From her beginnings as an assistant at Calvin Klein during its peak 90s fame to becoming the global PR director for Gucci, we look back at the pivotal moments of Barnet’s fascinating career so far. Jenna Barnet In the late 1990s, Jenna Barnet moved to New York City from Wisconsin after completing a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature at university. During her studies, she also mastered the Italian language – a skill that would later become instrumental in catapulting her into the luxury fashion industry.
“All the big fashion brands were either Italian or run by Italians,” she explains. “So within the first or second week getting into New York, I suddenly had interviews with Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani, Calvin Klein.” She landed the Calvin Klein job.
This was in the fall of 1997 and during the peak headline-making, boundary-pushing era for the American brand, which famously had celebrities like Kate Moss and Mark Wahlberg in its provocative campaigns. The job was working as the executive assistant to the tenacious president and chief operating officer Gabriella Forte, who is credited as a pivotal figure in turning the business into the global empire it is today. “She was an incredible force in the industry,” says Barnet.
“She had basically created the Giorgio Armani business in the US and was the first person who really broke Hollywood for the fashion industry. She was the architect of that, including the red carpet.” Barnet felt lucky to see the.
