Yahoo News Calvin Klein Recruits Former Gucci Executive to Lead Entertainment Relations
Having grasped the power of entertainment hook-ups as far back as its 1980 controversial commercial with a then 15-year-old Brooke Shields, Calvin Klein Inc. has lined up a veteran fashion executive to oversee its global entertainment relations and events and steer the company’s integrated communications and influence strategies.
Lila Staab, who starts Monday, has been named senior vice president, brand communications and culture. She joins the American designer brand following 15 years at Gucci, where she was most recently senior vice president of worldwide entertainment industry relations.
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In this new post, she will report to Calvin Klein’s global chief marketing officer Jonathan Bottomley. In partnership with Calvin Klein’s global and regional teams, Staab will be responsible for strengthening the brand’s visibility, fostering engagement, and further driving innovation across consumer points of contact. Her 20-plus years of industry experience included a role at Giorgio Armani.
And Calvin Kein is not new terrain for Staab, who used to work at the company and exited in 2000, after overseeing VIP dressing (an area that used to be the forte of the late Carolyn Bessette Kennedy years before.)
With a track record for featuring celebrities in its campaigns, Calvin Klein enlisted entertainers like the Tony-nominated actor and musician Jeremy Pope for its latest Pride underwear campaign and the Emmy-nominated actress Camila Morrone for its spring home campaign earlier this year.
Staab’s appointment is the second key hire at Calvin Klein in recent weeks. Late last month, the PVH-owned brand announced that Veronica Leoni had been named creative director of Collection, signaling a return to the runway. Leoni, a 2023 LVMH Prize finalist and founder of Quira, has worked for Jil Sander, Celine, Moncler and most recently The Row as womenswear and menswear design director, in addition to Quira.
After a five-year hiatus, the Calvin Klein Collection will include women’s and men’s apparel, underwear and accessories when it debuts with fall 2025. In her new role Leoni is expected to merge her deep industry expertise with the modern aesthetic of Calvin Klein, while partnering with Calvin Klein global brand president Eva Serrano to bring inspiration from the Collection to the mainline portfolio and the red carpet.
During Staab’s tenure at Gucci, she was instrumental in helping to shape Gucci’s Chime for Change movement, a global initiative that has benefited from celebrity alliances and one that champions gender equality. Her focus was on working with celebrities and other notables to develop and execute strategic initiatives dedicated to advancing gender equality. What is now known as “Chime,” the program has raised nearly $21.5 million to support 500-plus projects with 185 nonprofits including Equality Now and the Global Fund for Women. It started in 2013 with cofounders Salma Hayek Pinault and Beyoncé.
In her new role at Calvin Klein heading up public relations, influence, brand experience and talent relations brand communications, Staab is leading a team that has not had any departures in the past six months. These areas are under Bottomley’s remit and now form the communications and culture team.
Bottomley said in a statement Friday that Staab’s “proven ability to shape ideas and partnerships that create lasting cultural impact will be a huge asset, as we continue to evolve our unique approach to building the most desirable lifestyle brand in the world.”
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