WILLY CHAVARRIA creates pieces that shine on and off the runway, and stars like Bad Bunny, Venus Williams, and Tessa Thompson have all donned his clothes. Watch for a behind-the-scenes look where WILLY CHAVARRIA's creations come to life, the stories of how his heritage plays into his designs, the distressed piece that received negative hits, and even the big-name celebs he is most excited to dress.
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00:00 Hey guys, I'm Willy Chavarria.
00:02 Welcome to my studio.
00:03 This is our humble abode where my team and I
00:13 make the magic that is Willy Chavarria.
00:16 We do our photo shoots here.
00:19 We do our pattern making.
00:20 We do our creative brainstorming.
00:22 We do it all here.
00:23 And this is where the dream comes alive.
00:25 So I'm happy to give you a little tour.
00:27 This area is for packing and shipping
00:30 and mostly for pattern making.
00:33 This is the week after our big runway show.
00:36 So things are a bit calm in here today.
00:39 Normally we'd have about 10 or 11 people in here at once.
00:42 A lot of music blasting, a lot of noise,
00:45 people coming in and out.
00:46 But today is like a nice peaceful time.
00:49 So here we have Ricky Arenas,
00:52 a beautiful, amazing photographer.
00:54 He's working on some photos right now
00:56 for a photo shoot we have coming up.
00:58 We have some mood boards.
00:59 This board is a culmination of so many ideas
01:02 that I put together with my team.
01:04 Just finding things that are like of the moment
01:08 or of the past that feel relevant
01:10 to the collection we're working on.
01:12 My heritage is innately important to me because it is me.
01:17 I think that anything I do just automatically includes
01:23 parts of my Latinx heritage and parts of the things
01:26 that I've been inspired by throughout my life.
01:28 I'm not just a Latinx designer, I'm a designer.
01:31 I know that there aren't very many Latinx designers
01:34 out there that get to my level.
01:36 So I'm happy to own it
01:38 and I'm happy to represent the Latinx community.
01:42 This is like our central hub.
01:43 You can see designers designing at this table anytime,
01:47 whether they're working on product now
01:49 or developing new styles.
01:51 No sample is perfect,
01:53 even though it might look perfect on the runway.
01:55 So what we do is we go through everything with a microscope
01:59 and make sure that it's perfect,
02:01 relay that information to the factory
02:03 before it goes into production.
02:04 Inspiration, it really comes from everywhere.
02:07 In this case, I think we had a lot of inspiration
02:10 from turbulent times in the world
02:12 and seeking true beauty in the world.
02:15 So that's why in the collection we see destroyed pieces
02:19 and then we also see incredibly,
02:21 astoundingly beautiful pieces,
02:23 like the one I'm about to show you.
02:25 It's this incredible ball gown
02:27 that I am very, very proud of.
02:29 And it's one of the most beautiful pieces we've ever done.
02:32 It's part of our Spring '24 Runway Collection,
02:35 just kind of representing this beautiful,
02:37 angelic kind of prophecy feeling.
02:40 You know, we wanted to design something
02:42 that was reminiscent of like old Dior or early Balenciaga.
02:47 Really had this incredible volume,
02:49 but still felt very, very modern.
02:51 So we kept our signature collar here.
02:53 We use this incredible Italian silk taffeta
02:57 with this giant pussy bow.
02:59 And it's full of crinoline so that when the model walks,
03:02 it would like kind of puff behind them.
03:05 When we design, especially this last collection,
03:08 we don't consider gender at all.
03:10 My brand isn't just for brown and queer people,
03:12 it's for everybody.
03:14 So whether it's a ball gown or a suit,
03:17 we look at everything together as a collection
03:19 and then we just put the models into the collection,
03:22 whether they're male or female.
03:24 Next is one of my favorite pieces.
03:27 It's what we call the Heretic Tuxedo Jacket.
03:30 It's actually part of a suit with like a very full pant.
03:34 The entire jacket is made out of the tuxedo lapel fabric.
03:38 Normally a tuxedo would have a wool blend
03:40 or something in this part, but it's entirely silk
03:43 and it's adorned with one of these handmade roses.
03:46 I was lucky enough to have Moses Sumney wear this with me
03:50 when we attended the CFDA Awards.
03:52 It's also been worn by Tokisha, Tessa Thompson,
03:56 and Venus Williams when she attended the US Open.
03:59 It feels incredible for me
04:01 when somebody's wearing one of my pieces.
04:03 I'm still in that phase of if I see someone
04:05 walking down the street wearing my clothes,
04:07 I either stop and watch them and try to figure them out
04:10 or I go introduce myself and say,
04:12 "Hey, I designed that," which is very corny.
04:17 This hat I included in my last runway show.
04:19 I did it in black, cream, and a few colors.
04:22 This hat is very special to me
04:24 because it symbolizes quite a bit.
04:26 It's kind of modeled after my grandfather's hat,
04:29 who was a farm laborer and eventually a ranchero.
04:33 He taught me and my family the value of work
04:37 and the belief in a future.
04:39 This jacket I love.
04:42 It's called the Assassin Trench.
04:43 It is made of wool cashmere, mostly cashmere,
04:48 and it feels incredible.
04:50 What I love about this is it can be worn
04:54 by so many different people.
04:56 It's really just like a house,
04:59 and it's got a belt so that it can just measure to your body.
05:02 When this walked the runway,
05:03 it always was worn with nothing underneath,
05:05 which is almost like a cashmere robe,
05:08 which feels incredible.
05:09 So if you have the confidence to do that, that can be done.
05:13 And it was worn by Bad Bunny on the cover of Time magazine.
05:17 It was the first ever Spanish cover of Time magazine,
05:21 so I'm extremely proud.
05:24 It still smells like him.
05:25 [laughs]
05:27 This guy is incredible because it was part of my SS24 show
05:31 where we were kind of looking at some of the destruction
05:34 in the world and a little bit of the dystopia
05:36 that we're all suffering from right now.
05:38 And while it's destroyed,
05:40 it's still completely finely tailored.
05:43 I've always loved doing "Destroy,"
05:45 but this season was one of my favorites
05:47 because the story of the collection
05:51 kind of went through a journey from like fresh-faced,
05:55 very, very clean-cut innocence through the ringer,
05:59 where we had destroyed underwear.
06:03 Some of the models were walking in underwear alone,
06:06 just having been through it.
06:08 And then destroyed, refined pieces like this,
06:11 which really just kind of helped to tell the story.
06:14 And as we were at the bottom of the barrel
06:16 and loss of hope, out come these amazing gowns
06:20 to restore our faith in the future.
06:24 I was actually surprised to get some negative hits
06:28 about the destroyed underwear.
06:29 I mean, we've been doing destroyed clothing forever.
06:33 It is in no way meant to offend anyone.
06:37 It's just the novelty of knowing
06:39 that you're wearing this luxury piece
06:42 that has actually been hand-destroyed.
06:45 And I actually think it's kind of sexy.
06:47 These will be sold as vacuum-packed pieces,
06:51 and they will be $550.
06:53 Should I not say the price?
06:57 Oh, actually, they're 350.
06:58 I mean, when you're pricing something like this,
07:00 it's like, you know.
07:03 Here we have some of the jewelry that was used in the show.
07:06 My stylist and I, Carlos Nazario,
07:08 wanted to kind of emulate this feeling of luxury
07:12 with all this jewelry, kind of mimicking what I wear,
07:14 just like layers of these gold chains
07:16 that are actually very reminiscent of both our heritages.
07:20 So we layered the models with crosses,
07:24 these amazing gold chains,
07:26 and put big signet rings on them.
07:28 Really gives this kind of, this feeling of empowerment.
07:32 So they're walking the runway.
07:33 Even if they're in dirty underwear,
07:34 they've got a Rolls-Royce parked out front.
07:36 Here we've got all of the clothes
07:39 that are from the runway show.
07:41 Now that things are slightly calmed down,
07:43 I can focus on, one, designing the next collection,
07:47 and two, designing for VIPs/celebrities.
07:51 I love doing that.
07:52 You know, I somehow always thought
07:54 that I would be working with these big names.
07:57 Dressing Kendrick Lamar
07:58 was one of my favorite things in the world.
08:00 I think he looks incredible in "Willy Shavarria."
08:03 Sam Smith, and it's like the highest level of gratitude
08:08 that I could possibly imagine.
08:11 Thank you for coming to my studio, Elle.
08:13 Pleasure having you.
08:14 Hope to see you next season.
08:16 Fashion is like so stupid when you talk about it.
08:20 I mean, it's really hard to like not laugh at myself.
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