Tracee Ellis Ross, Michelle RandolphJason Sean Weiss/BFA.com
On Tuesday evening, Calvin Klein and Maxfield, the cult-favorite Melrose Place concept store, gathered a small, well-dressed group to celebrate the Spring Summer collection. Between Cannes and Cruise shows across the country, it had been a big and busy week for fashion and pop culture—and yet Veronica Leoni, the creative director quietly rebuilding one of America’s most iconic brands, kept it characteristically understated.
To mark the month-long partnership between Calvin Klein Collection and Maxfield, the party called for cocktails and dinner at Chateau Marmont’s beloved Bungalow 1. Guests including Tracee Ellis Ross, Jodie Turner-Smith, Michelle Randolph, and an expectant Gia Coppola and Honor Titus settled in for a meal of Mediterranean branzino and steak frites at a long candlelit table laden with purple spider orchids; a notable departure from the founding designer’s famed penchant for white flowers only.
The collection at the root of the celebration was very much in the spotlight: Ellis Ross wore the oversized pom-pom number with aplomb, Turner-Smith opted for a peekaboo bra underneath a scoop-neck blazer, while Coppola went for the green kimono jacket.
Between courses, Leoni spoke about her behind-the-scenes process and recent highlights. Whether she planned for it or not, she is the beneficiary of the Love Story effect, as the show’s portrayal of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s formative years spent working at Calvin Klein has sent an entirely new audience back to the archives—and straight to Maxfield too. “It’s been a lovely magnifier,” Leoni told Vogue. “And an instrument of education for the generation that didn’t live through the 1990s. So for us, it’s been good…all bonuses!”
The partnership with Maxfield—one of the city’s definitive fashion institutions—has also played an important part of the evolution since Leoni took the helm. The retailer has exclusively carried Calvin Klein Collection in Los Angeles since the Fall 2025 offering, putting it right within reach of those seeking its New York-inspired laidback glamour. Alas, Leoni is quick to point out that she designs with a global muse in mind. “The collection becomes real only when you see it on people,” she said. “I feel that everybody in L.A. is in their own private dimension. It’s a city that lives in multiple bubbles, and the population finds their own occasions to dress up.”