Willy Chavarria’s ‘Safe From Harm’ show served fashion that made you feel

For too long ‘quiet luxury’ has been at the forefront of fashion, with brands looking to boost sales with safe and deeply boring fashion like plain cashmere jumpers and timeless tailoring, and honestly: snore. 

Thankfully, it seems like fashion that makes you actually feel something might be back on the menu – case in point, shows like Daniel Roseberry’s Schiaparelli couture outing, when the Texan designer trussed up a fake baby in glittering, obsolete tech like old phones and digital cameras, floppy discs and indiscriminate charging wires, and John Galliano’s haunting Margiela Artisanal show, which still has us in a chokehold.

Cut to New York, on both the first day of NYFW and the AW24 season as a whole, and Willy Chavarria was stirring up his own magic in the city. The designer to watch, and 2023 CFDA Award winner had switched from his spot close to the end of the city’s biannual fashion extravaganza - often when the international press had already split it for the airport – to a far more buzzy Friday night moment, filling a stripped-back, red-lit warehouse space with pillar candles, scarlet roses, and prayer cards bearing the Virgin Mary. 

Julia Fox piled in in a sweeping white gown, while OG club kids Amanda Lepore and Susanne Bartsch caught up with Christeene on the front row, but where celebrities have become  the main event at plenty of shows, threatening to upstage what’s on the actual runway in recent seasons, the night belonged to Chavarria, who, for anyone who wasn’t already fully locked in, cemented his status as one of the most exciting designers doing it in NY – and actually, the world – right now. 

Debuting a short film dubbed Safe From Harm, its name taken from the 1991 Massive attack track of the same name, Paloma Elsesser, Kai-Isiah Jamal, and more of Chavarria’s growing community battled with love, loss, frustration, and longing under the roof of the same house, before congregating at a funeral to dance in the aisles. Like Peter Do did at Helmut Lang earlier in the day, the designer was intent on exploring themes of protection for the new-season, which makes sense given the state of the world. Not just fashion to make you feel something, clothing with a political, social message is also back on the agenda at last. 

As the film spilled over into real life, the models that starred in it stepped out onto the runway in Chavarria’s signature twisted tailoring as he celebrated and put a new spin on his Chicano heritage. Boxy, wide shouldered coats came layered over slouchy sportswear, hefty gold chains strung around their wearer’s neck, while outsized bombers were layered over louche Bermuda shorts and finished with sleek patent leather slip-ons. The whole thing harked back to the silhouettes of the 70s, with long pointed collars, high waists, and nipped, cropped jackets all featuring heavily. 

I’d never been to a Willy Chavarria show until last night, though not for lack of trying – I was always one of those aforementioned editors already on their flights as the runway lights went up. Seeing photos and videos of his clothes had long turned me into a fan, but seeing them IRL for the first time revealed just how sensational they actually are. New York gets a bad rep as the most commercial of the big four fashion cities, with countless articles declaring NYFW ‘over’ across the years. But those people are clearly looking in the wrong place. The city is a hotbed for designers dedicated to championing and celebrating their cultures and communities – from Raul Lopez at Luar, to Telfar Clemens, and now Chavarria – and in the process creating fashion magic. 

The show made me think of a favourite designer closer to home, with the whole vibe and sentiment stirring memories of past Martine Rose shows – Chavarria’s stirred up the same kind of excitement hers always do for me. Needless to say: no, I won’t be flying home so early in the future.

Click through the gallery above for a closer look at the collection.