Dive Brief:

• Calvin Klein, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of PVH Corp., announced Tuesday its appointment of Belgian fashion designer Raf Simons as its first-ever chief creative officer, a move effective immediately according to a press release posted on Facebook.

• The appointment has been anticipated for months, but observers say the non-compete agreement Simons signed during his three-year stint at Dior didn’t expire until July, Business of Fashion reports.

• The move comes amid a shift to unify all Calvin Klein brands under one creative vision, the company said.

Dive Insight:

Raf Simons surprised the fashion world when he didn’t renew his contract with Dior, where he was widely celebrated for bringing modernity to that house’s enduring style, successfully melding his vision with the sensbilities of Dior himself (who seemed to follow Simons as a ghost during the filming of the 2014 documentary “Dior and I,” about the designer’s first collection). 

Simons will lead the creative strategy of the Calvin Klein brand globally across the Calvin Klein Collection, Calvin Klein Platinum, Calvin Klein, Calvin Klein Jeans, Calvin Klein Underwear and Calvin Klein Home brands. Simons will oversee all aspects of Design, Global Marketing and Communications, and Visual Creative Services, and his first collections will debut for the fall 2017 season.

While Simons reportedly left Dior because the high-stress, high-output pressure to design for a major house left little time for his creative process, Business of Fashion questions whether he will ultimately be in the same boat at Calvin Klein, considering the broad range of his duties there.

Still, Simons' minimalistic aesthetic aligns well with that of Klein himself, who maintained clean lines even amidst the wide lapels of the Seventies and big hair of the Eighties. Simons' arrival could also mean renewed interest in luxury ready-to-wear apparel, which Business of Fashion reports has been a marketing play for Calvin Klein rather than a real source of revenue.

Simons is on the record proclaiming that high-end fashion has perhaps gone too far in its efforts to embrace the masses. "Fashion became pop. I can’t make up my mind if that’s a good or a bad thing,” he said last year. “The only thing I know is that it used to be elitist. And I don’t know if one should be ashamed or not to admit that maybe it was nicer when it was more elitist, not for everybody. Now high fashion is for everybody.”

That perspective is the polar opposite of recently arrived Ralph Lauren CEO Stefan Larsson. “Times are changing, and prestige is being looked at differently,” Larsson said during his time at the helm of Gap’s Old Navy brand. “Sometimes when I shop at high-end brands, I get this look when I walk in, like people working there are screening me and asking ‘Are you good enough to be our customer?’ I hate it."