Willy Chavarria’s runway exhibits have change into the most popular ticket at New York Vogue Week. This season, Chavarria’s first after being topped Menswear Designer of the 12 months on the 2023 CFDA Awards, he nearly didn’t have one. 

As a substitute, the designer directed his first quick movie, inviting his recurrent forged of family and friends to take part. It was poignantly titled Secure from Hurt, and reasonably than observe a particular storyline, it contextualized his fall assortment within the areas and on the those who make the Willy Chavarria world a singular one in style. There was a steamy and erotic exercise house, an condo with Catholic imagery the place {couples} fought or embraced, and a dilapidated church the place everybody danced. “The entire story is about love, safety, and our want to guard one another,” Chavarria defined to my colleague Laia Garcia-Furtado. “I felt like one of the simplest ways to inform this story was by means of an intimate movie the place you possibly can see individuals, really feel their feelings and inform a narrative that displays how we really feel within the second.”

Ultimately, Chavarria determined to placed on a present—and to reverberating impact. The featurette was the night’s curtain raiser, taking part in earlier than the present and serving as a mood-setter, its emotionally charged scenes and performances by a forged together with Paloma Elsesser and the Italian singer Mahmood put the room right into a trance.

A lot of what makes Chavarria an vital participant in style in the meanwhile is who he places the garments on. He has advanced the look of his collections of late, transferring away from the informal and avenue and leaning additional into potent tailoring silhouettes and opulent fabrications and detailing. His casting, nevertheless, has not modified. “I at all times wish to guarantee that I have fun the sweetness that isn’t the one we see projected in every single place on the planet,” he stated at his studio. “I wish to elevate individuals up that aren’t often seen on the pages of shiny magazines.” The individuals in query are Latinos, queer people, immigrants, and people who aren’t the same old topics of casting calls.