John Varvatos
REVIEW
COMPLETE COLLECTION
NEW YORK, February 8, 2005
By
John Varvatos loves music almost as much as he does fashion, and he successfully integrated his twin passions in his latest collection. He's keen to promote his women's range, so the show opened and closed with sporty yet sophisticated outfits for rock stars' girlfriends, while also hinting at an early seventies time frame. In those heady times, guitarist Jimmy Page took the stage in three-piece suits when Led Zeppelin toured, and his spirit of louche tailoring was the essence of Varvatos' new menswear. Wide-legged trousers were deeply double-pleated, slung low, and cuffed. Jacket shoulders were as broad as the Thin White Duke's in the slightly forties style of that moment in rock dandyism. Shirts were formal, with silk scarves knotted round necks like loose cravats. Shoes—suede wing tips, laced ankle boots— were also dressy, if scuffed. The color scheme embraced ice-blue and burgundy, two tones that could only coexist in the early seventies. A double-breasted tweed coat with a shearling collar had a fuzzy mohair aura that blurred its butchness. As if to underscore the point, Varvatos played "Queen Bitch," Bowie's paean to perverse ambiguity, for his finale.
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