Calvin Klein Wife Kelly Klein Poses at New York Fashion Week as Interest Surges Over ‘Love Story’ Portrayal
Kelly Klein — the calvin klein wife who was a central figure in the designer’s rise — appeared publicly during New York Fashion Week in February 2025, posing alongside her former husband. The moment has renewed attention on her role as muse, her design innovations and the second career she built after leaving the fashion house.
Calvin Klein Wife Kelly Klein at New York Fashion Week
The couple’s appearance at New York Fashion Week in February 2025 confirmed that, despite a separation that preceded the legal end of their marriage, they have maintained a public friendship. Married in 1986 and divorced in 2006 after a decade-long separation, the pair remained connected in fashion circles. The FX series Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette — in which Kelly is portrayed by Leila George — has also brought renewed focus to those ties and to Kelly’s friendships with John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette.
Design Origins: From Studio 54 to a $70 Million Product
Klein’s path into the industry began at the Fashion Institute of Technology and continued with an early role at Ralph Lauren. She started working at Calvin Klein as an assistant designer in 1981 when she was 21, a turning point that led to both a professional partnership and a personal relationship. A casual observation she made about the appeal of wearing a partner’s underwear evolved into a redesign of men’s briefs for women — an idea that generated $70 million in sales in 1984 and became one of the brand’s defining commercial successes.
That practical shift in product thinking illustrates clear cause and effect: an offhand remark about style and intimacy led to a deliberate product adaptation, which in turn yielded significant revenue and helped shape the public image of the Calvin Klein label during the 1980s.
From Fashion Assistant to Photographer, Author and Designer
After stepping back from the house where she had been both employee and muse, Klein redirected her creative energy toward photography, publishing and design. Her Instagram biography lists roles including designer, photographer, interior designer, author and ceramist, and her photographs have appeared in magazines and been collected in book form. She launched a photography volume called Pools in 1992 and later published retrospectives of her work; she has also edited and published photography books over the years.
What makes this notable is the breadth of mediums Klein has embraced: moving from garment and product innovation to visual arts and handmade objects demonstrates a pattern of translating an aesthetic sensibility across industries.
Klein is also an equestrian and a mother. After the couple separated, their divorce was finalized in 2006, and the following year she welcomed a son, Lukas, surrogate. Her sustained activity in photography, publishing and ceramics shows a deliberate shift from front-line fashion employment to a portfolio career centered on visual culture and design.
Her longstanding friendships with figures such as Carolyn Bessette and John F. Kennedy Jr. have been dramatized in contemporary television, drawing new audiences to the era and to Klein’s role in shaping a recognizable ‘‘New York-cool’’ look. That dramatization, combined with the couple’s recent joint appearance at a major fashion event, has revived public curiosity about her work and public life.
Kelly Klein’s trajectory—from a 21-year-old assistant who took a job after a chance meeting at Studio 54 to the woman who inspired one of the brand’s most lucrative products, and later to a photographer and designer—remains a tangible thread through late 20th-century fashion into today’s visual culture.
