With his SS26 takedown of anti-immigrant raids, Chavarria showed once again why he’s one of the most fearless designers working today. Here, his friends, fans and collaborators put their burning questions to the man himself
This story is taken from the autumn 2025 issue of Dazed, which is on sale internationally from September 11. Order a copy here.
Willy Chavarria won’t be boxed in. His clothing refuses to be categorised, blending American sportswear with the designer’s Mexican heritage to create oversized suits, warped workwear and, more recently, high-glam evening looks. As an outspoken advocate for the Latinx community, he refuses to be silenced or censored – but never lets identity limit his worldview. His collections reflect this unpredictable approach, veering from politically charged sentiments to playfully stained jockstraps in the blink of an eye. Shows have been titled Cruising or Uncut, while gay porn studios are ripe ground for collaboration. Elsewhere, his SS26 presentation – Chavarria’s sophomore Paris show in June – began as a powerful vignette, models kneeling with hands clasped behind their backs, paying tribute to the dictations of Donald Trump’s ICE. “Whether we try to be political or not, we’re being political just by existing,” Chavarria says of his brand’s place in the world.
Despite launching in 2015, Chavarria’s label has gained serious traction in recent years, with an ongoing adidas collaboration, a growing crew of cool clientele and plenty of famous friends making him one of the most hyped designers in the world right now. Still, it’s his own tight-knit community that is the real key to his ascent. For Chavarria, community is legacy, an intrinsic part of his work and the throughline of all he does. To celebrate this, he’s convened a rogue’s gallery of Chavarria’s friends, fans and collaborators – as well as some of our own community and members of Dazed Club – to ask him one burning question each. Read on for your induction into the wild and wonderful world of Willy.
ERYKAH BADU, MUSICIAN
Willy, if you could build a new world, what would the main three rules be?
Willy Chavarria: One: you must look fierce at all times. Two: only love. And three: art, music, fashion, 24/7.
TOKISCHA, MUSICIAN
It’s so sweet whenever we get together and you call me “mija” – it’s so Mexican, and I feel like you speak up for your culture in such a beautiful way through your art. As a queer Latina myself, I would like to know what is the most precious thing about being a queer Latinx for you, and how it inspires you? Is it a blessing or a curse?
Willy Chavarria: It’s definitely a blessing. And I love the perspective that being queer and Latino gives us. It’s so dimensional and multi-layered and it gives us perspectives on the world that only we can have. Those are sacred, and wonderful.
Now is the time for every artist to utilise their talent and creative magnitude. Writers, musicians, painters, actors – this is the time for us to be as loud, as strong and as powerful as our own personal art will allow – Willy Chavarria
ALVA CLAIRE, MODEL
What’s the last thing that made you howl with laughter?
Willy Chavarria: Oh my God. I once street cast someone for a show and he was amazing but froze on the runway. He got lost and I think audience members had to direct him! Poor guy.
INDYA MOORE, ACTOR AND ACTIVIST
I’ve watched you soar – with joy, beauty, grace, creativity, fearlessness and humility – even amid some of the most destructive, intimidating and divisive times in recent history. Do you have any advice for other artists who care deeply about what is happening in the world right now but may not feel confident enough to speak up?
Willy Chavarria: I think that now is the time for every artist to utilise their talent and creative magnitude. Writers, musicians, painters, actors – this is the time for us to be as loud, as strong and as powerful as our own personal art will allow. Because our art can be so much more powerful than we know.
JULIA FOX, ACTOR AND AUTHOR
You’ve been with your partner [David Ramirez] for so long, and it’s clear you are still very much in love. How did you two meet, and how do you keep the spark alive after so much time?
Willy Chavarria: We met at the Wonder Bar in New York. David asked me to light his cigarette, and I showed him my abs, and it took off from there! That was 2002. We keep the spark going by overcoming constant challenges through our personal lives and our careers. Hitting everything head-on together.
LAW ROACH, STYLIST
I often say that I am who I am because someone told me I was special, and someone gave me an opportunity who told you that you were special early in your career, and who gave you one of your first opportunities to show who you are?
Willy Chavarria: Nick Graham, the creator of [80s underwear brand] Joe Boxer. I was working in the stockroom of his company, and he saw something in me and believed in me enough to make me a designer.
KELLY BEDONI, DAZED CLUB MEMBER
What does a good day look like for you outside of fashion?
Willy Chavarria: A good day for me is one of simplicity. I like to wake up early and have coffee with my husband and my dog, Chester, then do some outdoor activities, cook dinner, listen to some music somewhere, come home and fall asleep with a smile on my face.
HONEY DIJON, DJ
What was your favourite club in NYC, and what is your favourite house tune?
Willy Chavarria: My favourite club was Cafe con Leche, and my favourite house tune is “The Warning (Inner Mix)” by Logic.
JERRY LORENZO, DESIGNER
How do you stay so pretty, first of all… so cool, calm and collected under the weight of building a fashion house?
Willy Chavarria: It’s all pretend.
BIZ SHERBERT, WRITER
What does the American dream look like to you now?
Willy Chavarria: The fight for the right to exist.
NADIA LEE COHEN, ARTIST
What’s your favourite meal?
Willy Chavarria: I love a pan dulce in the morning, with three strong cups of coffee.
Fashion doesn’t inspire me much. It’s people who think about the world outside of fashion that bring me ideas – the people on the street – Willy Chavarria
HANDRA MARTINEZ, MODEL
If your soul were a fabric, what would it feel like? What colour would it be, and who do you imagine wearing it?
Willy Chavarria: My gosh, that’s a good one. It would be a buttery soft leather that would surround your shoulders and wrap around like a stole. It would smell like tobacco and gasoline and be worn by the toughest, most elegant women in the world.
BETHANY SUAREZ, DAZED CLUB MEMBER
As someone who finds creative ways to implement culture and explore identity, what do you turn to as a source of current inspiration?
Willy Chavarria: I always look to the people. The realest of people. Fashion doesn’t inspire me much. It’s people who think about the world outside of fashion that bring me ideas – the people on the street. Music is also incredibly powerful in helping me discover newness. Listening and fantasising are my favourite pastimes.
MARCO OVANDO, PHOTOGRAPHER
What’s the wildest request you’ve had from a fan?
Willy Chavarria: Someone asked me to sign their chest, and when I saw them later they had tattooed what I wrote, ‘Love makes you real’, with my signature next to it.
MJ HARPER, DANCER
How do you hope the future will feel?
Willy Chavarria: I believe that good always prevails over bad. Sometimes it takes time, but at the end of it all, I believe good will prevail.
KRISTINA NAGEL, ARTIST
You have transformed the codes of working-class masculinity into something almost sacred – when did you start seeing softness not as the opposite of strength, but as its equally powerful superpower, alongside history and identity?
Willy Chavarria: I found that softness is often a secret way to deliver a strong message. One of my challenges as a designer has been to blend toughness with sensitivity, but putting it in a delicious chemical.
JESS CUEVAS, ARTIST
Working so, so closely with you, I see that you are so in tune with a higher frequency or light. There is an ability to see the good in most situations, an instinct that predicts the future and a way to bring people together seamlessly through creativity. I often wonder about your spiritual practice, and where your inner voice guides you.
Willy Chavarria: Well, I’m a huge believer in prayer. Much of my prayer is giving thanks, and I have learned that, much like you, Jess, there is always an opportunity to be thankful. When we are living in gratitude, it’s almost as if we welcome more prosperity.
SERHAT IŞIK, DESIGNER
Do you have a recurring childhood memory that continues to inspire you?
Willy Chavarria: I have a lot of bad childhood memories, but the good ones that stay with me are very powerful. The love I received from my mother really shaped my perspective on humanity, being forgiving and accepting and less judgmental.
BENJAMIN A HUSEBY, DESIGNER
From one brown political designer to another: we are living in fiercely repressive times. How are you able, other than through your work, to find moments of solace or comfort?
Willy Chavarria: I take comfort in joining others as a community. Engaging in some form of activism with other people is nourishing for me. It’s something I encourage others to do as well, because so many of us feel like there’s nothing we can do, but if we start plugging in to working with other people, we start to see there is work that can be done.
Softness is often a secret way to deliver a strong message. One of my challenges as a designer has been to blend toughness with sensitivity, but putting it in a delicious chemical – Willy Chavarria
JAHN AFFAH, DAZED CLUB MEMBER
How did you cast your SS26 show? The lineup had so many notable and cool faces. Were you personally involved in casting, or did the casting director fully handle that side?
Willy Chavarria: I am always very personally involved in my castings. I work with my friend Brent Chua, who has been my casting director since my first show. He and I look for a personal swag or unique vibe in every person we meet with. For the SS26 show, Brent arranged a street casting that brought us over 1,000 people in one day – it was intense! We found some amazing people who joined the show and are now a close part of the fam.
RAUL LOPEZ, DESIGNER
What’s your favourite hole-in-the-wall restaurant in New York?
Willy Chavarria: Gem’s in the West Village. It’s an Italian restaurant off 6th Avenue and a cinematic experience through the eyes of David Lynch and Gaspar Noé. The food is great and the martinis are exquisite.
DIANE PERNET, BLOGGER AND CRITIC
If you were a perfume, what would you smell like? Looking forward to something sensual and dangerous.
Willy Chavarria: I would smell like the marble floor of a church spattered with blood and urine.
MICHEL GAUBERT, SOUND DIRECTOR
What is the song or sound that defines you the most?
Willy Chavarria: “Cucurrucucú Paloma” performed by Caetano Veloso, or Some Lovin’ by Liberty City.
ANDRE WALKER, DESIGNER
What’s your favourite colour in your latest collection?
Willy Chavarria: OK, so there are two. One is ‘uniform green’, which is based on factory worker uniforms. It’s very hard to achieve because it sits somewhere between mint and teal. The other one is a colour that we call chicle, which is gum in Spanish. It’s like a pale, pale bubblegum pink and it’s also based on uniforms. When you put the two of them together, it creates this kind of subversive, preppy look, and I really love that.
TOMMY HILFIGER, DESIGNER
Your work reimagines the everyday with bold authenticity – how do you stay rooted in your past while constantly pushing style forward?
Willy Chavarria: I’m very grateful for my past and I will always pay homage to where I come from – that is really at the root of who I am. Simultaneously, I’m always looking to the future to see how the work can be better, and feel better, and create better. So I use the past to affect the future.
AMARA GISELE, MODEL
If you could choose one gemstone to be emblematic of your next collection, which would it be and why?
Willy Chavarria: Ruby, because it’s my birthstone and the colour of blood and passion. Red is very much a symbol of life.
J BALVIN, MUSICIAN
¿Cuál es tu misión como diseñador?
Willy Chavarria: My mission as a designer is to have a great, positive impact on the world, and to make us all see ourselves as beautiful.
TED STANSFIELD, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, DAZED
What do you do when you can’t sleep at night?
Willy Chavarria: Well, I masturbate. No, I’m kidding! I fantasise about the future.
LINEISY MONTERO, MODEL
As a Latino in fashion, what has been the biggest obstacle you have had to overcome?
Willy Chavarria: I think the biggest obstacle is being categorised as ‘the Latino fashion designer’, when I’m just a designer who happens to be Latino. My work speaks beyond the Latino community and sometimes it’s hard for some to see beyond that.
The biggest obstacle is being categorised as ‘the Latino fashion designer’, when I’m just a designer who happens to be Latino – Willy Chavarria
JOAN SMALLS, MODEL
How do you remain grounded in an industry that can require so much time and energy from you?
Willy Chavarria: I surround myself with people who are sincere and real.
IMRUH ASHA, FASHION & IMAGE DIRECTOR, DAZED
Has any government or politician ever commented on your work?
Willy Chavarria: I can just say that there have been some high-level governmental figures who have spoken out against my work, but their statements seem to be misinformed and misguided.
COLLIER SCHORR, ARTIST
I wonder how and where appropriation comes into your work and how it might come up against reparation?
Willy Chavarria: I think assuming ownership over an idea can be rather non-constructive. The flannel shirt is a good example. However, within the structural confines we live in, it’s good to be respectful of things that are hugely culturally significant to marginalised people. People like us have the privilege to claim markers of our own queer cultural identity. I love that.
ALEXANDER FURY, FASHION FEATURES DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE, ANOTHER MAGAZINE
If you could have a dream dinner party and invite five fashion figures living or dead, who would they be and why?
Willy Chavarria: Karl Lagerfeld, to discuss his power of managing people and projects across many brands with grace; Cristóbal Balenciaga, to discuss his personal philosophy in tailoring; Willie Smith, to thank him and let him know how he touched me; Stephen Burrows, to hear him reminisce on the past and the Battle of Versailles; and Alexander McQueen, to allow him to revel in his contributions alongside the other greats.
TORBEN SCHUMACHER, GLOBAL GENERAL MANAGER, ADIDAS ORIGINALS
Some athletes are known for a signature move – what is yours, and what does it do?
Willy Chavarria: Mine is called ‘the shotput’ because it’s very quiet and unseen in its practice, but it shoots hard, far and with force.
EMMA DAVIDSON, FASHION FEATURES DIRECTOR, DAZED
What are your three desert island discs, and who was your first crush?
Willy Chavarria: My first crush was Al Pacino in The Godfather. My number one album is Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder, then it’s Promise by Sade, and then it’s Brian Eno’s Ambient 1: Music for Airports.
OMAHYRA MOTA, MODEL
If you could change one thing about your upbringing, what would it be?
Willy Chavarria: I had a very conservative upbringing, so I would try to make my cultural surroundings a bit more encouraging of my own personal identity, which is something I am trying to do now through my work.
MARC FORNE, STYLIST
Can you name ten words or phrases – these can be people, objects, places, sounds or anything else – that you feel represent both Willy the man and Willy the brand?
Willy Chavarria: Chilaquiles, hallelujah, house music, we’re in this love together, that’s the look, good is the enemy of great, palo santo, rose, a gentle breeze that makes you close your eyes, hardcore.