They say it takes a village. Make that a small town, in the case of Willy Chavarria’s latest runway show, which brought together a cast big enough to fill a sports arena on the outskirts of Paris.
Billed as the World of Willy, the all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza featured performers including Latin boy band Santos Bravos, Colombian star Feid, Puerto Rican entertainer Lunay and torch singer Mon Laferte, who doubled as the heroine of a film noir that was shot and broadcast in real-time on a large screen.
“I wanted to show the value of the range and tell a story that is emotional and exciting and lets me connect with people,” the designer said backstage.
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The 2,000 guests included 400 people who came directly from a watch party organized by content creator Lyas, after Chavarria surprised them with last-minute invites.
The action unfolded as a series of mini-plays, with models weaving in and out of the frame. As tends to happen with this kind of format, which has been used in the past by brands including Kenzo and Maison Margiela, the clothes felt a bit incidental.
Chavarria deployed the full range of his offering, from his signature tailoring to red carpet gowns, alongside the latest chapter of his sportswear line with Adidas, and his new entry-level workwear collection Big Willy, which rolled out on a group of models on gleaming lowrider bikes.
Named Menswear Designer of the Year at the WWD Apparel & Retail CEO Summit, Chavarria has grabbed the public imagination with his oversize men’s suits and political statements in favor of immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community.
As an exercise in world-building, the show was a tour de force, but it sucked some of the drama out of the clothes. Chavarria deflated the shoulder pads on his suits, and traded hourglass dresses for office-friendly blouses and pencil skirts. Even the color palette was muted, despite the occasional splash of rose red and vivid purple.
He clearly has big ambitions for the brand, so you could see why he would steer it in a more commercial direction. The lineup ranged from statement pieces, like a snakeskin bomber jacket and a leopard-printed shearling coat, to wardrobe staples like track suits, shirtdresses, robe coats and bomber jackets.
“It’s a natural progression for us to want something new after a period of time,” Chavarria demurred. “I always design what I feel like wearing in the moment and what my team feels like wearing, and I just feel like going a little slimmer. Also, I’ve lost a lot of weight, so I’m fitting into slimmer clothes now, which makes me very happy.”
He also appeared to have toned down the political messaging, though it remained a subliminal throughline. Chavarria said his mega-production was inspired by watching people through the windows of his street-level apartment in New York City, and was meant to celebrate human connection.
“The theme is love: eternal love, the love that connects us all, and the love that will live on beyond our flesh existence,” said the designer, who took his bow wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Protection is Love,” which will be sold to raise funds for the nonprofit Rainbow Railroad.
“The politics are written into the show and after the show, there will be a lot of questions, because it’s a lot to take in, but I’m not going to answer very many questions, because I really want the viewer to ingest the collection, ingest the music, ingest the film, and come to their own conclusions about the answers,” he said.
