Willy Chavarria’s show opened with church music and four shirtless men walking slowly down the runway, each in a pair of ultra-high, cinched-in, box-pleated chinos with the outsize proportions of ball skirts. With their hands tucked in the pockets and fabric swishing at their sides, they nearly evoked the grandeur and ceremony of a couture show. Then you noticed the satin boxers peeking out above their waistbands, not to mention the show’s setting: Astor Place Hairstylists, the 74-year-old subterranean barber shop that nearly closed during the pandemic.
Some guys equate their barber visits with a religious experience, but Chavarria’s intention was to create a mood of purity and innocence, reflecting our deepest desires to see ourselves as more beautiful. “I wanted it to feel like couture, to feel regal,” he explained backstage. “And then to shift that against the toughness of New York.”
By look five, the music changed and a model in a glossy, red-piped leather jacket was stomping out at a brisk clip. He was followed by guys in sheer organza shirts, boxy button-downs with XXXL camp collars, satin bombers, wide-leg jeans, and pooling trousers—all of which Chavarria described as his “most finely articulated” garments yet. The dark palette and streetwise vibes of years past were upgraded here with vivid, sensual hues and carefully draped silhouettes in elegant, couture-quality materials. In addition to his go-to Recyctex post-consumer waste textiles, Chavarria introduced glossy silk charmeuse and wool blends—ultra-fine, but also biodegradable, he pointed out.
As far as the story behind the collection, Chavarria said he was thinking quite simply about positivity and uplift. “My past collections have all been really political, and it’s super important for me to send messages in my clothes,” he said. “But here, it was also important to not make a pointed political statement. I just wanted the beauty of the clothing and the models to speak for themselves.”
And the clothes spoke just loudly enough. In Chavarria’s hands, even the most surprising pieces struck a balance of the familiar and not, of masculine and feminine, hard and soft. The results are both wearable and deeply memorable (though the opening chinos are admittedly not for the faint of heart!). Spring’s high-end materials and intensive patterns will likely require the clothes be made-to-order, another effort by Chavarria to reduce waste and hone his craft. He’s still selling those wallet-friendly organic graphic tees for his young fans, but he’s eager to explore the possibilities of small-batch couture production. “It’s less fabric, more intimacy, less rigamarole,” he said. Plus, as the new vice present of men’s design at Calvin Klein, he’s bringing his vision to a much broader, global audience—one that likely includes millions of young Latinx shoppers who are thrilled to see Chavarria at the helm.
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