Raf Simons’ reworking of the Calvin Klein brand reached a new high with the reopening of its Madison Avenue flagship space in New York City. Coinciding with the arrival of Simons’ debut collection in store, the three-storey space – originally designed by John Pawson – has been transformed with an immersive floor-to-ceiling installation by the American artist Sterling Ruby.
The artist’s concept for the boutique plays off two other interiors projects he’s previously created for the label – the 12th floor showroom and the ground floor space of its 205 West 39th Street headquarters. It also echoes the brand’s new space at Dover Street Market New York. Filled with artfully arranged scaffolding, hanging sculptures by Ruby and awash with bright, traffic-sign yellow, the boutique’s interior is charged with a transient feel that straddles both realms of art and industry.
Calvin Klein’s NYC boutique is flush with dazzling traffic-sign yellow.
Ruby’s sculptures, which are made up of everyday objects and materials, also occasionally feature Calvin Klein’s 205W39NYC logo, reiterating the Peter Saville-designed moniker for Simons’ new vision. Vibrant, youthful and concurrently capturing the gleam and grit of American culture, the boutique visually epitomises the progressive energy of the iconic brand.
Filled with Simons’ A/W 2017 men’s and women’s collection for the label, and new denim, underwear and accessories offerings, the boutique brings the previously disparate facets of Calvin Klein’s universe effortlessly under one roof. A specially selected assortment of home objects, which include Homer Laughlin coffee mugs, ceramic vessels by ceramicist Rose Cabat and vintage Italian glassware, are mixed in throughout the store. One-of-a-kind vintage quilts also serve as a contemporary foil for the brand’s new all-white bedding collection.
Simons says, ‘I wanted the store to generate a very immediate physical experience that could as well be intimately connected to the collections. It is also a continuation of the language I am creating with Sterling for Calvin Klein’s visible and physical identity.’
A curated selection of homeware objects, including one-of-a-kind quilts.
Simons has worked with longtime collaborator Sterling Ruby on a floor-to-ceiling installation throughout the space.
The bright installation is constructed from everyday objects, including buckets and swathes of fabric.
Calvin Klein’s new Dover Street Market New York space has also been reimagined by Sterling Ruby.
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Calvin Klein website
ADDRESS
654 Madison Avenue
New York
-
Samuel Collins’ stone sculptures capture the raw and rugged nature of the British landscapeThe British artist and sculptor presents 'Silence Split', a series of stone sculptures which presents an abstract take on the horizontal and vertical landscape
-
Houston's Ismaili Centre is the most dazzling new building in America. Here's a look insideLondon-based architect Farshid Moussavi has created a new building open to all – and in the process, has created a gleaming new monument
-
A postcard from Irish Design Week 2025How Ireland's collaborative design culture, from Kilkenny's 60-year legacy to island circularity offers an expansive model for the future
-
‘If someone says no, you’re talking to the wrong person’: how make-up artist Marcelo Gutierrez created his own universe in New YorkFresh from publishing his first book ‘Nothing Precious’, Marcelo Gutierrez speaks with Mary Cleary about his friends, collaborators and making it as a young creative in New York City
-
Olfactory Art Keller: the New York gallery exhibiting the smell of vintage perfume, blossoming lilacs and last night’s shameOlfactory Art Keller is a Manhattan-based gallery space dedicated to exhibiting scent as art. Founder Dr Andreas Keller speaks with Lara Johnson-Wheeler about the project, which doesn’t shy away from the ‘unpleasant’
-
Kohler plunges into the world of wellness with an ice bath for your homeKohler has teamed up with Remedy Place to design an ice bath for the home, marking the brand’s first move into the wellness space
-
‘Remembering without nostalgia’: Giorgio Armani presents his S/S 2025 collection in New YorkGiorgio Armani returned to New York for his S/S 2025 show, which coincided with the opening of a flagship boutique on Madison Avenue
-
Discothèque perfumes evoke the scent of Tokyo in the year 2000As Discothèque gets ready to launch its first perfume collection, Mary Cleary catches up with the brand’s founders
-
Fashion’s favourite bookstore, Climax, opens a ‘sexy, angry’ New York outpostWallpaper* catches up with Isabella Burley, founder of Climax, as she inaugurates a New York outpost of the cult bookstore and showcases a playful new collaboration with fashion label Chopova Lowena
-
Henry Zankov is the knitwear non-conformist making fashion’s favourite sweaters‘It's about pushing the boundaries of what knitwear can be,’ says Henry Zankov, whose exuberant New York-based label is already beloved by fashion insiders
-
New York Fashion Week S/S 2025 highlights: Tory Burch to Michael KorsWallpaper* fashion features editor Jack Moss selects the best of New York Fashion Week S/S 2025 in our ongoing round-up, from a reinvention of sportswear at Tory Burch to Michael Kors’ Italian escape
