PVH Corp., the company which owns Calvin Klein, is expected to announce Raf Simons as the new creative director of Calvin Klein sometime this week. This news would end nine months of speculation surrounding the next stop for Dior’s former artistic director.
Rumors can be traced back as far as November 2015 when WWD revealed that Simons was being chased as the future head of Klein’s design department. The departures of Francisco Costa and Italo Zucchelli, creative directors of Klein’s women’s and men’s collections also went on to worsen the rumors.
It is believed that a clause in Simons’ Dior contract was the factor that delayed the announcement from coming earlier however, that contract came to a close in July. It is understood that the designer already relocated to New York last month, and has begun meeting with key Klein staff. His first collection is likely to be for Fall 2017. In June, Calvin Klein himself said, “They won’t announce [who it is] publicly because it’s under contract. But the whole industry knows.”