China's model du jour Emma Pei, 21, will be walking at his closing show for SFF on Sunday.

Carrigan, the creative director of ck Calvin Klein, says of the Anhui native: 'Her look is modern and perfect for the brand aesthetic.'

The 43-year-old, who used to design for French label Nicole Farhi and Italian fashion house Max Mara, joined American fashion house Calvin Klein in New York as a designer in 1998.

Four years later, he rose to become the design director of Calvin Klein's diffusion line ck and has been largely responsible for giving it an indentity of its own.

In an e-mail interview with Urban, it is clear that the Englishman takes well to Calvin Klein's aesthetic of clean, modern lines.

He describes his spring/summer 2008 collection, which will go on show on Sunday, as sexy and possessing 'an urban New York edge'.

'It's about pure colour and noble fabrics using architectural draping and pleating to create texture,' he adds.

'ck Calvin Klein is youthful and can experiment with colour, texture and silhouettes while still maintaining the Calvin Klein iconic American style.'

For such a modernist, his work ethic is still old-school though.

Carrigan is famous for getting involved in almost every aspect of designing and branding at ck Calvin Klein, right down to spearheading the line's new beauty line that was launched in the United States in January.

'I love being a part of the entire process and taking a sketch from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, and then seeing the garments come to life in fittings, on the runway and later in advertising,' he says.

'It is a very instinctive and creative process that I'm very passionate about.'

This article was first published in Urban, The Straits Times on Apr 3, 2008.