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Interview with John Varvatos

John Varvatos is one of those fashion designers you like at first sight. There are two categories of fashion designers, in my opinion: those you like at first sight, and those you dislike at first sight. Why? I do not know. There is something in the attitude, in how they look at you or at people, how they talk… and the best place to judge all this (and more) is the backstage of their fashion show.

This is where a fashion designer can either try to be the star, more important than his models, more handsome than his own creations, more nervous, irritable, hysteric than a 'prima ballerina'. Or he can keep his emotions under control, work together with his staff, talk to the many journalists trying to interview him, try to make the best of everything.

John Varvatos falls - luckily for us - in this second category. He is a very pleasant person. He looks straight into your eyes, listens, thinks, answers. John is Greek, even if he is American. And his being Greek makes him the relaxed, self-confident person we interviewed already three times in the last years. This time we met him and interviewed him backstage in Milano, at the Men's Fashion Week. John was ready to present his Man Fall Winter 2010 2011 collection, but he found the time to talk to us, and answer our questions. This is what he told us.

What was the inspiration for this collection? (Men Fall Winter 2010 2011) It is kind of marrying the old with the new, kind of vintage and modern at the same time and I played a lot with layering, so lots of different layers, lots of different proportions in the layering.

Not about heavy clothes, about light clothes that you put lots of layers on.

Does a collection have to have a 'theme'? We put together our own style, we do not have a theme. For me the customer who buys your clothes, they are not looking for a theme every season, they are looking for more great clothes from you.

Who is the man who buys John Varvatos? It is a pretty broad demographic, both younger and a little older guys. Guys who are creative, who either work in a creative environment or think creatively. It is more youthful thinking people, it is not about the age so much, as it is the way people think.

Does the man we see on the catwalks reflect the average man we see in everyday life, or is there a sort of 'dichotomy' between what fashion designers create and what men like to wear? There is a fine line between the runaways shows and the real guy. Because most of these guys are in perfect shape, and in the real world everybody is not in perfect shape… but we do not do clothes just for the runaway, we do clothes for the guy on the street.

Do you think the current economic situation can represent a limit in the way a fashion designer designs a collection? No, I do not think so, I think what it does it makes you think about things more to be better and to be perfect with everything so that there is a reason for somebody buying it. It makes you think more about the price value, the value in it, how long it will last, if it is timeless or not. I think that is the only thing, I do not think it compromises your creativity.

Your "worst quality" is…? That I am very impatient…

(Ok, we will be very quick with the last question then…)

What type of music do you listen to? Rock and roll. That is my big thing.

Thank you

Alessio Cristianini for Adversus
January 23rd 2010