John Varvatos releases new collab with John Lennon estate

American designer brand John Varvatos has released a new collaboration with the John Lennon estate, the latest step in the house’s rapid renewal.

“The collaboration fuses fashion and music — paying homage to the legend with graphic shirts, suiting and outerwear,” the New York label said in a release.

The collection references the iconic image of Lennon photographed on a Manhattan rooftop wearing a graphic New York City black and white T-shirt with cut-out short sleeves, which trumpeted his love for his adopted city. The updated version is made in khaki green, not white like the original.

There’s also a really cool knit, overprinted with a famed photo of the rocker at his Steinway Model Z white piano, used when recording the Beatles’ White Album. Or a crisp linen shirt with a spidery penciled self-portrait by the Liverpool-born rockstar.

The collaboration comes some 45 years after the tragic assassination of Lennon outside The Dakota apartment building on the Upper East Side, where he lived.

The Lennon launch comes before the opening of a new 3,200-square-foot John Varvatos store on Wooster Street in Soho on September 10, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the fashion brand’s first store in the downtown district.

Greek-born, Michigan-raised, Varvatos was the key menswear designer for both Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein before launching his own brand in 1999.

After several changes of ownership and major problems during the pandemic, the brand — sans designer John Varvatos — was taken over by Lion Capital, which also controls All Saints. According to recent financial statements, the John Varvatos label posted annual sales of $86 million in 2023.