Veronica Leoni is the new creative director of Calvin Klein.Photo: Collier Schorr / Courtesy of Calvin Klein
Veronica Leoni is the new creative director at Calvin Klein Collection, the PVH Corp.-owned company announced today in a move that will see the brand return to the runway.
“We are proud to name Veronica as Creative Director of Collection, the pinnacle expression of the Calvin Klein brand,” said Global Brand President Eva Serrano. “It was clear from our first conversations that Veronica’s life’s work had been preparing her for this moment and the opportunity to define a new era for Calvin Klein. I am confident that her purposeful approach to design and work ethic, combined with our shared values, will further enrich our iconic brand and result in a collection that resonates with our consumers around the world.”
Though she is little known, Leoni has quite the resumé. An Italian based in Rome, she is a veteran of Jil Sander, Phoebe Philo’s Céline, Moncler, and The Row. She founded her own label Quira three years ago, and was an LVMH Prize finalist in 2023, at which time she described her style to Vogue as a “sharp point of view on femininity with an edge.”
Calvin Klein has been designer-less since Raf Simons exited the chief creative officer in late 2018, but after several quiet years it’s been making headlines. Jeremy Allen White’s underwear campaign coincided with his awards show victory lap for The Bear, with both the actor and the company benefiting from the exposure, and the latter reclaiming some of the sexy heat that has long been a brand signifier. The K-pop stars Jennie Kim of Blackpink and Jungkook of BTS, meanwhile, are brand ambassador choices that are resonating with Gen Z. And the company is also making inroads on the red carpet. Zendaya wore a custom Calvin Klein suit to the Rome premiere of Challengers, and a year ago the brand dressed the basketball player Brittney Griner, recently released from a Russian prison, for her first Met Gala.