Sometimes, zig wants to zag. John Varvatos, king of casual, went elegant. "I just felt like it," he said after the show. "The great thing about being a designer is you can do what you want, and to try to keep yourself interested." The necktie that collared each look gave the hint that all wasn t as it had been. What interests Varvatos now is refinement: a louche, wide-legged variety, fedora-topped, that recalled the thirties as the strutters of the seventies imagined them. Bowie circa Thin White Duke and Brian Jones were the inspirations in chief. So rock hasn t been banished from the house, just tidied up. What he s offering, Varvatos said, is "an elegance that most young people don t know, because they ve never dressed up that much. They ve worn a suit, but they ve never really been elegant." Time regularly replenishes this supply of impressionable youth. Maybe they ll thrill to the strut on show here. That s a cheerful prospect, as is the one that, back in the showroom, much of the stridency will likely be skimmed off the top. The runway is as much a stage as any Bowie ever played. A good thing to remember as you consider the prospect of a generation trailing Varvatos western fringe behind its formalwear.
