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Alexa Chung and Luella Bartley
Credit: Getty images
Get set to renew your love affair with your Calvins, aka those trusty denims that ruled the nineties. If the buzz around Raf Simons’s glorious debut for Calvin Klein at NYFW wasn’t enough to have the fashion pack salivating, the appointment of British designer and London cool girl Luella Bartley as head of global design for Calvin Klein Jeans promises to revive the cult.
Bartley, who was previously head of womenswear for the now defunct Marc by Marc Jacobs diffusion line, is also one half of British label Hillier Bartley founded in 2015 with Katie Hillier and known for its minimal menswear inspired aesthetic.
A former magazine fashion editor and Central Saint Martins graduate, Bartley – who was named British Fashion Designer of the Year in 2008 and awarded an MBE two years later – initially made her mark with her eponymous label Luella, which she ran successfully for a decade before shuttering it.
Luella Bartley with husband, renowned photographer David SimsCredit: Getty images
Charged with reinvigorating the Calvin Klein brand and re-establishing its relevance to a broader audience, Simons’s choice of Bartley, who cities music, Bowie and the punk movement as inspirations and whose signature is considered a cheeky take on the establishment, certainly seems synergistic.
Not to mention another savvy strategic step in what’s shaping up to be an exciting transformation. Simons’s first advertising campaign for the iconic house may have featured mods naked except for their Calvins (and their jeans) but instead of the overtly sexy, flashy vibe of the past the resulting images were highly conceptual with models artfully posed in front of contemporary artworks in a stark museum space.
Bartley, 43, is married to renowned British photographer David Sims, they have three children and live in London, although that could all be about to change.
Julia Nobis walks for Marc by Marc Jacobs SS14Credit: NOWFASHION
Marc by Marc Jacobs SS15
Credit: NOWFASHION
