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" For me, growing up in Detroit, scarves meant cold weather. But I remember working in a store, and we had some silk scarves - like, wide scarves with fringe - and because I had seen the English rockers wearing skinny silk scarves, I took the scarves, cut and sewed them, and made them long - almost like a tie. "

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" The music alone wasn't enough. It was great, but when an artist had an amazing look - like the MC5, or the Stooges, or Alice Cooper - you really got sucked in. The wardrobe was so important. At a show, you were engrossed in the music, but you were also engrossed in everything from the haircuts to what they were wearing. "

John Varvatos

Music

Look

Great

" Canada - they won't like me saying this, but it's really like it's a part of Michigan, that area. "

John Varvatos

Michigan

Canada

" I enjoy looking at old photos of some of my favorite rock icons, but also get inspired from the younger bands that are coming up and really creating their own style, their own image. "

" When I started working in fashion, I didn't have money to buy photographs, so I'd Xerox pictures from magazines and put them in notebooks. When I'd start a collection, I'd sit with my old notebooks and look through them for inspiration. "

" Bruno Mars is pretty fashionable. Gary Clarck Junior, who was also in our ad with Jimmy Page, is a super super stylish guy. "

" Success is a funny thing. It means different things to different people. For me, I am always pleased when people connect to our brand. It means we are executing in a manner that speaks to a wide variety of businesses. "

John Varvatos

Funny

People

" I like someone who has a little bad boy in them, a little edge. "

John Varvatos

Bad

Someone

" Guys out there have no sense of how their clothes should fit. "

" I never wanted to be the face of the brand. You haven't seen me in my own ads. You don't see my logo all over my clothes. From the beginning, I wanted the clothes to stand on their own. "

John Varvatos

Face

Beginning

" When you do men's wear, it's less about thinking outside the box than about pushing the walls of the box outward. Men want to be evolutionary, not revolutionary. "

" The thing about the basics is they don't really change - it's the details and the proportions that change. The shirt may be cut slimmer or looser, the suit might be darker or lighter, the sneakers might not have laces, but you're still talking about shirts and suits and sneakers. "

" Music has always been a dominant force in my life. As a young kid, it was a way for me to escape everyday life. "

John Varvatos

Music

Escape

" A part of my kind of design and inspiration ethos is that I carry around a leather notebook and I sketch in it, doodle in it, write notes in it, and I put pictures in it. "

" I loved the MC5 and the Stooges, but also, the British Invasion - the Kinks and the Yardbirds - and then Led Zeppelin, of course. Alice Cooper was one of my favorite bands. "

" Women tell me they won't date a guy with bad shoes. There are good-looking guys with good-looking outfits, and then really bad-looking square toe I-don't-even-want-to-mention-the-label kind of shoes. There is no reason for that. Again, invest in something that looks proper. A great pair of shoes can make your old outfit look great, too. "

John Varvatos

Bad

Look

" The great thing about living in New York is the constant change of things. It inspires me to keep moving, push forward, question ideas. "

" I believe that if you think about what style means, you won't become a fashion victim. "

" A lot of designers become hot, attend every party, and then you don't hear about them again. "

" My passion in life, besides my family, was always music. From the time I was a kid, I was obsessed. I'm like the ultimate fan. "

" I spent a lot of years working for Ralph Lauren, and he had so many copycats, from Tommy Hilfiger to Abercrombie & Fitch to J.Crew. "

John Varvatos

Working

Lot

" I collect vintage vinyl records. "

" Music and fashion have had a kind of incestuous relationship since the Fifties. It started with people like Elvis Presley and pop icons like James Dean. Then it exploded in the MTV days. Now, with the Internet, it's instantaneous. "

" A black suit can be classic and timeless and certainly for most occasions. But remember, it's not so much the color of suit as it is about the fit, cut, style, and, of course, attitude you have when wearing it. "

" I wasn't into pop music, even at a really young age. "

" People will always have their opinions; I've come to learn whose matter. "

" There's rock n' roll in hip-hop, there's rock n' roll in pop music, there's rock n' roll in soul, there's rock n' roll in country. When you see people dress, and their style has an edge to it, that rebellious edge that bubbles up in every genre, that's rock n' roll. Everybody still wants to be a rock star, you know? "

" I think the record industry has gotten to be more about labels wondering what the new single is rather than labels nurturing artists. It's gotten away from making a full album of music that someone would want to listen to all the way through. "

" My vision is the ability to design clothes for a man who wants to create his own style and doesn't want to dress like he's in uniform, to look like the guy in the ad, or to feel like he has to put it together that way. "

" I always talk about a great-fitting pair of jeans. Girls are concerned about the way their butt looks in a pair of jeans, and I think a guy having a really great-fitting pair of jeans is just as important. "

" Style is timeless. It transcends generations - it's enduring. If you're thinking about fashion, it's of the moment. And that doesn't mean that it's not important at times to embrace trends and that type of thing, but style is less about trends than it is about how you carry yourself. "