Veronica Leoni Exits Calvin Klein After Four Seasons

Reported by Vogue.

Four seasons. Two years. One historic appointment — and now Veronica Leoni is out at Calvin Klein, with no successor named and plenty of questions left on the table.

Leoni made history as the first woman to lead the New York fashion house when she was appointed creative director of Calvin Klein Collection in May 2024 by then-president Eva Serrano — who herself exited just three months after Leoni's debut. Leoni arrived with serious European credentials: stints at Jil Sander, Phoebe Philo's Céline, Moncler, and The Row, plus her own label, Quira, which she put on pause to take the job. Her first show, which marked Calvin Klein's return to the runway after a seven-year absence, was one of the most anticipated New York Fashion Week moments in recent memory. The industry held its breath. Then, slowly, exhaled.

The Right Idea, Wrong Execution?

According to Vogue, critics eventually concluded that Leoni's vision — layered, intricate, European in sensibility — was working against a brand whose entire legacy is rooted in '90s minimalism and a great pair of jeans. The tension never fully resolved. Her fourth and final collection, which debuted in September 2026, was notably more restrained and became her best-received of the four — which, depending on how you read it, is either a vindication or a tragedy of timing. Global brand president David Savman called reintroducing Collection "a significant milestone" and credited Leoni's "fresh perspective" with building "meaningful momentum," which reads as the kind of corporate send-off that says everything and nothing at once.

The business context makes this murkier. Calvin Klein sales dropped 7% year over year in Q2, and parent company PVH — helmed by CEO Stefan Larsson and his broader PVH+ Plan to modernize both Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger — has framed Collection as the brand's "ultimate expression." That's an enormous creative mandate for a luxury tier that has cycled through Francisco Costa, then Raf Simons (who reimagined it as the short-lived Calvin Klein 205W39NYC before his own 2018 exit), and now Leoni. The revolving door at this brand isn't a glitch — it's starting to look like a feature.

What Leoni's departure actually signals about the future of Calvin Klein Collection — whether PVH doubles down on the luxury tier or quietly recalibrates — remains to be seen. And as for Leoni herself, with Quira waiting in the wings, the end of one chapter might be the beginning of something that's actually, finally, hers.

The real question isn't who replaces Leoni — it's whether Calvin Klein has figured out what it actually wants Collection to be.

Read the original at Vogue.