Calvin Klein Spring 2016 Campaign debut. Misogynistic or innovative?

So recently the new Calvin Klein advert campaign was released for the Spring 2016 lingerie collection and it seems that as per usual, the high end self-assured brand are causing a stir yet again within the media and this time, they may have taken the whole concept of sexual exposure a little too far.



The new campaign which was revealed over Instagram the other day and which was shot by the photographer, Harley Weir, whose visual aesthetic seems to cross between sexuality and enigmatic youth culture, portrays an image of a young women posing with her underwear on show and the camera angle facing upwards from underneath her dress. As if the photo wasn't already unexpectedly revealing, the slogan of  "I flash in #mycalvins" has been plastered across the image to further communicate an essence of sexualisation and exposure of the female body.

However, although the image has received so much backlash from the media, that has not stopped Calvin Klein from pulling in 46,000 likes and keeping the image on it's Instagram account for anyone to see.

Furthermore, in support of the photograph, the model featured in the image, which was 22 year old Klara Kristen from Denmark, made a statement on Instagram about the controversy which had occurred over the photo.

"I love this photo @harleyweir took of me. All this discussion about it makes me think about how alienated and scared some people are to the female human body. Be and love yourself and your sexuality #girlpower." Klara Kristen via instagram

Although Kristen is in her twenties, followers of the Instagram account have suggested that the advert makes Kristen appear a lot younger which arguably makes the advert seem a lot worse than what the brand intended to do.

Another misinterpretation of the advert is the fact that the image conveys the idea that it is being seen from the gaze of a predator looking up the models skirt. However, the real intention of the image was to put the model in control, making it her choice to flash her underwear to the viewers.

As part of the collection of advertisements, Kendall Jenner also featured in a few of the images which saw the model seductively squeeze a grapefruit behind the slogan of "I eat in #mycalvins" and arguably make an innocent fruit look erotic.




Here is such a few examples of what kind of comments the brand received on Instagram just after it was posted onto the social medium.