So today I'm here with one of my absolute favorite people in the entire world. I've actually never met before, but been a fan of your work forever, the one and only John Varvatos.

Thank you. Glad to be here.

Thank you for coming down. You have a very cool pad here. I'm digging it. I like it. We've been trying to get you here for a long time, so it's exciting we finally got you in the house.

I like how you uh, you really screwed up the four seasons here. I love it, yeah, I really I really give you a lot of um, credit for it. Come on.

So you approve. That's a big thing. If John Varvatos says it's two thumbs up, not even one, yeah, two thumbs up. Now, you know, it's interesting because there there are a lot of people that design clothes and like, you know, do a great job at it, but you've done one step even further. I mean, you've actually built a brand that that transcends clothing. I mean, you're you're in so many different areas right now and then, you know, even with your new book, you're known as like the rock and roll guy that that mixes it up. Was that something you set out to do in the beginning or it just sort of happened?

I think the best things in life happen organically. And it really happened organically. I, you know, music and rock and roll was always a huge passion, but it kind of seeped into the brand from the artists, not as much from me initially, anyway, in that the artists were shopping with us. And I thought, wow, we have all these musicians shopping with us. And then, around 2005, we started using iconic artists in our ad campaigns, which has become a huge part of the branding thing. And so, automatically, everybody calls me the rock and roll guy. I I'm obsessed, you know, I'm really, you know, I have a book called Fashion and, you know, it's called Rock and Fashion. But when I think about my passions, music's always in the forefront, you know.

So so take us through this because there there are a couple interesting things. I mean, it starts off, you know, really just with the the table of contents, all the the crazy photos here, which is one that.

Well, the table of contents really was about the storyline in the book, and it really is about how fashion and rock and roll are like incestuous and they're intertwined completely. And it also talks about how a lot of these things in the book have inspired me over the time, not necessarily literally inspired me, but there's been some kind of organic inspiration there. And it's everything from total bands with great style. Like, not every band has great style. And, you know, I have a section a chapter in here called Behind the Shades, and it's about all these artists, a number of them I owe that I know, are like really laid back, very sweet, but when they put those glasses on and they come on stage, they become somebody totally different. Right. You know, I'm wearing a scarf. It kind of talks about the scarf and its influence on me and how it's kind of transcended through the generations and interesting things on if you look at pictures and you see Kings of Leon on how they look like Jeff Beck in 1970 or Lenny Kravitz might have looked at some point in time like Jimmy Hendrix thing. And so, we're all influenced from a lot of people, and and we see the influence in fashion and rock and roll, and then we see its trickle down into pop culture. We really see its trickle down into the mainstream when you go to a show, you go to a Lady Gaga show and everybody's dressed like that or Madonna or whoever it is, or someone someone's wearing something, a certain sneaker or whatever, and it kind of trickles down. And it has a big effect.

That's true. This this one's my favorite. Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am. What what is this one all about?

That's the section on glam. So, the whole glam period in the '70s. It was the first time that anything feminine really got into the masculine part of rock and roll.

So, let's take it back to present day. You say what's come back in again. What to you has come back in? What what's the hot thing right now?

You know, I think it's about guys dressing up again. You know, there was a period of time where guys really dressed up. And we've gone through this whole casual period. Guys that never wore a suit, guys that never really got dressed up, they definitely didn't want to look like their dad. They're discovering that they look pretty hot and sexy when they're dressed up. And they get a different, they get a different kind of vibe from women when they get dressed up in that way. So, we're seeing that across the board at every level, that guys really want to dress up. And it's also, I think it's kind of a move away from logos. I think the whole thing about everything being so clean look. And cleaner look, more simplistic, great design, not as much about overdesigning, but about the great little details. And we sell to guys who love great details in their electronics, in their car, you know, their stereo system, whatever it is. And and they appreciate those things. They don't need to like walk around with a billboard.

And then what else inspires you? Because obviously music is a big inspiration and rock and roll and all that, but where else do you do you draw inspiration from?

Architecture for sure, you know. I mean,

That's interesting.

Yeah, architecture is a big thing for me. I really Always have. In fact, there's things that when I design a collection, I'm looking at buildings, textures, finishes, that type of thing. Every season, I'm looking for new inspiration, you know. Like I'm voracious for something new to inspire me because if not, you kind of fall back onto the same things.

Is there something you haven't done yet that you're questionable, like, might push the envelope too far, but you might actually go for it?

No about pushing the envelope too far. Everybody asked me about women's all the time and I love it. But I really, I'm I'm actually more motivated right now to do a home collection. I don't want it to be overly masculine, but really to kind of give to take the handwriting of what we have in our brand, with what what people talk about my DNA, with the the different leather finishes that we do, the little textures that we do, the fabrics that we do, to be able to take those into new shapes. And so, I've been playing around with that idea and I really am excited about it.

That's awesome. And then, you know, Fashion Star, obviously a lot of people probably know you from that. What's like the one moment throughout the years that just stuck out from from that show?

The thing that stuck out was just the camaraderie that we had working on the the show with uh, Nicole and Jessica. We became family in those few months that we were shooting. It was that kind of thing. And also, not really knowing somebody like Jessica or uh uh, Nicole, and only really knowing them through what you read. Right. Or you see, and finding that they were completely different than what that was. And and they're totally amazing people, you know, I just loved everything about them.

Now a few names in the book, uh, that I'm going to mention. I just want you to sum up their style, if you had like one or two words that that sum up their whole style. Mick Jagger.

Chameleon.

Kings of Leon.

Effortlessly cool.

I like that. Jack White.

Outrageous.

How about Led Zeppelin?

My icons.

Really? Wow. Yeah. And is there, speaking of icons, is is there a group or an individual that that you would love to just have rock in your gear that has, I mean, pretty much everyone has, but is there one?

Yeah, I mean, I'm pretty lucky that pretty much we've we've really kind of, but I would say if I if I thought about the book, the one person that of course I never met and I I would have loved to dress, work with was Jimmy Hendrix. I mean, the guy was just the coolest guy on the planet.

For for the up-and-coming designers and people that want to break through, is there any advice that was ever handed down to you that that you would want to hand down to someone else or even just some advice you sort of create is to how to break through?

You know, I really didn't get that much advice other than, you know, work your ass off, you know, don't take anything for granted. I guess the one advice that I got was from Ralph Lauren that I'll never forget because I've spent a lot of my life there as well was you always have to raise the bar. You always have to push it up. But from my end, it is it's be a sponge. You know, any young person, work wherever you can, you know, glean as much knowledge as you can. Don't think any job is too small for you. I wanted to be in everything. I wanted to know about socks and underwear and suits and, you know, boots and everything I could know about. And and I because in the end, it's all about execution. It's not even about always just your talent because if you can't execute your dream, you won't be successful.

So, the more knowledge and the more information that you have about being able to execute things, will help you execute your dream.

That's great advice. Last question for you. Now, you talked about everybody else's style in in one or two words. What about your style?

Um, my style's is just my personality.

One word, you said one word for everybody else. One or two. What would it be to sum you up?

Cool.

I like it. There you go. Can't can't get much cooler than that. One and only John Varvatos. Thank you so much for for coming in and hanging out.

Thanks.

Thanks for coming.

Thank you.