Calvin Klein was born in November 1942 in New York to Leo and Flore Klein. His father immigrated to the US from Hungary and his mother was the daughter of Ukrainian immigrants.

As a child, Klein attended the Isobel Rooney Middle School. After, he went to the Manhattan High School of Art and Design and also matriculated to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, from which he never graduated.

In 1962, Klein apprenticed at Dan Millstein, a cloak-and-suit manufacturer, and afterward designed for different New York City shops for another five years.

In 1968, he launched his first company in partnership with Barry K. Schwartz, his childhood friend.

At this time, Klein became a protégé of Baron de Gunzburg, who helped him enter the elite New York Fashion scene.

 

Klein's talent was immediately recognized after his first New York Fashion Week show, naming him the new Yves Saint Laurent and paying tribute to his designs' clean lines.