Tate McRae joins Calvin Klein's celebrity campaign roster

Calvin Klein has named Canadian pop singer Tate McRae as the face of the first chapter of its fall 2026 "Feel the Fit" denim campaign, adding another global music star to a marketing roster that has become a central lever in parent company PVH Corp.'s brand turnaround. The New York-based apparel group, which also owns Tommy Hilfiger, said McRae's campaign is the opening chapter of a rollout that will bring in further "global talent" over the coming month.

Directed by Carlijn Jacobs and set to the track "Groove Is In The Heart," the campaign shows McRae moving and dancing through everyday settings in three new denim fits: the Low Rise Baggy Jean, the High Rise Loose Jean and a returning 90s Straight Jean. "This campaign is about that moment when you put on your favorite pair of jeans and everything just clicks," McRae said in a statement. "I loved being able to move, dance and bring my own energy to every look."

David Savman, global brand president of Calvin Klein, framed the launch as continuity rather than reinvention, tying it to what he called the brand's "iconic design codes, superior fit and seductive styling." "'Feel the Fit' brings that legacy to life for a new generation in a way that feels unmistakably Calvin Klein and entirely current," Savman said.

A proven commercial playbook

The campaign extends a strategy PVH has leaned on heavily as it pushes Calvin Klein back toward growth. Chief executive Stefan Larsson has repeatedly credited celebrity-fronted campaigns for driving the brand's denim and underwear sales: in the group's 2025 second-quarter results, he said Calvin Klein "showed continued growth in underwear and fashion denim which was driven by the biggest product innovation so far, amplified by mega talent like Bad Bunny." In the same release, Larsson flagged the coming fall season as needing "cut-through full funnel campaigns with a strong lineup of globally relevant talent" — the exact playbook the McRae campaign now follows.

The approach has a measurable track record. According to trade publication WWD, citing data from marketing intelligence firm Launchmetrics, Calvin Klein's campaigns with Jungkook, Jeremy Allen White and Bad Bunny generated 13.4 million dollars, 12.7 million dollars and 8.4 million dollars respectively in media impact value within 48 hours of release. McRae joins a roster that in recent years has also included Kendall Jenner, Hailey Bieber, FKA twigs, Michael B. Jordan and Dakota Johnson, among others.

McRae arrives with her own commercial momentum. The Calgary-born singer received her first Grammy nomination this year, for the F1: The Movie track "Just Keep Watching," and closed out her "So Close to What" world tour, which grossed close to 111 million dollars, according to trade publication Billboard. That overlap is notable for PVH: the group also credited its Tommy Hilfiger partnership around F1: The Movie for boosting that brand's growth in the same period, making McRae a face with ties to two campaigns PVH has already flagged as commercially significant.

Part of a broader fall push

The launch also introduces new denim silhouettes for fall 2026 across all body types the brand is targeting this season, from the relaxed Low Rise Baggy Jean to the elongating High Rise Loose Jean. The campaign goes live globally on August 25, 2026, across Calvin Klein retail, calvinklein.com, social platforms and out-of-home placements, with a social component inviting creators to recreate McRae's campaign choreography, developed by Sergio Reis.

For PVH, which has spent the past several quarters emphasizing "brand-building flywheel" execution under its PVH+ Plan, the McRae campaign is less a standalone launch than the latest instalment in a strategy the company itself has said is working.

This article was written with the assistance of AI.