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Obsession: The Lives and Times of Calvin Klein
A biography of controversial designer Calvin Klein draws on interviews with friends, business associates, and lovers to trace his dramatic rise to fame in the fashion world and his self-indulgent personal life
451 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 8, 2009
I got this book from Booksale when I was still in Rohm and Haas. I think I was then fascinated about his life because of the infamous Fil-Am guy who killed a fashion scion in the 90s. I now forgot who those people were. Anyways, this book was about drugs, fashion, casual sex, homos, Club 51 parties, etc. Easy read but no takeaway lesson for me.
June 8, 2026
My main takeaway from this biography is that Calvin Klein is an absolutely terrible person.
Mostly from a business perspective, where he repeatedly screwed people over on his way to the top and tossed anyone no longer useful to him away at the earliest convenience. But also in his personal life he was snobby and condescending to his own family, cold and mean to his first wife, and although there is evidence he does love his daughter (who I recently learned has a very successful career in comedy tv like SNL and 30 Rock) he also just decides at one point to change her room in his apartment into something else entirely.
Like this guy is awful. I hated him. I actually think Karl Lagerfeld comes across better than Klein in The Beautiful Fall. He doesn't even come across as a sort of selfish tortured genius like YSL or Chanel. He just sort of seems to be in the right place at the right time a lot.
Aside from the fact I can't stand the guy I think this book starts off strong and then loses its way. It starts off during the famous Marci Klein kidnapping and then jumps back to the start of Calvin's life and career, building back up to his meteoric rise to fame, his glamorous life at Studio 54 and then how the kidnapping played out. All that stuff is great, it's juicy and it doesn't shy away from showing the ugly side of Calvin and his life. It's very warts and all.
I especially found the stuff about Calvin Klein fragrances fascinating, and I was very happy when one of the guys they went into business with who they clearly thought was some bum from Minnesota got the better of them (them being CK and his business partner).
However, the last third of the book does 2 things that ruin it for me. Firstly it becomes bogged down in this whole thing about junk bonds and share prices and it's just numbers and business speak flying at you constantly. Secondly it's like after Calvin goes to rehab the authors decide they can never say a bad word about him again. They go really easy on him and the book just sort of splutters out despite it ending in the early 90s when there was plenty of interesting stuff going on.
As fashion biographies go, I'd say this one was middle of the pile. Much like the fashion house it covers.
Mostly from a business perspective, where he repeatedly screwed people over on his way to the top and tossed anyone no longer useful to him away at the earliest convenience. But also in his personal life he was snobby and condescending to his own family, cold and mean to his first wife, and although there is evidence he does love his daughter (who I recently learned has a very successful career in comedy tv like SNL and 30 Rock) he also just decides at one point to change her room in his apartment into something else entirely.
Like this guy is awful. I hated him. I actually think Karl Lagerfeld comes across better than Klein in The Beautiful Fall. He doesn't even come across as a sort of selfish tortured genius like YSL or Chanel. He just sort of seems to be in the right place at the right time a lot.
Aside from the fact I can't stand the guy I think this book starts off strong and then loses its way. It starts off during the famous Marci Klein kidnapping and then jumps back to the start of Calvin's life and career, building back up to his meteoric rise to fame, his glamorous life at Studio 54 and then how the kidnapping played out. All that stuff is great, it's juicy and it doesn't shy away from showing the ugly side of Calvin and his life. It's very warts and all.
I especially found the stuff about Calvin Klein fragrances fascinating, and I was very happy when one of the guys they went into business with who they clearly thought was some bum from Minnesota got the better of them (them being CK and his business partner).
However, the last third of the book does 2 things that ruin it for me. Firstly it becomes bogged down in this whole thing about junk bonds and share prices and it's just numbers and business speak flying at you constantly. Secondly it's like after Calvin goes to rehab the authors decide they can never say a bad word about him again. They go really easy on him and the book just sort of splutters out despite it ending in the early 90s when there was plenty of interesting stuff going on.
As fashion biographies go, I'd say this one was middle of the pile. Much like the fashion house it covers.
July 30, 2011
Having met Steven Gaines I've read all of his books.
May 22, 2023
What a great record of such a provocative and hot brand and personality!
Loved the pace and dancing of information.
I wish the story was revisited to include the era after 1994, to date.
Hopefully one day
Loved the pace and dancing of information.
I wish the story was revisited to include the era after 1994, to date.
Hopefully one day
October 26, 2022
I thought it carried a profound message about how there is no guarantee of a good life no matter how much money or recognition you have.
February 6, 2018
Books like this are a royal pain in the ass.You either brown nose the guy or you don't.The only thing vaguely tantalizing about this ridiculous book was the intro where they both describe at great length the outrage Calvin Klein and co felt upon reading this book.So ? I thought to myself it might be good..
what a bunch of crap. If you want to brown nose Calvin Klein why not just send him a dozen roses and a pretty little Hallmark Card telling him how swell you think he is. Why waste my time? why waste all the paper and trees that went into this book and all the time and work of the editors. This book described a ridiculously innocuous designer and his ridiculously innocuous wife -both dull as dish water and the book -and the book itself -innocuous would make it sound exciting compared to how dull and irriating it really was. I am so out of here.Big fat waste of time.JM
what a bunch of crap. If you want to brown nose Calvin Klein why not just send him a dozen roses and a pretty little Hallmark Card telling him how swell you think he is. Why waste my time? why waste all the paper and trees that went into this book and all the time and work of the editors. This book described a ridiculously innocuous designer and his ridiculously innocuous wife -both dull as dish water and the book -and the book itself -innocuous would make it sound exciting compared to how dull and irriating it really was. I am so out of here.Big fat waste of time.JM
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August 4, 2015Interesting, very straight forward and fact based. Can't say it was very "intimate" as his current friends and relatives would not speak to the author. But insightful as to what may have created Calvin's need for beauty and an idealized aesthetic in fashion and image.
November 26, 2007
BETTER THEN FLAUBERT
August 30, 2013
Non-fiction. Very interesting look at the man behind the name. Unbelievable how he "lived" on drugs for a while - took uppers and downers to get thru each day.
July 8, 2020
Very comprehensive and well researched, but too focused on the business side of things. People want to read the biography of an artist to learn more about the artistic process; This book missed that.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews