we knew her from those incredible commercials - "There's nothing between me and my Calvins." I knew very little about American fashion then. I had no money, and Charivari was very educational to me. And Parachute. I was fascinated by those stores. I couldn't buy anything; I just went through the clothes.

I thought [books ban] was crazy. Really my thoughts were "This is America, we don't do this here" but of course I know a lot better now. And I wasn't the only one. Norma Klein was writing at the same time. Her books were going. So many of us. When you say to me, no you can't do this I say, oh yes I can.

There is a group of us that met through Howard Klein's class in Los Angeles.

Howard Klein is a prominent acting teacher. We got together and did this short Night Music that was such an amazing experience, Guy and I were thinking, 'Okay, what do we do next?' So he wrote this next movie of his, Loulou.

I'm probably the wrong person to ask.

My partner in much of this work [climate movement], who really came up with the divestment campaign with me, Naomi Klein, I think has written powerfully about this.

I also miss the support that I had of so many people.

You know I'm a very Ma and Pa operation right now, and I was used to having everything working for me. It was a similar situation when I left Anne Klein and started Donna Karan. All of a sudden I was working in my apartment and it was, "Oh my god, what am I doing?"

What I learned from being around great icons like Calvin Klein is that the great fashion trendsetters don't change their look every season. They have a look, and they update maybe a piece per season.

At the time it really was the social women, the society ladies.

There were the cool girls, like Aerin Lauder - everyone loved to see what Aerin was wearing. Carolyn Bessette was very much in that time period. Calvin [Kleine] was very influential in the '90s.