Influence is something he has in common with Sumney, whose idiosyncrasy and distinct work have left a mark of their own. A rising fashion star, Sumney recently graced the Vogue World runway and walked for Riccardo Tisci’s fall 2022 collection at Burberry. Sumney only wears head-to-toe black, and he gravitates towards tailored and draped silhouettes with unconventional cuts or fabrics. He also loves to show a little skin. “Moses reminds me a little bit of myself actually, because I feel like he is a great talent who has intentionally not really subscribed to the industry’s moldings,” Chavarria says. “He has the potential to be whatever he wants to be, as big as he wants to be, and I feel the same about myself.”
Sumney likes to challenge prescriptive masculinity with his style, often teetering on the edge between traditional definitions of men’s and womenswear. Most recently he’s worn an oversized Peter Do coat with a draped shirt and platform boots, and a sheer Thom Browne button down paired with a pleated skirt. “My relationship with fashion is such that I want to embody the fantasy that I see in my mind in a very everyday way, and I think that I want to feel boundless and unrestrained,” Sumney tells me as we look out into the Hudson river. “I think the problem with men’s fashion in particular is that it is so restrained. It’s so structured and stiff—which is maybe its own allegory for masculinity itself.” Poetic as it sounds, it’s true that menswear is often restricted by anachronistic ideals of masculinity, but Chavarria happens to be one of the designers challenging these notions. Sumney tells me he’s loved Chavarria’s work for a couple of years now, though he didn’t think the designer knew who he was. “I didn’t really know until he sent me a little Instagram message,” Sumney says. Yes, Chavarria slid into Sumney’s DM’s to invite him to the CFDA Awards. Stars, they’re just like us!
“I think he’s brilliant in action; particularly in menswear, which is so in need of genius,” Sumney says about Chavarria. “I really just love the kind of effortlessness of what Willy does. Getting to see a Chicano man dressed in these clothes and to see an embracing of brown people—especially in this era in fashion—it’s just so beautiful and exciting. I grew up in California and so I’m always like, ‘oh yeah, this is what the people I grew up with look like.’ To see that in fashion, I’m like, fuck yeah.” Sumney wore an all-black silk two-piece suit from the designer’s spring 2023 collection, consisting of front-pleated wide tailored trousers, a sharply cut double-breasted jacket with dramatic lapels, and an oversized rosette. The look was accessorized with black leather gloves—matching Chavarria’s—and gold jewelry.
“Chic and comfortable” is the way Chavarria described Sumney’s look, trying to hold his excitement for seeing the artist in what he describes as a “key look” from the collection. In fact, one thing his team and I seem to agree on about Chavarria is that he is always exuberant, and his energy is both magnetic and infectious. But staying that way is not easy, and Chavarria is doing his best to keep it up.“It’s a lot of fucking work,” he says, “and that’s why people get bitter and hard, this shit is not easy. You have to love it, and I love it so much. I can’t stop doing it.”
Below, a look at Chavarria and Sumney’s day getting ready for the CFDA Awards.
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