Partners And Politics Fuel Willy Chavarria’s Growing Brand At PFW

Since debuting his namesake line in 2015, Willy Chavarria has stayed the course of its founding principles to find beauty that is often unseen and to promote political messages, deemed positive assuming your views are liberal, as most of fashion is. His core beliefs have led to an affiliation with the ACLU, for which he has designed merchandise for fundraising purposes. For his second show in Paris, entitled “Huron” for the California agriculture town Chavarria was raised in, the designer took the political concept even further and rolled out more in the way of partners that fuel the brand’s fast ascent.

The show opened with a particularly poignant, if not painful scene to watch, A group of 35 Chavarria staple models, whose everyday look is typically a shaved head and plenty of tattoos, dressed in white shorts and T-shirts made in partnership with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) walked on to the runway, got down on their knees and bowed their heads with hands behind backs, assuming the position that detainees who were exported to El Salvadoran prisons under the new Trump administration in US were seen in in media coverage. The T-shirt had print that read: “The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union – beyond one person, party, or side.”

Backstage, Chavarria was clear the expression of his feelings on the matter were not to be stifled, repercussion threats be damned. “With regard to activism and politics, regardless of what we do, we’re being political. When we’re not saying something, it’s much louder than saying something. I have no choice; we have no choice in this moment, but to try to defend ourselves,”

He also felt it was a necessary statement, but also ironic. “I named the show after my hometown, Huron, and my family is here in Paris, and for the first time, seeing one of my shows. It’s an amazing, beautiful experience. Simultaneously, as of yesterday, ICE is attacking the town of Huron, with armed militia surrounding homes. It’s a state of horror.” Chavarria said, adding that he wanted to contrast the chaos of the kidnappings against the beauty of the people being chipped away and the families they leave behind.

It was a heavy place to start a fashion show, but all of Chavarria’s shows have addressed social issues. As the real clothes descended while Mexican activist singer Vivir Quintana serenaded the crowd to trimmed-down versions of Chavarria’s outsize tailored silhouettes and came in bright colors that he said we derived from factory uniforms across the globe, and often in oppressive nation states. Oddly, when combined, Chavarria thought of the preppy look, recently reinforced through his TV watching habits of “Sirens” and “Palm Royale”

“It made me think about this preppy narrative, this luxury about who is supposed to claim luxury because of its social status. I thought it would be fun to play with because that’s an old idea of luxury, hence the dying luxury market today. I wanted to show luxury in a new way, worn by people who feel no one needs to tell us who can wear luxury,” he said.

However, preppy and uniform-like, this section of the show recalled 1970s Parisian glamour, complete with a revival of the Charles Jourdan shoe brand co-branded with Willy Chavarria. In other accessories news, Spanish Andalusian-inspired hats decked out in signature brand roses and keys as charms prevailed.

It was evident from the start that rather than peppering in some women’s looks, at least half of the collection was typical women’s cuts and shapes. “From a creative and business sense, it’s been an intentional growth into women’s. I hired Rebeca Mendoza, an exquisite women’s wear designer, starting with my last collection. I wanted to wait until I had the right women’s wear designer with a female perspective to design it,” he continued, noting his production is in Italy now. Along with tailored feminine styles and ‘snatched’ belted tight leather trend looks, the designer offered a series of brightly colored off-shoulder gowns with a modern Renaissance mood.

Tequila brand Don Julio has been a long-time brand partner, and other partners include World Net, APICCAPS, the Portuguese Footwear Association, Mariano Shoes, and Return to Vendor (RTV) on eyewear and swim trunks.

Adding in the biggest partner, Adidas, which showed its third Willy Chavarria season, it was a lot to take in, and was often disorienting to grasp the collection’s direction. But including the various elements tracks, Chavarria’s mantra is inclusivity.

Adidas’s styles took cues from Los Angeles Street culture, including branding with an LA logo. “That look has had such an impact on fashion. I did the LA logos with a friend, Sal Prego, who owns a tattoo parlor there, who did the graphics by hand. As this project was finishing the final product, Los Angeles became another city under attack, so this parallel makes me feel like someone is driving this trip much bigger than me.”

When asked about the rumors that Fendi is looking at Chavarria to join the Italian heritage house. “That is hearsay. I’m not the right person to ask because I know nothing about it. I can’t even speculate what people are thinking.”