(Photo: Brad Paris)

Who is Varvatos man?
He was courted by the frat boys but declined because he knew better. He’s monogamous. He rides a motorcycle, but he reads. He gives lectures. Maybe he’s a professor.

Is he straight?
We used to be more popular with gay men; that’s tailing off a little bit. Our average client is mid-thirties to early fifties, and he has a wife who wants him to look good.

Does your wife make you look good?
I have a girlfriend. I met her on the street and then didn’t see her for a month. I overnighted a UPS package asking her to meet me in a restaurant at a certain time and signed it her “secret admirer.” It was a tool-bag move, but it worked.

Score. Does she love your wardrobe?
Yes. But you’re talking to a farm boy from Ohio. I’m not necessarily Mr. Fashion. Although I am a coats-and-boots whore.

Do any male sartorial habits bother you? Say, the frat tuck—in at the front, out at the back?
I actually opt for the frat tuck. I used to do the half-tuck, where half the shirt is tucked in on the right side, and it looks so contrived. It’s tough to pull off a tuck all the way around.

Do you aspire to be a designer yourself?
No. I used to be, and sort of still am, an actor. I did a modern-dance piece with Meredith Monk once. I played a Nazi-esque soldier in a giant orange jumpsuit with a holster and a black-leather harness.

Related:

• Archive: “Ask Shop Clerk”
• Articles by Denise Penny
• Table of Contents: Aug 15, 2005 issue of New York | Subscribe!