Remember back in the Seventies when filthy rich rock gods bought country estates in Surrey or Essex or wherever and fancied themselves lords of the manor, searching for bustles in their hedgerows, while still wearing hiphugger jeans and Summer scarves and shirts open to the navel ? Then you get the picture. This is a collection that's one part decadent rocker and one part garden party. John Varvatos has made a devotion to the spirit of rock his point of difference in the crowded American sportswear market. The trick is to keep coming up with new riffs for the familiar tunes. He set out to do that by referencing the period when bands of outsiders like the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and The Who retreated to their country estates and returned with some of their best albums. To the pounding chords of "Baba O'Riley", the first model (Miles McMillan) emerged from behind iron gates and made his way along an overgrown paved path, long hair flowing and the tails of his tunic top trailing behind. John Varvatos said he was thinking of Jimmy Page circa 1972, but it also brought to mind a similarly garbed Mick Jagger at the infamous Stones concert in London's Hyde Park in 1969. That loose romantic attitude continued throughout. Knits were slouchy, fencing-style jackets were worn unbuttoned at the top, braided necklaces dangled at the models' sternums. With his astute commercial sense, Mr Varvatos was careful not to let things get too costumey, though. A peaked-lapel, 3-piece seersucker suit qualified as pretty traditional, and the hand-painted roses that climbed up the sides of other jackets (e.g. as worn by Berthold Rothas) were as wild as things got. All this was delivered in a palette of gray and sand, and if there were a few too many variations on the same theme, John Varvatos largely succeeded in putting a new spin on his rock classics. Which makes this collection probably the best one of this season.
Tweet this!
