"Has Hard Times Fallen on Calvin Klein?"

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"Dragon Head" Ace Preston | Photo 02

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The mansion owned by Calvin Klein known as "Dragon Head" located on the dune roads of Southampton New York has been approved for demolition. 

The oceanfront mansion is 50,000 square feet and sits on 11 acres of a $100,000+ a year property tax estate. 

The house is to be replaced by a smaller 17,000 square foot modern design house which would blend into the dunes as Calvin Klein goes green in this multimillion dollar project.

The "Chesterton" was the first house built on this site in 1926 by the Duponts. Calvin Klein purchased the home which had gone through various restructures in 2003 for $28.9 million. 

Dragon Head at one time was believed to have been the largest home in Southampton until Ira Rennert built a house twice it's size in Sagaponack with 100,000 square feet. The White House stands at only 55,000 square feet when compared to this behemoth.

Is the end of the era of excess among us or has Calvin Klein fallen on hard times? I doubt it. 

When it comes to minimalism I associate Calvin Klein's selection of using models who seem to be suffering from anorexia nervosa or when he pushes the envelope of advertisement by featuring a 15 year old Brooke Shields or a child-like Kate Moss on his adds. I won't go into his giant billboards on Times Square featuring male models wearing only white briefs or his 1999 ad campaign for children's underwear line which I find repulsive.

In the USA there are 5 criterias used in determining pornographic images. Two of them are depicting children as sex objects or implying that the children are willing to engage in sex, and suggestive settings. The U.S. Justice Department did launch an investigation into the matter of whether Calvin Klein had violated any of the child pornography laws but I agree with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in conjunction with the F.B.I. when they released in 1987 "Child Molesters: a Behavioral Analysis"  discussing "child erotica" in a broader term than "child pornography" in that it can be defined as any material relating to children that serves a purpose for a given individual. This conclusion was verified by law enforcement officials who concluded that pedophiles almost always did collect child pornography or erotica.

Today there are still many photographers out there who exploit such images. Some on a different perspective are given V.I.P. invitations to photo shoots at the White House. 

For reasons I deem morally unacceptable I would never photograph an underaged Miley Cyrus or Mark Wahlberg in provocative poses. Some of the blame must also be placed on the liberal media and general public who permit such images. 

Whether the case of the United States vs Knox 32 F .3d 773 1994 means anything the ad campaigns unfortunately worked towards Calvin Klein's advantage.  It gave him all the free additional publicity needed to further expand the CK name.  Calvin Klein has not and perhaps never will fall on hard times. We can thank the "sickness of our society" for that. The only thing falling from the CK empire shall be the mansion known as "Dragon Head".