The Celestial and Profane: Willy Chavarria Celebrates 10 years

In a show partly staged to a prayer service by Mariann Edgar Budde, the Bishop of Washington, American designer Willy Chavarria raised the bar on inclusivity, or as he has termed in 2024, partook in much-needed “community lifting.” His Fall/Winter 2025 show was held at the American Cathedral in Paris and opened with a Mass. This isn’t the first time Chavarria has drawn inspiration from ecclesiastical themes. His Spring/Summer 2023 show took place within the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan, while his Fall/Winter 2024 show featured an altar and votive candles arranged in a tableau resembling ‘The Last Supper.’
Chavarria’s collection was Chicano-style. The mood was set with the first model, who wore a white ranchero hat and a crimson velvet suit with four-inch lapels. His suit comprised of bootleg trousers and a shirt that had a pointed collar so sharp you could poke an eye out. The series of four black Sunday-Mass-cum-zoot suits that followed included both single-breasted and double-breasted styles and relied on the more generous fit that Chavarria is noted for. The suits were accessorised with large red carnations in silk, gardenia-white or striped shirting and a crucifix clutched firmly in a fist.
The collection then moved into more fit-and-flare suiting options with spread-collar shirts, which may have drawn influence from Chavarria’s time at Ralph Lauren’s Golf, Black, and Purple labels (Lauren designed the costumes for the iconic 30s-via-the-70s film The Great Gatsby). There were also adaptations of the Latina Pachuca rebels’ looks with pompadour hairdos, hourglass figure-hugging dresses, high-waist skirts paired with matching Harrington jackets and a pouty insouciance.
The final section of the show saw models ensconced in tulip, Erin green, English violet, and bleu de France velvet. There were baggy-leg trousers, car coats, suits, and coats—some worn slouched over the shoulder—before giving way to pure “cholo” at the show’s end. After a handful of looks of chinos, a cropped bomber in sand, and other cotton drill staples as well as shirts with many X’s before the ‘L’, the latest collaboration between Chavarria and adidas Originals appeared. Looks here were mostly coordinated: baggy boxing and basketball shorts, track jackets and hockey shirts. Some of the printed tees worn beneath the track jackets whispered at Chavarria’s wit and humour. that has been in his collections since his beginnings over a decade ago. His first runway show, held seven years ago and titled ‘Cruising’ and held at Eagle, the New York gay bar, which featured tees with iconic logos/visual puns such as 'Coors Light/Cares Fight' and 'Marlboro Reds' American Mayhem.'
Chavarria explained that his intention for the collaboration was for a portion of it to be available at retailers like Foot Locker, for, as Robin Givhan wrote in 2018, “there are no yachtsmen or equestrians in his version of America. His immigrants are not deemed exceptional.” This statement does not belie Chavarria’s abilities to elevate the ordinary and ordinariness of life.
Whilst Chavarria was raised in a “sundown town” far from the typical geographical centres of fashion, his first show in Europe—and the observation of his ten-year anniversary—have shored up his importance to luxury fashion and streetwear. Chavarria celebrates clothing and fashion codes that are already extant within his cultural vernacular. There are the steady staples of working people; the type of clothing that can work harder than the wearer—well, almost. There are also the stock service garments that make up his wholesaling trade. These include the drill chinos (the Borrachio pant), his 'Big Ass' jackets, variations of a MA-1 bomber, the track jackets, and button-down shirts. Each garment in Chavarria’s offering is always reimagined, often enlarged, and completely elevated, all while being bestowed with a certain glory and sense of the heroic.