FKA twigs responds to banned Calvin Klein advert: "I will not have my narrative changed"

FKA twigs featured in Calvin Klein's Spring campaign which was released in March 2023. The "in Calvins or nothing" advert has been banned by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority, on the grounds that it presented her as “a stereotypical sexual object”.

In a statement, they wrote: “The ad used nudity and centred on FKA twigs’ physical features rather than the clothing, to the extent that it presented her as a stereotypical sexual object”, and said the “image’s composition placed viewers’ focus on the model’s body rather than on the clothing being advertised”.

Taking to her socials, twigs has hit back at the company, writing: "i do not see the ‘stereotypical sexual object’ that they have labelled me. i see a beautiful strong woman of colour whose incredible body has overcome more pain than you can imagine."

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"In light of reviewing other campaigns past and current of this nature, i can’t help but feel there are some double standards here," she continued, adding: "i am proud of my physicality and hold the art i create with my vessel to the standards of women like josephine baker, eartha kitt and grace jones who broke down barriers of what it looks like to be empowered and harness a unique embodied sensuality."

She thanks Calvin Klein for giving her a space to express herself in that way, and says that she "will not have [her] narrative changed."

Alongside comparisons between a Kendall Jenner campaign and twigs' own, Calvin Klein defended the FKA twigs advert, saying: “The images were not vulgar and were of two confident and empowered women who had chosen to identify with the Calvin Klein brand, and the ads contained a progressive and enlightened message.”