Celebrities With A Cause Fill Raf's Reflective Front Row At Calvin Klein

Kate Bosworth said  it best. “The anticipation here is something you can only really relate to a real superstar.” On Thursday evening in New York, Raf Simons used his superpowers to assemble fashion’s most diverse front row for his second Calvin Klein entitled, Sophomore.

The collection paid homage to American horror and Simons had invited actors from his favourite shows within the genre. Bosworth rubbed shoulders with the cast of Moonlight, with Jake Gyllenhaal and Lupita Nyong'o only a few seats away. Kyle McLachlan represented Twin Peaks (Simons is a devotee) while Millie Bobby Brown flew the flag for the designer’s newer obsession, Stranger Things.

“It’s amazing, it’s different, it’s unique. It’s very exciting to be here,” Brown said of fashion’s new CK moment and the young generation of fans Simons has spawned. “Youth, empowerment and uniqueness,” was how she summed it up. “I think it’s cool to be different and cool to be unique in your own way, and that’s what Raf brings to the table and I love it."

She sat next to Calvin Klein’s current poster girl Paris Jackson, who was busy guest-editing the brand’s Instagram as its original poster girl stepped in. “I think there’s an edginess to Raf that is not at all expected,” Brooke Shields said as she walked to her seat. “He’s kept those clean lines of the Calvin that I was associated with, and yet he’s managed to update it without being derivative, without being obvious about putting his mark on it. It’s very organic.”

Unlike most celebrity events in fashion, Simons has put together a group of brand ambassadors and famous supporters for Calvin Klein who truly seem to believe in the message he’s conveying. “It’s like when you to see a famous band and you get this phonetic energy outside,” Bosworth said, nodding at the flashbulb-filled entrance. “It’s an energy only cult artists attain, and I think that’s something Raf has.”