Willy Chavarria on the Power of Sincerity
The designer spoke to Nicole Phelps at the Vogue Business Global Summit about his global expansion plans, the hard launch of a handbag collection, and bringing the worlds of fashion and music closer together.
Willy Chavarria was notably absent at the Met Gala this year. His invitation didn’t get lost in the mail. The Mexican American designer was back on his home turf of Huron, California. The working class community of immigrant farm laborers in the San Joaquin Valley, where he grew up, named May 3 ‘Willy Chavarria Day’, and he attended the party thrown in his honor. Identity has been baked into Chavarria’s brand since its 2015 beginnings, and has been an integral part of its success both in the United States and abroad. After building a fan base in New York, the designer took his runway shows on the road to Paris in January of last year. Before 2025 was over, he had secured investment from the Middle East’s Chalhoub Group; then, this March, he released a one-off collaboration with Zara.
At Vogue Business’s Global Summit in Chantilly, France, he spoke with me about what comes next in his global expansion plans: stores both stateside and in Europe, the hard launch of a handbag collection, and grander visions about bringing the worlds of fashion and music much closer together.
Chavarria and Nicole Phelps photographed at the Vogue Business Global Summit gala dinner in Chantilly.
Vogue: Your brand is about 11 years old, but I think your breakthrough collection was spring 2022 (shown in September 2021), which was the first season fashion was back on the runway after Covid. You opened the show with five shirtless gorgeous Latin men in very, very wide-leg chinos with colorful satin boxers peeking out. That moment said so much about your brand. For those who may not be familiar, what do you stand for?
First and foremost, the brand stands for human dignity and the right to identity. Given my Mexican American background, I celebrate and highlight some of the influences of Mexico and of Mexican Americans and Latino culture that have not really been recognized — I make it a point to highlight people who haven’t been recognized. Those looks that you’re talking about… they were baggy chinos exaggerated to look like ball gowns, and they actually ended up in the 2022 “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” exhibition at The Met. It was really a way to show Chicano culture and Latin culture in a very elevated luxury format, which is something we’re not used to seeing. We haven’t really ever seen it. I think that’s one reason my brand has resonated — there’s a sincerity that’s new.
Chavarria’s breakthrough spring 2022 collection.
Vogue: You just dressed Mexican boxer David Benavidez for what the internet called a “monstrous star-making knockout”. This is not the kind of celebrity dressing that we usually get on the red carpet. Why did you decide to dress him and what did the opportunity mean for you and your brand?
The one very important factor of my brand-building and my brand growth and forecasting is not just the overlap with music, art, and entertainment, but the melding of them. These areas do overlap, but no one has really been able to grasp those [overlaps] as business, and that’s something I’m looking to do.
Chavarria collaborated with boxer David Benavidez to create his custom fight night look.
Entering that space of ESPN, of the sports world where there are millions and millions of fans, was pretty monumental and cool. I really like to do that with music, with art. I work with a lot of musicians, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, not just collaborating, but in some cases, like with J Balvin, actually creating music together. It’s part of how I see fashion evolving.
Chavarria dressed Billie Eilish for the 2024 Golden Globe Awards.
Vogue: Zara hired you to design a collection, and you called it Vatisimo. Would you translate that for the non-Spanish-speaking audience? What does the word mean, and what message did you want to send with the collection?
Vatisimo is actually a fictitious word that I made up. Vato is a slang Spanish word that means dude or guy or homie, but it also has a bit of a deeper meaning: it is somebody within the Chicano community who is looking to build the community and bring people together. So for me, vatisimo is this idea that [my] fashion is going to build community. And I mean, it really did, because one of the foundational aspects of my brand is to grow in the luxury sector, which is a huge focus for our positioning and our sales, but also to explore the more mass markets. Zara allowed us to do that.
And in that instance, it was just one collection, one drop, no more. I basically did exactly what I do in my main line at a lower price point. It was incredible. It sold out right away. The women’s line sold before the men’s, which was terrific. And it allowed so many people who haven’t experienced the product to get their hands on it.
It’s something I also do with Adidas and some of my other collaborations, where we always have a portion of the brand that is available to a wider audience. The exclusivity is more about the brand messaging than it is about being pretentious, because you own a piece of it.
Vogue: John Galliano has this new two-year deal with Zara. Clare Waight Keller, who has formerly designed for Chloé and Givenchy, is at Uniqlo. Zac Posen has a big deal at Gap. What do you make of high fashion designers landing at these mass fashion brands?
I think it’s inevitable given that mass consumerism has leaked its way into high fashion, so there’s quite a blur happening. I think it’s only natural that high fashion designers would take those opportunities.
Vogue: Next month, you’ll be back in Paris for your spring 2027 show. Let’s talk about that decision. Was there any worry about leaving New York for Paris, or was it just go, go, go?
It was a bit of both. It was go, go, go because I knew that Paris Fashion Week is where all the sales are done, so I knew it was something I had to pursue. But I was hesitant because I’m a New Yorker, and I’ll always be a New York brand; I was stepping out of that zone where I have been such a part of the fashion system that it’s like my family. I will show in New York again, for sure. I love New York. But to be on the global stage, I really needed to make the move to Paris and to show the other Parisian houses that I can perform right alongside them.
Willy Chavarria and his team flew to Paris for the spring 2026 show.
Vogue: Last October, Chalhoub Group made a minority investment in your company, so, yes, big things happened when you went to Paris. Why were you looking for that investment, and what would you say it’s done for you?
The investment I was looking for was much more than financial. Sarah Stennett is with the FAE Group, a music-oriented company. [We] fell in love because of this overlap in fashion and music that I’m pursuing.
The Chalhoub Group [is a] blue-chip investor, [with] expertise in business growth, development, opening of stores. To have someone like them on my board that I can communicate with about all the details of the company, the goals, making sure we reach the goals — it’s exactly what I need to follow the ambitious growth patterns I have.
Vogue: You mentioned stores. Is there anything you can tell us about a Willy Chavarria store?
Oh, I can’t wait. It is going to be very cool. I wish I could tell you more, but I can’t spoil the surprise. We are looking to open one within the next 12 months: the first one in New York, the second one in Paris, then LA, Tokyo.
Vogue: I understand that global expansion is part of the dream and that beyond Europe, you’re looking at Asia. How does your very Mexican American style, this vatisimo, translate in places like Asia. What’s your experience been?
Well, you know what’s interesting is that my brand first started in Tokyo. I was based in New York, and I had a little store on Sullivan Street selling another brand that I had, called Palmer Trading Company; I licensed it out to Asia, but it was very Americana. And I started a little label called Willy Chavarria, and I had just a few pieces hanging in the store to see what would happen. Bay Crews from Japan came in, a distributor, and they picked up the line. So I started selling in Japan before I even sold to Barneys or anyone in New York.
I think it’s the brand messaging that is key. It’s ultimately about embracing identity, human dignity, and the power of love. As corny as that sounds, it’s very much what it is, and that message resonates very clearly and strongly, especially today with all the things happening in the world. And that message is what cuts through to people.
