John Vizzone’s career as a luxury menswear designer established him as a leader in the world of fashion. Having spent over 25 years at Ralph Lauren as Creative Director, John played a key role in building the company into a global brand. After Ralph Lauren, John moved to the French fashion scene joining men’s couture fashion house Cifonelli in Paris and most recently launched his own line, John Vizzone x Barneys.

We spoke with John during a recent stay at The DWIGHT D.
Tell us what design means to you?
For me, design boils down to four things-first and foremost it’s a form of personal expression-a way to convey my thoughts. Besides communicating my taste, I’ve always thought good design is about timeless elegance, attention to detail, and that line where comfort meets luxury and glamour.

Can you tell us a little about your background and what you are doing now?
I joined Ralph Lauren when his company was still small and ended up staying with him close to three decades as Creative Director for menswear. After about 10 years of designing mostly casualwear I got the OK from Ralph to start a tailored clothing line and launched Purple Label and Black Label- that was 25 years ago which is hard to believe. After Ralph Lauren, I was asked by my tailor Cifonelli to design and launch their first ready-to-wear line. We sold that line mostly through Barneys-they loved the richness of the collection and its vintage reinterpreted for the contemporary gentleman aesthetic and asked me to develop my own line for them. When Barneys closed last year I was ready to try something new and my wife Sandy and I moved to Cape May and purchased a Bed & Breakfast.

Congratulations, tell us about your B&B.
It’s called The Hugh Inn, named after the originally owners The Hughes family. When we bought the Inn it was operating just as a restaurant-we renovated for six months during COVID and opened with 8 guest rooms but without the restaurant, which we are opening in 2021. We love it and the business is seasonal so we still spend a lot of time traveling.

Including plenty of time in Philadelphia-what’s your ideal weekend here?
Philadelphia is my wife Sandy’s home town and we love it so we come in quite often. Our trips always start with a check in at The Dwight D-which is like our own pied- à-terre in the city. For a great weekend it’s hard to beat breakfast outside at Parc, exploring the stores on Chestnut St. and hitting Reading Terminal Market.

Tell us about your experience staying at The DWIGHT D from the perspective of a designer who’s traveled extensively internationally
After my first stay I was completely blown away by The Dwight D. I’ve traveled extensively in Europe and Asia and over that time developed an idea of what the perfect hotel should be. When I first checked in to The Dwight D it was that ideal hotel I had in my head-the attention to detail and luxury experience felt like a home run to me. Probably the best way I can answer the question is that when I was with Cifonelli, I had the opportunity to design a complete wardrobe for the Maharaja of Jaipur which was an incredible experience, and staying here makes me feel like royalty.