Fashion Designer John Varvatos On Music, His Career, and Style

The legendary fashion designer on the power of music, the importance of personal style and how passion is central to every last thing he does.

- Vincent Boucher

I grew up in a very humble household in Detroit. We were five kids in an 800-square-foot house with one little bathroom. As much as I loved my family, there comes a time when you want to do your own thing. I got sucked into music. I would go to my neighborhood record store, Sam’s Jams, and sit on the floor and read through all the music magazines. I’d look at the artists and what they were wearing. I had a paper route and was always thinking what I could spend my $4 on that week. I would say to Sam, “This Led Zeppelin album, they didn’t write all the songs.” And he’d go, “You don’t know who Willie Dixon is?” and he’d put on blues records for me.