Who the Hell is John Varvatos

By: Kelly Carson | Photo by Michael Greenberg | August 25, 2008 | Fashion

Regaled as “the maverick of American menswear,” John Varvatos has successfully carved out a profession melding his two loves: design and rock ’n’ roll. After all, it was Varvatos who adorned Iggy Pop, the godhead of punk pock, in a three-piece suit – and lived to tell about it.

It was fall 2000 when Varvatos premiered his first collection. Out of the runway gates, he flooded the men’s scene with a line of super-relaxed silhouettes that had both masculine appeal and rocker glam. The appreciation for this new vibe in the fashion world catapulted Varvatos into a recognized name practically overnight. In less than a decade, he has built a multimillion-dollar empire that includes everything from suits to skincare, Converse to cologne, belts, bags and boots. 

In the ’80s and ’90s, Varvatos worked successfully in sales and merchandising in menswear for such giants as Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren. It was during this period that he became inspired by his daily contact with their designers and so he started taking design classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Seeing that Varvatos’ had an innate talent, Ralph Lauren offered him a position designing for him. 

“I probably could have spent the rest of my life [at Ralph Lauren],” explains Varvatos. “I enjoyed the company and the relationships very much. But ultimately, when I was walking around looking at stores in 1999, I saw that there were a lot of similarities between many of the top brands – everything was kind of black – and I felt that you could almost change the labels around because everything felt so similar. It was at that point and time I thought it could be interesting to do my own thing.”
Rock ’n’ Roll and the Motor City

It is Varvatos’ love of rock ’n’ roll that has far stretched the seams between him and the rest of the men’s fashion gang. Hailing from Detroit, the birthplace of Motown and a virtual mecca for blues and rock ’n’ roll, Varvatos’ design aesthetic is deeply rooted in music, but like fashion, there is always a complexity to it. “I love having music around me all the time so it’s not as literal as [fashion] seasons,” he says. “While some may say the product is very rock ’n’ roll, it is just not that literal.” Regardless, his early style icons were actually musicians, specifically the Brits. From Led Zeppelin to The Rolling Stones, Varvatos was influenced by the “rock-star look” and the attention that it demanded. It’s evident in his spring/summer collection ’08 where finely fitted vests and skinny scarves, like the ones Mick Jagger donned in the ’70s, ruled the runway.

His influence is so strong among tastemakers worldwide, that Varvatos is often credited with bringing back the vest. But man cannot dress by vest alone. A John Varvatos suit is on a whole other level.

Well Suited

For his fall ’08 collection, Varvatos is calling for a “return to elegance.” In other words, gents, it’s time to get dressed up again. “Black is better” this season mixed with cool tones and hints of metallics like pewter and silver adorned with touches of red. What Varvatos does so smoothly is take the traditionally sober uniform of the suit and tweak it with uber sophistication to make it fit just right on today’s man. Or as Alice Cooper says of his designs, “I like it elegantly ragged.”

Evident in the collection is lots of texture: chunky, casual hand-knit sweaters and lots of cashmere blends. Pants that offer a low-rise cut in the hip and slimmer trousers featuring a flared leg can make any man look tall. There is a bit of an A-line in the coats and plenty of crisp whites. Other more casual pieces include featherweight cashmere Henleys and fine washed-linen pants accompanied by the patina of waxed leather wingtips. Add a hit of his Vintage cologne and you certainly won’t go home alone.

Converse

Nothing quite captures the essence of rocker ’tude like Chucks with a nice suit.
Varvatos recalls his all-to-genius invention of the laceless, classic Chuck Taylors: “It seriously came about in 5 minutes, sitting in my studio on a Sunday afternoon. I had the laces out of the shoe and I thought, I always wanted to have the laces out of the shoe, so how can I make this work?”

The relationship between Converse and John Varvatos was only supposed to last a year as a limited-edition type of thing, but they got along too well to stop. Just two years ago, apparel was added to the more than 100-year-old Converse brand with Varvatos at the helm. The men’s and women’s collections are all about fun; everything has a touch of athleticism to it.

The men sport short-sleeved rugbys, chino pants with suspenders, and cargo shorts finished off with a newsboy hat. The ladies lounge in silky camisoles, macramé short-sleeved baby-doll tops and flowing pants, or smock dresses with cinch-back trench jackets and star-print frill scarves. It’s the antithesis of “hip, cool, casual.”

While many fans come to discover the gifted designer through his Converse by John Varvatos and John Varvatos Star USA collections, it’s not just about fashion for this designer.

Gimme Shelter

With such an impressive wrap sheet, it’s no wonder Varvatos has been honored three times by the Council of Fashion Designers of America — in 2000 for New Menswear Designer, then in 2001 and 2005 for Menswear Designer of the Year. In 2007, GQ dubbed him Designer of the Year. While these are flattering and well-earned awards, at age 52, and married with a baby on the way, it simply is not what makes him tick.

Varvatos has always been a philanthropist at heart. He’s on the board of directors for the Save the Music Foundation and the Stuart House, a rape treatment center for child victims in Santa Monica. His annual benefit for the Stuart House is so big that he has to shut down the corner of Melrose Avenue where his West Hollywood boutique is located. Year after year, it attracts such charitable celebrities as Cindy Crawford, Brooke Shields, Casey Affleck, Jeremy Piven and Angie Harmon. His reasons for sponsoring the Stuart House run deep. “I just felt if I ever got my own company, I’d want to use what the company was capable of doing to give back,” he says. “I figured if we were going to do something it should be with the community. So, I started looking at children’s charities because that is where all of my personal philanthropic work has been done. At last we heard about the Stuart House.”

The annual event is always a family affair, which takes the Hollywood out of Hollywood. “It’s not some evening, black-tie kind of thing,” says Varvatos. “It’s a family day. It’s really about getting all of the families together and really getting behind this group that needs the funding to continue to do what they do. It’s something that is part of our daily vocabulary in our company today.” This year’s silent auction during the event raised more than $450,000. What a rock-star thing to do! But hey, it takes a rock star to know what a rock star likes.

John Varvatos Malibu
Opening this fall in the Malibu Country Mart.

Bookmarks: Page 1 of 1 pages