From the Archive: Calvin Klein’s $1M L.A. Runway Show Unites Stars for AIDS Awareness

“Everyone in the East looks to Hollywood. Youth, movies, style,” remarked Calvin Klein after his star-gazing Hollywood Bowl debut on June 7, 1993. The mega-gala not only marked Klein’s L.A. fashion debut; it also raised $1 million for AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), uniting Hollywood and fashion for a single night out in support of the LGBTQ+ community. Klein, who admitted to WWD at the time that he “didn’t think he could pull it off,” noted that the evening turned out exactly how he imagined it. “It was like the old days of Studio 54,” he said.

The event included a concert featuring singer Tina Turner, and a runway show of Klein’s latest designs including his underwear. The high-energy show featured 350 fresh-faced models moving at rapid speed. Highlights included up and coming actress Christina Applegate and model-turned-reality TV alum Garcelle Beauvais, who participated in the show. Celebrities Angela Bassett and friend David Geffen attended while Mark Wahlberg and Kate Moss ambassadors for Klein’s CK brand joined him in the show’s finale.

The event raised three times more than any previous APLA fundraiser. From the WWD and the Fairchild Archive here is a look back at the historic event.