Willy Chavarria in Paris: Pride and Heritage
Willy Chavarria Fall/Winter 2025 Menswear Review
2023 CFDA Menswear Designer of the Year Willy Chavarria injects his soul and his personal heritage into his designs. To celebrate ten years of the brand, the New York-based Chavarria team travelled cross-Atlantic to show their Fall/Winter 2025 Menswear collection in Paris. The collection, entitled “Tarantula” celebrated queer Latine and Chicano history and codes of dressing.
The American Cathedral of Paris was filled to the brim with people. Scarlet anthuriums and roses spilled over the altar table and onto the floor. Long white candles dotted in between, oozing and dripping onto the marble and floral arrangements. Smoke filled the room and created a haze over the crowd. Everything looked like a Caravaggio painting. Why a church? “It’s very synonymous with Latino culture. I really wanted to show so many of the people who have not been welcomed into the church, not only being here in the church, but being canonized in the church.,” Chavarria said to Vogue. Everything presented before the altar dripped in sex, romance, and cultural significance.
Anti-disciplinary artist Dorian Wood began the show in a long red gown, rosary beads intertwined in her right hand. She sang of the healing power of time, despite “the crashing waves of white indifference”. A powerful declaration for the contemporary political climate. Colombian reggaeton singer J Balvin also modeled and performed on the catwalk.
The first models emerged in Chavarria’s signature wide-shouldered tailoring; elongated shirt collars spread out so wide they ended at the bicep. Pachuco-style zoot suiting, made in Italian wool and velvet, swung around the model’s legs and waists. Model and actor Indya Moore walked, in a high-necked black skirt suit and bouffant hair, very strict and incredibly beautiful. Other models throughout the show were cast straight from the streets of New York.
Wide brimmed felt hats adorned with red silk roses sat atop heads, shrouding the face in a chiaroscuro-like shadow. As the models sauntered on, that high-contrast of black, white, and red gave way to Baroque blues, greens, and golds. Silk velvet suiting became less strict and crushed, mimicking velour tracksuits. Cholo flannels and wide cut pants were made in the highest-quality Italian cashmere and wool. Chavarria’s second collaboration with adidas ended the show, the same wide shoulders seen in the tailoring translated to bomber jackets and boxing shorts.
“Looking at the show gives me the feeling of looking at Chicanos across a diaspora,” said Ann Arquía, a Native Latine Chicago-based drag performer. “It’s a really beautiful sentiment in tandem with (Chavarria’s) overall message about protecting immigrants, to give his own vision about who we are and what we bring to the spaces we inhabit.”
As Chavarria took his finale bow, the words “How we love is who we are,” covered the designer’s chest on a black top created in collaboration with Tinder and the Human Rights Campaign to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. The mantra speaks against the over 570 anti-LGBTQ+ laws introduced worldwide in the past year.
Chavarria’s power lies in his ability to show the beauty of his own Mexican-American heritage and his queer community through fashion. This collection was a clear response to United States President Donald Trump’s calls for deportation and anti-trans policies sweeping through America. “It’s important now to wear your heart on your sleeve. We are people living in fear right now. We are gay, lesbian, and trans, queer immigrants, the people who cook our food and clean our rooms, and we need to protect them,” said Chavarria.