Heron Preston X Calvin Klein
Watch the campaign video starring Lil Uzi Vert, Kaia Gerber, Ashley Graham and more below.
The harmonious duo comes together to make comfort and the foundation of personal style the core of the collection. And it is no surprise that the focus is suggestive of a blank canvas, Preston has been constructing bodies of work that are concentrated on resculpting ideas, notions, and fabrics of uniforms and utility components. Moments of this speak aloud when remembering his reimagination of unorthodox sanitation suits and NASA spacesuits.
The body of work also strings along a classic campaign filled with eccentric characters that echo the brand's reimagination of tradition and cultural attitude. Nas, Lil Uzi Vert, Renell Medrano, Kaia Gerber, Sabrina Fuentes, and more become lead characters in an immersive world Preston is imagining.
The collection plays off a composed yet cool New York aesthetic. In short, seeing Heron's vibrant and signature orange color-splashed upon downtown's most fashionable is ubiquitous when walking down Greene St. So, when the office had the opportunity to ask Heron and the head of product strategy at Calvin Klein, Jacob Jordan, about their influence on New York's fashion and cultural scene this is what they said.
You each have such an influence and impact on the New York City "scene" and culture, what nods to NYC can we see in the collection?
Heron Preston — I mean, talking about the campaign, we have Nas, he's an icon. I wanted to have like a New York icon. I wanted to respect the city because looking at New York City in the state of fashion — everyone's going to Paris and people are talking about "New York City is dead." I'm like 'man, this is an opportunity to kind of really put a stamp on the map and really kind of celebrate why New York is so special.' So I definitely needed to have an icon in there and really kind of respect the city. So, you know, we have Nas, and then we have a younger kind of rising star. We have Sabrina "Sickysab" from 'Pretty Sick,' which is a band from downtown New York City, right? So she runs around with like all the young cool skate kids in New York City, and she's a friend of mine as well. So it's kind of looking at the people. You know, I have some real dope New Yorkers in this campaign. And I think looking within the collection, I think the heavier weights were something that really didn't really speak to me until I moved to New York City. I'm from San Francisco, so a lot of like what I wear out there was just like really lightweight stuff. But when I moved to New York City, I started being inspired by like seasons. I never saw seasons until I moved here.
So then I started to kind of look at heavier weight garments and started looking at skaters at Supreme wearing all these kinds of like construction brands like Carhartt and North Face. So I was always really inspired by workwear, heavier materials, materials that are functional, and withstand high performance of like sports or the elements of weather. So that's definitely why I wanted to have like a double heavyweight hoodie for those really brick cold days in New York city. That's why I wanted to have this heavyweight tee, which I'm wearing now. So you can still get away with wearing a t-shirt when it's kind of really cold out. So there's the weight system that's been introduced as well in this collection.
Jacob Jordan — That's great. Yeah, I'd also add to that. Calvin Klein is a New York brand. It's based and rooted in the city. It's always been very influenced by New York's culture. I think what Heron spoke to is — you know, for all the years that I lived there, there's a certain kind of functionality that you need from things that you own there. I think, you know, back in my days, you leave for work in the morning and wouldn't get back home until the wee hours of the night— back then I had the energy to do that. But you need to kind of have things that kind of speak to that type of lifestyle.I think that's very much Calvin, that's very much what Heron did. I also think the cross section or just the different personalities within that campaign often reminds me of those moments in New York where you find yourself in a situation, there's such this amazing mix of inspiring people. I feel like it's one of those places where people kind of experience that for the first time. And it's just part of like the DNA of the city and what makes it so special.
HP —Yeah. Calvin Klein is truly like the fabric of the city. You know, the brand is just so New York. I think it was due to being in the city partly is why it became so mega. It because of the people who made it special, the people who lived here. You know, and looking at all the old photography and researching, looking at celebrity culture. Timelessness and transformative qualities of these cases is what stands the test of time. So I think looking at this old photography felt like those pictures could have been taken yesterday. So, you know, I think Calvin Klein, it's just very New York brand within itself.
