The Importance and Beauty of Mexican American Fashion Designer Willy Chavarria | A Visual Essay

Overview

This visual essay examines Willy Chavarria’s Fall/Winter 2025 collection, Tarantula, and the cultural and political ideas behind his work. Host Charisse Kenion describes Chavarria’s fashion as both beautiful and deeply personal. His designs draw on his Mexican American identity, his family’s farming background, and the workwear and uniforms worn by immigrant and other minority workers.

The essay traces Chavarria’s path through fashion, from studying graphic design and taking early jobs in the industry to developing his own label while working for major brands. His collections combine careful craftsmanship with references to workwear, historical dress, and subcultures. The video also emphasizes that he designs more than clothes: casting, venues, music, and symbolic details all contribute to the atmosphere and meaning of his shows.

Artistic Techniques and Design Choices

• Elevated workwear: Practical uniforms and durable garments are reworked as high-fashion pieces, with close attention to construction and finish.
• Historical and cultural references: Tarantula draws on 1940s tailoring and Mexican American styles associated with pachucos, pachucas, Chicanos, and cholos. The collection includes sharply tailored suits, wide collars, velvet and leather pieces, and glamorous fitted looks.
• Materials and textures: The show features tweed, velvet, cashmere, leather, moiré, satin, and other richly textured fabrics.
• Silhouette and styling: Oversized shapes and strong tailoring appear alongside trench-inspired bomber jackets, satin skirts, bustiers, and fitted coats.
• Symbolic details: Locks and keys, religious imagery, and messages sewn into garments—such as “Capitalism is Heartless”—invite viewers to read the clothes as statements, not just decoration.
• Runway as storytelling: The candlelit American Cathedral in Paris, the casting, and the show’s sound and spoken-word elements all help shape its meaning.
• Hair and makeup as characterization: Sculptural height and hair brushed away from the face draw attention to the models’ eyes. Makeup varies between bold red or burgundy lips, nude lips, contoured cheeks, eyeliner, and thin brows, giving models distinct looks rather than a uniform appearance.

Central Ideas

Kenion identifies three key themes in Tarantula:

• Emotion: Model Cristiano Wennmann describes the intensity of walking in the show and the joy of the team embracing afterward. The runway also features Dorian Wood singing “Honey” and a recorded appeal from Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde.
• Resistance: The essay connects workwear, fashion history, and political expression. It argues that clothing can communicate defiance and that fashion decisions—including what people choose not to buy—are tied to politics.
• Romance: Romance is presented as hope, tenderness, and care for others, not only romantic love. An excerpt from Maya Angelou frames it as an expression of shared humanity.

Fashion commentator Ela Casati discusses the significance of seeing Latin American features and Mexican American cultural references on a major international runway. She notes that fashion can challenge Eurocentric beauty standards and make cultural histories visible. Makeup artist Yadim likewise describes the collection as an authentic celebration of culture and a form of resistance.

Creators and Contributors

• Charisse Kenion — host and essayist
• Willy Chavarria — designer
• Cristiano Wennmann — model interviewed about walking in the show
• Ela Casati — fashion writer and commentator
• Yadim — makeup artist for the show
• Paul Hanlon — hairstylist for the show
• Dorian Wood — singer heard during the runway
• Mariann Edgar Budde — Episcopal bishop whose words are heard in the show
• Maya Angelou — writer and speaker featured in an archival excerpt

The video also refers to Kendrick Lamar, with whom Chavarria launched a special collection; J Balvin, who appeared in the show; and models Indya Moore, Alva Claire, Paloma Elsesser, Becky G, and Kai-Isaiah Jamal.