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It is impossible to pinpoint the moment that Gen X culture hit its zenith, but one could make a sound case for sometime in 1994. That year was major: Tonya vs. Nancy, Pulp Fiction, Weezer’s “Buddy Holly,” the birth of lad mags, the death of Kurt Cobain, the debut of Friends and, a few months later, “the Rachel.” In fashion, that was when grunge crossed over from mildewed Seattle rock venues into suburban malls—a trickle-down effect of Marc Jacobs’s spring 1993 collection for Perry Ellis, which put supermodels in flannel and knit beanies (and later got the designer fired). Soon, brands were bending sideways to appeal to next-gen consumers, whom they imagined to be disaffected, wary of being marketed to, and more or less against buying things. So how do you sell consumer goods to anti-consumerists?
The answer is much the same way that you would sell to anyone: by appealing to their vanity. At the time, no company did this more effectively than Calvin Klein, which sold $90 million in CK One perfume to 20-somethings by offering a reflection of themselves as cool as hell: androgynous, stoic, comfortable in scuffed lug-sole boots and cheap satin slip dresses. The 1994 campaign for the unisex fragrance—shot in black-and-white by Steven Meisel, inspired by Andy Warhol’s Factory candids—featured a scrum of lithe young things, including Kate Moss. The model Jenny Shimizu, photographed with a buzz cut and a pair of low-slung jeans, became an underground style icon.
“All of those Calvin Klein campaigns when I was a kid were so iconic,” says Eliot Sumner, speaking by phone from London. Born in 1990 to musician Sting and actress Trudie Styler, Sumner remembers gazing up at the billboards. Now, with the launch of CK Everyone, the 29-year-old is posing in those jeans.
Rebooting an era-defining fragrance could be considered a play to nostalgia. (Jacobs reissued that career-catalyzing collection in 2018; the 1995 album Jagged Little Pill is now a Broadway show.) But CK One remains particularly prescient. “It introduced a new olfactive approach that wasn’t fully feminine or masculine,” says Alberto Morillas, the perfumer who cocreated the original scent, which evoked the frosted glass bottle it came in: translucent, clean, almost ghostly. Some whiffs recalled aftershave; others gave off puffs of powder and papaya.
If it was daring to subvert the male-female dichotomy at that time, CK Everyone arrives at a moment where fluidity is the lingua franca. “People are freeing themselves from the traditional restrictions of gender,” says Morillas, once again the nose. CK Everyone is about reveling in a kind of prismatic expressiveness—and the revels smell like orange and a hazy blue-tea note.
The cast of the new campaign also defies easy definition, between their idiosyncratic styling and cross-genre work. The skater and photographer Evan Mock turns up with his lipstick-pink hair; MLMA, the Korean musician and chameleonic makeup star, also makes an appearance. But it’s Sumner, with lank waves and a bare face, who wears the ’90s mantle for our multifaceted age. Music being the family trade, the performer (who uses gender-neutral pronouns) got an early start helming the band I Blame Coco; they later slipped into the DJ scene under the alias Vaal.
Now, Sumner has a slate of projects ahead. There’s an album in the making, a stripped-back effort they describe as “very introspective and melancholic.” They are also finding their footing on the big screen: with Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen, out earlier this year, followed by No Time to Die next month. “I’m the biggest James Bond nerd on the planet, so I felt that I’d manifested a dream,” the actor says of landing a part in Cary Joji Fukunaga’s film. “I play quite a terrifying cold killer”—a silent-but-deadly role that called for strength training and a combat coach. (“I can tell that our arm-wrestling days are profoundly over,” quipped a friend in response to a chiseled selfie.)
Ordinarily, though, Sumner has their usual armor. “I tend to have a uniform every three to four years,” they explain. Right now, it’s jeans and white T-shirts (thanks to a fresh supply from Calvin Klein). For formal wear, they like British tailoring and Dior Men suits, giving a shout-out to Kim Jones, the house’s charismatic designer. They know what they want. “I’m not an extremely—what’s the word—compromising person when it comes to myself.”
When we speak, Sumner is daydreaming of the family’s country place, a 16th-century English manor not far from Stonehenge. The eccentric neighbors have a camel named Timmy, whom Sumner considers a good friend. “It’s very easy for me to slip into that reclusive state, but I’m not a lonely person,” they insist. Half the time they are in London for meetings. “Then I head back to the countryside and build fires and live like a Wiccan.”
There’s freedom in such wanderings, and in other pursuits (painting!). “With acting, it’s quite nice to not be the master of your kingdom for a bit—there’s a script, and someone to direct you,” says Sumner. “I’ve realized that it’s a great avenue for me to express my sort of harbored intensity.” They reflect back on the day they wrapped the Bond film, finally letting that character’s tough exterior crack open. “Everyone started clapping, and I just broke down in front of, like, 300 people. It was one of the best releases I’ve ever had.”
What made Sumner so emotional was the sudden possibility of change. They didn’t have to be a legacy musician; they could start a new chapter. If Sumner embodies the spirit of CK Everyone, it is in that constant refusal to stop moving.
The only hitch? “I have to be honest with you. I don’t actually have a sense of smell,” says Sumner, citing a long-ago head injury. Not that they mind much. “I make up for it in other ways.”
To Each Their Own
Anything goes, from no-rules runway looks to Boy de Chanel nail polish, debuting in buff and black (but who’s to say gentlemen don’t prefer pink?).
Noto Botanics the Wash, $35. (notobotanics.com)
A look from the Comme des Garçons Homme Plus spring 2020 collection.
Calvin Klein CK Everyone, $80. (macys.com)
Timothée Chalamet, sporting glossed lips on the red carpet.
Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello shoes, $645. (ysl.com)
CHANEL Boy de Chanel nail color, $28. (Available in May at chanel.com)
