Long before she was a Hollywood fixture, Brooke Shields landed a campaign that would alter the course of pop culture history, and her own career, overnight.
Reflecting on her legendary rise to stardom, the actress recently revisited the iconic 1980 Calvin Klein photoshoot that shot her to international fame at just 15 years old. The headline-making ad, complete with its famously provocative tagline, cemented her status as a pop culture icon.
Brooke Shields Says The Shoot ‘Changed Her Life’
In a new Instagram upload, Brooke Shields shared her thoughts about the ad campaign that turned her into a pop culture icon seemingly overnight. She was just 15 when Calvin Klein tapped her to lead the press for his jeans in 1980.
Shields wrote, “Not only did it change fashion, this photo also changed my life forever. Honored to be included in such a beautifully thought out article.”
The former Hallmark actress cited The New York Times article, The 25 Photos That Changed Fashion Forever. The headline-making ad, complete with its famously provocative tagline, didn’t just cement her status as a global style icon; it fundamentally transformed how fashion and entertainment intersected for decades to come.
The article stated, “Taken by the American fashion photographer Richard Avedon, one of the series’s most enduring images features Shields, her hip cocked and her lined eyes trained on the camera, wearing tight denim and a silky maroon top that she might be buttoning or unbuttoning. The idea for the ads, he told an interviewer years later, was to make them ‘completely quotable,’ which led to a script by the copywriter Doon Arbus (daughter of Diane, also included on this list) that was filled with double entendres.”
Some of the ad campaign’s most iconic lines included, “You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.” The campaign was enormously successful, sending Klein’s sales through the roof and cementing Sheild’s place in fashion and celebrity culture.
Fans Reacted to The Iconic 1970s Ad Campaign
Fans shared their reaction to revisiting the iconic 1970s pop culture moment in the comments section of Brooke Shields’ post. Many praised the former “Suddenly Susan” star for her enduring legacy. Others recalled how the headline-making campaign shaped an entire era of fashion.
Kelly Klein, Calvin Klein’s ex-wife, wrote, “CK Avedon and you ! Created a real Iconic moment in all our lives.”
One of Shields’ longtime fans penned, “When I was young, (Brooke is my contemporary) I thought she was the most beautiful thing ever. Now that we are ‘old’ I still think she is gorgeous. Funny thing, I was so innocent at 15 when the add came out, it never occurred to me that the add insinuated she wasn’t wearing underwear!”
“Nothing comes between me and my Calvins. And the eyebrows every girl wanted to have,” noted a second Instagram user.
A third follower claimed, “This ad is in every 1970s girl’s DNA. Iconic.”
The sheer volume of comments proves just how deeply that campaign is engrained into pop culture. For Brooke Shields, it’s the explicit line between who she was before, and the superstar she became after.
