The Quiet Triumph of Willy Chavarria
From Joe Boxer to Yeezy Gap, meet the first-generation American designer altering the course of style.
Willy Chavarria might not be a household name but his work certainly is. A first-generation American raised in Fresno, California by a father with Sinaloan roots and a mother of Irish descent, Chavarria’s upbringing was far removed from the lavish glamour sweeping U.S. and European fashion capitals in the ’80s. Decades later, this detachment from the mainstream during his formative years is what makes his designs so powerful.
Currently a Senior Vice President of Design at Calvin Klein, Chavarria’s first brush with fashion occurred in his early 20s while studying graphic design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Here, he took a part-time job for Joe Boxer's shipping department, staying late after each shift to work on sketches. His ideas eventually earned Chavarria his first design role. Next came Voler, a California-based cycling apparel company. Ralph Lauren partnered with Voler to work on its own athletic line, RLX, and soon Chavarria was off to New York City, designing for the American institution’s most prestigious brands, including Polo Sport, RRL, Purple Label and Black Label.
A nearly 10-year stint with American Eagle followed before Dickies recruited Chavarria to help launch Construct, a premium label coinciding with culture’s surging interest in elevated workwear. In 2015, Chavarria debuted his eponymous brand, parlaying personal and professional experiences into a signature aesthetic. Oversized white T-shirts. Pressed khakis. Black belts. “One of the most elegant fashion statements of all time,” as Chavarria puts it.
In the short time Willy Chavarria, the label, has been in business, it has carved out its own small corner of the menswear landscape, earning a growing legion of fans worldwide, from A$AP Rocky to Irina Shayk. And like many of today’s most talented designers, Chavarria’s work eventually caught the eye of style’s most influential name: Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. “I first worked with Kanye in 2018,” says Chavarria. “He called me after my SS19 show and we talked for hours about fashion and its meaning.”
West was soon photographed on his Wyoming ranch in bright orange sweatpants sourced from Willy Chavarria’s collaboration with Hummel. The conversation led to a contract and over the next two years, Chavarria and West worked closely together, devising the visual language of Yeezy Gap. Although unable to share his exact involvement, Chavarria’s contributions are evident in the collaboration’s distinctive billowing silhouettes and amorphous shapes.
Simultaneously, he continued to refine his unique point of view with seasonal Willy Chavarria collections, each exploring the people and culture of his youth. Through it all is a deep sense of reverence and admiration. “My work has taken elements of Chicano culture and celebrated it.” The message behind the clothes reveals another layer, an example of fashion as an arbiter of social justice. “The zoot suit worn by the pachucos of the 1930s was a political statement in fashion, declaring an identity amidst racism and gentrification. Baggy pants evolved to be one of the biggest influences in fashion worldwide. For me, the large silhouette is a statement of occupied space. An acknowledgment of presence. The reclaiming of territories lost.”
With his Spring/Summer 2023 collection, debuted at Manhattan’s Marble Collegiate Church during New York Fashion Week, Chavarria told a different story, one no less devout in its beliefs. “This collection was about the triumph of good over darkness. With what feels like a loss of godliness in our world, I wanted to show people on the holiest of platforms: a church. I wanted the triumph of human dignity to be visible under the stained-glass images of saints and apostles.”
The show opened with a group of men placing roses on an altar while wearing Pro Club’s signature extra-long T-shirts—a collaboration with Willy Chavarria. The reasons were clear for anyone familiar with Chavarria’s work. “Pro Club is a brand that has resonated throughout Chicano culture since the ’90s.” A collaboration with FB County, a California-based label known for its alliance with Chicano culture, followed down the runway shortly after.
All of it was classic Chavarria: oversized jackets, tops and pants set against precisely-tailored pieces, like an asymmetrical double-breasted silk tuxedo jacket worn with flowing satin trousers. Varsity logos—an iconic American menswear motif—paid homage to the unsung backbones of California life: San Jose, Sacramento and, naturally, Fresno. As in previous shows, both the venue and casting spoke to Chavarria’s all-encompassing vision. The Marble Collegiate Church is known for its work supporting immigrants in NYC and advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, while the decision to have Asian, Black and Latinx/o models walk down the runway in groups demonstrated the solidarity within their respective communities.
Further cementing the collection’s steadfast commitment to human dignity was the production itself. Made of deadstock fabrics, Chavarria purchased enough yardage to make a profitable amount of both made-to-order and wholesale pieces. The more complex styles, meanwhile, were made in NYC, with other pieces made in fair-trade Peruvian factories using organic cottons.
Seven years into his namesake label but with a lifetime of experience under his belt, Willy Chavarria is the rare designer whose success is completely untethered from the fickle nature of trends. Instead, his sheer talent combined with his unwavering work ethic and dedication to championing beauty in all its forms—especially those long ignored by the restrictive world of fashion—point to Chavarria becoming the flagbearer of an emergent American vernacular, the same way Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein were before him. “My work is reflective of culture. I want to have a positive social impact through my work. I'm not interested in fashion that doesn’t have an impact on culture.”