The venue for the recent Calvin Klein event was an abandoned hangar in Singapore. As guests alighted from their vehicles, all they could see was a dark, hulking edifice with the words “Calvin Klein” flashed on one side of the building.

 

If this didn’t pique their interest, what lay inside was sure to startle even the most jaded. Inside the cavernous hangar was a veritable house, a brightly lit bungalow with glass windows that allowed guests to peer into the rooms.

 

The different rooms contained models wearing pieces from the brand’s Fall 2014 collections. All the brand’s lines were represented, including Calvin Klein Collection, Calvin Klein platinum label, Calvin Klein Jeans, Calvin Klein Underwear and Calvin Klein Home lines.

 

Instead of compartmentalizing them, the pieces were styled in such a way as to make them look luxurious but still lived in.

 

Naked viewer

 

One room had a billiard table set up with a bunch of models hanging around or indulging in a game. There was a dining room, a living room and even a bedroom; here, a couple preened

and posed in their underwear, oblivious of the people gazing at them just beyond the glass walls.

 

At the back of the house was a shallow rectangular pool where male model Matthew Terry, in skimpy red briefs, waded back and forth, occasionally posing for pictures.

 

The most talked-about room, however, was the one tucked in one corner of the house and accessible only through a narrow passage. Inside the dark room was a single naked viewer, his Calvin Klein briefs bunched around his ankles, watching a bay of TV monitors showing closed circuit views of the other rooms. This voyeuristic display was a one-night only installation by American architect Joshua Prince-Ramus.

 

This was not the first time for him to work with the brand. Prince-Ramus, who is the principal architect at REX, an internationally acclaimed architecture and design firm based in New York City, collaborated with Calvin Klein in 2008. Back then he created a futuristic concept home titled “Madison Avenue (Doll) House” that became a centerpiece of the brand’s holiday window display on Madison Avenue.

 

More Asian stores

 

The Singapore collaboration was designed to celebrate the company’s expanding presence in Asia. Beginning last April in Singapore, Calvin Klein Collection stores have opened or are set to open in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand.

 

The new Calvin Klein Collection stores will follow the brand’s updated global store concept design.

 

Features include a sleek Italian marble and glass storefront, while the interiors consist of state-of-the-art lighting and modern furniture. A salon within the store will serve as a curated

space where pieces from the current collection can be featured in a more intimate setting.

 

This particular store concept, which was first implemented at the Calvin Klein Collection store at Forum 66 in Shenyang, China, recently received an Honor Award in the Interiors Category of the New York State chapter of the American Institute of Architects’ 2014 Design Awards.

 

The stores will carry the men’s and women’s collections, including runway looks designed by Italo Zucchelli and Francisco Costa, Calvin Klein Collection’s men’s creative director and women’s creative director, respectively.

 

Exclusive interview

 

In an exclusive e-mail interview, Costa talked about his design aesthetic and how it was working for Oscar de la Renta and Tom Ford.

 

“My creative process has always been about reductionism and practicing restraint, but I think my aesthetic has evolved over the years and I have become more polished. The lines and cuts of my designs are quite meticulously placed,” he said.

 

De la Renta and Ford are “incredible mentors,” he added. “I learned a lot about craftsmanship, quality and color. Tom was more about the overall message for the collection, the big picture, so from him I developed a better understanding of how to create a true lifestyle brand.”

 

He describes the Calvin Klein Collection woman as “definitely someone who stands out in a crowd; she is smart, independent and self-assured, with a sophisticated sense of style. Above all else, her confidence is her most attractive quality.”

 

Some of these women who attended the event included actors Dakota Johnson, Ziyi Zhang and blogger Hanneli Mustaparta.

 

In the Philippines, Calvin Klein Jeans and Calvin Klein Underwear are exclusively distributed by Stores Specialists Inc.