Business

NY Times Follows Clothing Designer John Varvatos Around Detroit

April 30, 2015, 5:19 PM

John Varvatos, the famous men's wear designer who recently opened an upscale clothing shop on Woodward in downtown Detroit, is the latest media darling of the Motor City.

One night he showed up on the big screen at the Joe between periods of a Red Wing game and said a few words, and more recently he threw a big party to mark the birth of his Detroit store appropriately named, John Varvatos. Rock star Alice Cooper and Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander and model Kate Upton were among those in attendance.

Reporter Jennifer Conlin followed Varvatos around Detroit and then to his old home in Allen Park where he grew up, and where one of his brothers resides.

Conlin writes:

John Varvatos is in the back seat of a chauffeured sedan, being driven around downtown Detroit in a 2014 Chrysler 300C limited edition that bears his name.

The car, a three-year-old collaboration between Mr. Varvatos and the Detroit automaker, displays all of the fashion designer’s signature touches, like diesel-gray stitching on the black leather upholstery embossed with his logo.

And the designer — dressed in charcoal gray jeans, a black leather short-collared jacket, beaded bracelets and a leather necklace — meshes almost perfectly with the car’s sleekly dark interior as he peers out at the passing landscape of his childhood.

“I think my dentist’s office was in one of these buildings,” says Mr. Varvatos, 59, as we drive down Griswold Street, past two of Detroit’s most famous Art Deco skyscrapers, built in the 1920s during the city’s golden age.

The writer talks about the two faces of Detroit: The abandoned office buildings and the new tech companies and hip restaurants and bars. Obviously, that's nothing new, a recurring theme many write about.

But the writer and Varvatos end up in Allen Park visiting the home he grew up in. One of his brothers, Evan, lives there and another, Dennis,  lives nearby. Both are at the home when Varvatos pulls up. The two run a landscaping business.

The Times writes:

For the next 10 minutes the brothers tell stories of a teenage Mr. Varvatos wearing peach pants with blue pockets and spending his hard-earned money on records and tickets to concerts by local heroes like the Stooges, Ted Nugent, MC5, Grand Funk Railroad and Bob Seger. (Music is at the heart of the designer’s work: His ads have featured icons like Ringo Starr, Iggy Pop and Willie Nelson. This spring’s campaign showcases Stephen and Ziggy Marley.)

At 16, Mr. Varvatos started working at a local men’s store and, after college, sought a career in fashion. He scrapped plans to become a science teacher and formed a partnership in a Michigan men’s store, later moving to Chicago and then New York, working over the years for Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein. He broke out on his own 15 years ago.

With the opening of the Detroit store, Varvatos owns 21 stores globally and has sales of about $250 million a year. -- Allan Lengel 

 

 


Read more:  New York Times


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