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Daily Inspiration Quote by Calvin Klein

"I've been strong and determined all my life about many things I've wanted"

About this Quote

A fashion designer admitting to sheer willpower is less a confession than a business model. Calvin Klein's line is blunt, almost unadorned, which is fitting: his brand made a career out of looking clean while quietly being aggressive. "Strong and determined" reads like the polite version of ruthless, the kind of self-description that can pass in an interview while signaling to insiders how the machine actually runs. In a creative industry that sells "taste" and "vision", he foregrounds something less romantic: appetite.

The phrasing does a lot of work. "All my life" retrofits destiny, turning ambition into an innate trait rather than a string of choices, risks, and maneuvers. "About many things I've wanted" is carefully unspecific, a strategic vagueness that lets the listener project: success, control, recognition, erotic charge, cultural centrality. Klein's empire wasn't built only on cut and fabric; it was built on attention. His ads turned minimal underwear into maximal controversy, testing how far desire could be commercialized while still reading as sophistication. Determination, here, is also about nerve.

There's subtext in what he doesn't mention: collaboration, luck, timing, the army behind any label. By centering "I've wanted", he frames fashion not as democratic self-expression but as a top-down act of taste-making. It's a reminder that the most influential designers aren't just stylists; they're editors of public desire, and the job requires a stubbornness that can survive backlash, boredom, and the brutal churn of trend cycles.

Quote Details

TopicPerseverance
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I've been strong and determined all my life - Calvin Klein
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About the Author

Calvin Klein

Calvin Klein (born November 19, 1942) is a Designer from USA.

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