BEAUTY: Clothing--John Varvatos

Pitti Uomo in Firenze was last week and this week we embarked upon Milano Moda Uomo. Now, I usually don't pay that much attention to John Varvatos but the Spring '12 collection he showed at Milano Moda Uomo is very interesting. Varvatos said about this collection that he took his cue from Jimmy Page (of the legendary rock group Led Zeppelin) circa 1972. But I can see all sorts of other British rock stars including Mick Jagger and Roger Daltrey (one of the models even looks like Pete Townsend!). What I particularly like about this collection is not that it references British rock stars from the 70s (although that is pretty hot), but that the clothing references other time periods with long waist coats, Romantic flowing silhouettes, low cut vests, military jackets... this method of taking pieces from the past and making them "now" is what I have come to expect from Westwood and McQueen, neither of which did that so much for SS '12. In fact, the McQueen collection was a bit disappointing, and I say that with a heavy heart (I won't even bother to post the collection). Regular readers will know how fiercely I feel about the man himself as well as the house. Sarah Burton has been doing a fine job, and perhaps this is just a momentary misstep. Don't get me wrong, the McQueen collection is not hideous, just... uninspiring. It is quite ironic then, that Burton tried to do the exact same thing that Varvatos did here (her version is 60s and 70s rock stars), but she seemed to lack the energy to do it. Interestingly, the McQueen Women's Resort collection for 2012 is absolutely stunning. So instead, I will pretend that this Varvatos collection is the McQueen SS '12 we should have seen.


http://www.johnvarvatos.com/