By Benjamin-Emile Le Hay 9/17/12 4:44pm

After the Runway

Kara Laricks with Broadway star Montego Glover at her presentation last week.

Fashion Star Winner Kara Laricks on Surviving Fashion Week

As New York shovels up the Fashion Week embers around town after the onslaught, The Observer still has a few loose ends. One thing we wanted to know in all the ruckus was how the new comers had fared.

Kara Laricks, the winner of NBC reality show Fashion Star, is certainly a new face in the crowded sea of designers. Under the tutelage design mentors Jessica Simpson, John Varvatos and Nicole Richie, Ms. Laricks convinced the buyers’ judging panel from H&M, Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue that her creations were worthy of the $6m capsule collection award. The show was a hit: Nielsen TV Ratings Data reported 4.81 million viewers for the finale, and NBC has already renewed Fashion Star for a second season and begun casting. We caught up with Ms. Laricks after her first presentation at Runway@Pier 57 last week to get all the buzz about her début. Were her masculine-feminine-meets-1920s-Japanese matchbox looks a triumph or did she she fall flat?

What did it feel like to finally present your first bona fide fashion week presentation?

I felt vulnerable!  In the past, if my collection was not well received, I was under the protective wing of The Academy of Art University, NBC, Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s, H&M … this time, the pressure was all on me.  However, there was never any question as to whether or not I would continue designing post Fashion Star and I knew “sticking my neck out there” would be worth the risk no matter what the response. Now that my first collection has been shown at New York fashion week and the reviews are rolling in, I feel exhilarated, proud and accomplished. Can’t wait for the next! Read More

By The Editors 3/13/12 7:01pm

Opening Shot

Varvatos.

Fashion Forward

With many of New York’s techiest residents at the annual South by Southwest conference in Austin this week, the city seems to be finally stepping out of its dark apartment, blinking its eyes and seeing its own shadow for the first time in months. Sure, it may be a function of Daylight Saving Time, which seems as if has given us an extra hour to stare at the sun (always a fun pastime). But it’s more than that. It’s finally spring again.

So what does that mean for us? (Aside from the obvious fact that we’ll finally be able to see the fifth season of Mad Men?) Well, we can finally break out those new summer ensembles. Maybe this season it’ll be Diane von Furstenberg or John Varvatos. Read More

By Chris Shott 4/22/09 5:35pm

John Varvatos Does His Best Simon Cowell Impersonation

Designer John Varvatos is stealing a page from American Idol creator Simon Fuller‘s playbook, announcing the launch of his own “Free The Noise” battle of the bands contest to be broadcast on the Spin magazine Web site SPINearth.tv.

The fashionable 50-something self-professed “music junkie”—whose past ad campaigns have featured rockers Perry Farrell and Read More

By Chris Shott 4/15/08 10:37pm

You Say Varvatos, I Say …

John Varvatos may be bringing live music back to the old CBGB location this week. But don’t get too used to it.

“I’m not going to be a club promoter,” said the 54-year-old fashion designer, who is hosting a charity concert on Thursday to celebrate the grand opening of his new eponymous boutique in Read More

By David Foxley 11/29/07 6:42pm

GQ Crowns 'Men of the Year'!

John Varvatos, the Detroit-born-and-bred men’s wear designer known for both his clothes and creams, has just been named GQ’s “Designer of the Year.” Mr. Varvatos will join 19 other gents, politicos, dandies and jocks in the book’s December issue, marking its 12th annual “Men of the Year” rundown.

Not to keep tooting Read More