Anatomy of a Logo: Calvin Klein

As seen in the August 2026 ‘Creative America at 250’ issue of Wallpaper*, we pay homage to seminal American graphics.

Calvin Klein’s sans-serif logo, first introduced by its namesake designer in 1968, is an exercise in simplicity and directness – a reflection of Klein’s approach to fashion, which would flourish in the 1990s (alongside designers like Helmut Lang and Miuccia Prada, his work would herald the new minimalism of the era).

And, while the logo has appeared on everything from fragrance bottles to T-shirts, it will be forever associated with the elastic waistband of the brand’s underwear – a genius stroke of marketing that saw men and women hitch down their jeans to reveal their brand allegiance. Under Klein, underwear became a status symbol – and with it, big business.

Their ubiquity was achieved through Klein’s evocative underwear campaigns, the first of which appeared on a Times Square billboard in 1982, featuring a colossal Bruce Weber-shot image of Olympic pole vaulter Tom Hintnaus clad in nothing but a pair of Calvin Klein white Y-fronts.

In 1992, it would be the turn of ‘Marky Mark’ Wahlberg and a young Kate Moss, who propelled the branded waistband to international fame with a Herb Ritts-shot campaign, controversial for the latter’s crotch grab and fierce feud between its young starlets (Klein said the pair ‘couldn’t stand each other’; Moss would later say that the high-profile shoot led to a mental breakdown).

Since then, the Calvin Klein waistline has been passed around Hollywood and beyond: memorable campaigns have featured everyone from footballer Freddie Ljungberg and model Naomi Campbell to Justin Bieber, Jeremy Allen White, and Bad Bunny.

And, more recently, the Italian designer Veronica Leoni – creative director of Calvin Klein Collection, the runway arm of the brand – reimagined the iconic waistband as part of her S/S 2026 collection, abstracted across the bridge of a pair of sunglasses, or woven into a ‘tweed’ dress. ‘It’s like an acknowledgement that Calvin Klein belongs, in a way, to everyone,’ she said at the time.

This article appears in the August 2026 Issue of Wallpaper*, available now in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today