When designer Calvin Klein visited Harlem Village Academies on a speaking engagement back in 2012, he was following in the footsteps in of some seriously high-profile supporters: In the ten years since it was founded, the school’s outstanding success has attracted the attention and praise of everyone from President Obama to Oprah. With a network of five charter schools from elementary through high school level, the academies are pioneering a new and progressive model for public education against all odds; while students from the local community often enter the system behind grade level, HVA consistently ranks number one of all public, nonselective high schools in New York for college enrollment. “I’ve spoken to groups of CEOs, to students at prestigious universities such as Cambridge, and yet those audiences are often intimidated when it comes to question time,” says Klein. “With the fifth graders I spoke to at the Harlem Village Academies, that certainly wasn’t the case. And they didn’t take their eyes off me once during the speech—they’re just so ready to learn.”
Impressed by the dedication of both the pupils and the teachers he met that day, Klein continued his involvement with the school. And when Deborah Kenny, the school’s trailblazing founder, approached him for help reimagine the visual identity of the academies for the tenth anniversary—from the uniforms, to the website—the legendary designer’s answer was a resounding yes. “Whether it’s a collection of clothing, a fragrance, a business, or a school the thought process is the same: there has to be a point view, and the message has to be consistent,” he says. “The Harlem Village Academies has a 91 percent graduation rate, which far exceeds the New York City high school average, and they needed imaging that would reflect their achievements.”
kissyprom chiffon prom dresses
He enlisted the help of longtime collaborators like creative director Fabien Baron to forge a new vision for the school: Not limited to the traditional coat of arms, they also created a modern configuration of the schools’ initials, and the sleek logo sets the tone on the landing page of the newly relaunched website. “It was quite a challenge, because every comma, every word means something,” says Klein who took almost eighteen months to perfect every aspect of the redesign. “And of course when it comes to design, I need lots of white space!”
Perhaps the most exciting part of the project, though, was giving the school’s uniform and gym clothes an entirely fresh new look. Having grown up in the nearby Bronx, Klein has an understanding of what it means to be a young scholar in the city where the preppy dress code of private school don’t apply. The minimalist crisp white polos, sporty crew-neck shirts, and tailored jumpers speak to his legacy as one of the founding fathers of American sportswear and a distinctly New York state of mind. “Many live in Harlem, and the culture of style, music, and sports is very familiar to them. It’s instinctive,” he says. “For me, it was important that the uniforms were cool, as well as being appropriate and affordable.”
With his former wife, photographer Kelly Klein, on board, he set about organizing a fashion show and lookbook to present to Kenny and deans. The response was rapturous—not least amongst the pupils. “I’ve spent my life with clothes and trying to make people feel good,” says Klein who is giving each child at HVA a set of the new uniforms in time for the fall semester. “It’s all the more wonderful to be able to do that for schoolchildren too.”
No comments:
Post a Comment