CALVIN KLEIN MODELS PAST AND PRESENT
Calvin Klein Models
Past & Present
From the billboards that stopped traffic to the campaigns that changed men's underwear forever — the faces, the photographs, and the legacy of the most iconic underwear advertising in history.
We love a good underwear campaign — and when it comes to Calvin Klein, they are truly the masters of the form. From the groundbreaking 1990s images that made men's underwear aspirational to today's modern interpretations, CK has consistently cast some of the world's most recognisable faces and bodies.
We've gone through the archives to find our favourites — and where you can find similar styles from our own premium collections.
This rapper, turned CK model, turned Hollywood actor is the undisputed number one. His legendary 1992 campaign with photographer Herb Ritts catapulted Calvin Klein into mainstream pop culture — those iconic white briefs appeared on billboards across the world and defined an era of men's underwear advertising.
Shot in high-contrast black and white, the images of Marky Mark in classic CK briefs created a template that underwear brands still reference today. The campaign was so culturally significant it's still discussed over thirty years later — which is probably why you're reading this.
"Before CK, men's underwear was purely functional. After 1992, it was aspirational."
The campaign that changed everything
Following Wahlberg's era-defining success, Calvin Klein tapped soap opera star Antonio Sabato Jr. for their mid-90s campaigns. His smouldering intensity and chiselled build continued the tradition of athletic, body-confident masculinity that defined the CK aesthetic — bringing a new audience to the brand while maintaining everything that made the 1992 campaign work.

Before he was Ragnar Lothbrok in Vikings, Australian model Travis Fimmel was the face of Calvin Klein in the early 2000s. His campaign was so successful that a Times Square billboard had to be removed after causing traffic accidents — the kind of cultural impact very few campaigns ever achieve.
Fimmel represented a new era: rugged, masculine, with an edge that appealed to a generation that wanted something more than polished perfection.
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2006 brought Swedish footballer Fredrik Ljungberg — blonde, toned, sporting tattoos, and an edgy confidence that bridged sport and fashion in a way no previous CK campaign had. His appointment showed that the brand was as interested in athletes as it was in actors, and that performance and style were two sides of the same coin.

He played Emmett — Edward Cullen's powerfully built brother — in the Twilight Saga, but his Calvin Klein campaign in 2008 was a different kind of performance. Lutz's athletic build showcased the body-conscious fit that made CK famous, reaching a new generation of fans who knew his face long before they knew his name.
"From a grocery store shelf-stacker to the face of one of the world's most recognisable brands."
Matt Terry — the modern face of CK
A few years ago Matt Terry was stacking shelves at his local grocery store in Pennsylvania and picking up the odd construction job. Now he's one of the faces of Calvin Klein — joining some of the most recognisable models in the world. He represents the modern CK ethos: accessible masculinity, quiet confidence, and the sense that the brand is as much for real men as it is for famous ones.
Why Calvin Klein Underwear Campaigns Changed Everything
Real physiques over airbrushed perfection — aspirational but attainable.
Black and white, simple compositions — the product and the body were everything.
Quality you could see and feel — underwear positioned as something worth caring about.
The CK logo became a status symbol — branding designed to be seen above the waistline.
White, black, grey — classics that never date and work on every skin tone.
Celebrating the male form without apology — a new language for men's fashion.
Before Calvin Klein's 1990s campaigns, men's underwear was hidden away, never discussed and purely functional. CK made it aspirational, fashionable, and something men actually thought about. The influence is visible everywhere in premium men's underwear today — in the emphasis on fit, in the wide branded waistbands, in the monochrome photography, and in the choice of bold, athletic men as the face of the category.
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We share Calvin Klein's obsession with fit, fabric and design. The difference? You're not paying for the billboard.