For more than a quarter century Calvin Klein, one of the most brilliant and honored designers in the world, has attracted an enormous following and unparalleled curiosity. The genius behind a $2-billion-a-year fashion empire, Klein is one of the greatest trendsetters and most recognizable celebrities of our time. His quintessentially American styles, his controversial erotic advertising, and his trademark on jeans, underwear, and fragrances have made his name known around the world. Yet the private man behind the dazzling image has until now remained a mystery. With Obsession, bestselling author Steven Gaines and investigative reporter Sharon Churcher trace Calvin Klein's steady rise from a modest background in the Bronx to his $5-million beach-front mansion in East Hampton. This is a compulsively readable tale of fashion, power, and self-creation - a riveting business story of an ambitious man who scaled his way to the top of New York's cutthroat garment industry, building an influential and far-reaching financial kingdom. The result of years of research and more than a thousand candid interviews with intimates, lovers, and business associates, Obsession also brims with personal revelations, many as shocking as they are fascinating. With extraordinary and unprecedented detail, the authors chronicle the collapse of Klein's first marriage, his glittering nights at that paradigm of seventies discos, Studio 54, his weekend escapes in the summer mecca of the Fire Island Pines, the terrifying kidnapping of his daughter, Marci, and the inside story of his secret romantic obsessions and his alcohol and drug abuse. Here, too, is the story of his marriage to Kelly Klein and their refined,redefined lifestyle. Already hailed as "an engrossing American success story" (Booklist), this explosive biography reveals the real Calvin Klein - intelligent and creative, self-indulgent and driven, a man plagued by dark demons while basking in the spotlight of fame. As it follows Kle
Steven Gaines is the best-selling author of twelve books, including Philistines at the Hedgerow: Passion and Property in the Hamptons; The Sky's the Limit: Passion and Property in Manhattan; The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of the Beatles; and Marjoe, the biography of evangelist Marjoe Gortner.
The big screen version of his biography Simply Halston starring Brendan Fraser is in pre-production with Killer Films.
His weekly radio interview show, Sunday Brunch Live from the American Hotel in Sag Harbor airs during the summer and fall months on WLIU FM Southampton, New York, a National Public Radio affiliate.
His journalism has appeared in Vanity Fair, the New York Observer, the New York Times, Los Angeles, and Worth, and he is presently a contributing editor at New York magazine. His frequent television appearances include "60 Minutes"; "The Today Show"; "CBS Morning News"; and "Good Morning America."
Mr. Gaines is a co-founder and past vice-chairman of the Hamptons International Film Festival.
He lives in a small hamlet on the East End of Long Island.
