(Here are few notes reported by Andre around 2014. This is a transcript of a phone call to Piatigorsky, who had worked with Calvin Klein perfumes years earlier. These notes were supposed to become a full-fledged article later)
"Piatigorsky appears willing and friendly on the phone -he took pity on my poor English- and has some informations to share about Calvin Klein. He says he worked for many perfume brands, (including Calvin Klein) in Paris and London, during the Nineties and 2000s. Calvin Klein perfume business started in USA in 1978, but arrived in Europe many years later, at beginning of the Nineties. The main remembering he has about Calvin Klein scents is they were "marketing masterpieces".
He says that, basically, the most interesting thing about Calvin Klein are not "perfumes", but the incredible story behind the perfume brand: "Calvin Klein Cosmetic Company". Piatigorsky tells me the story.
Briefly, at the beginning Calvin Klein launched his first women's perfume, named simply "Calvin Klein", which was not successful. Disappointed by this experience, he put the perfume division ("Calvin Klein Cosmetic Company", or CKCC) up for sale, at a very low price. Then, a small Minnesota company called "Minnetonka", which had become famous a few years earlier for the creation of pump-dispenser soap, decided to buy CCKC in 1980, and, a few years later, bet everything on a soon-to-be-released perfume, called "Obsession". (continue...)