Willy Chavarria SS25: Workers’ tailoring and spirit of resistance

Willy Chavarria doesn’t design clothes. He designs context. He designs heritage. He designs systems that have been broken and rebuilt by hands rarely seen on the runways. The first installment of his SS25 collection, titled América, isn’t just an aesthetic proposal: it’s an emotional and political archive wrapped in tailoring with streetwear details. It’s a statement that doesn’t shout, but carries weight.

Initially presented during New York Fashion Week last September, América is, according to Chavarria himself, a love letter—and a protest—to the collective history of those who have sustained the structure of the so-called “American Dream.” Not the headline-grabbers, but those who clean the offices, plant the food, collect the trash, and those, yet to be named on Wikipedia, who build the country.

“I was inspired by the United Farm Workers Movement, the civil rights movements, women’s liberation… but also by that worker who walks into the AT&T store with his name on his shirt and his key ring dangling from his pocket,” Chavarria said. That’s the core: the blend of American myth and harsh reality.

And it shows in every piece. Sturdy canvas pants in “Wheat,” “Pea Coat,” and “Pearl” shades, which are functionally tailored yet elegant. Key chains dangle as a symbol of belonging. Shirts bearing the “Willy Chavarria Fashion Services” label, paired with ties that evoke a uniform of respect without hierarchy. Everything evokes a working-class aesthetic, but elevated, reinterpreted with a queer sensibility and the poetics of effort. This isn’t clothing for belonging to an exclusive club; it’s clothing for paying homage to invisible labor.

Beyond the cut and the fabric, there’s a narrative. A genealogy. The collection draws directly on the designer’s own parents—an Irish-American mother and a Mexican-American father who worked the land as migrant farmers in California’s San Joaquin Valley. It’s a way of talking about class, race, migration, and pride without descending into folklore or victimization. It’s textile politics.

The T-shirts and caps that complete the drop are worn, with a finish that doesn’t attempt to imitate vintage, but rather seems to have survived a lifetime. They are emblazoned with the word “America,” the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) logo, and graphics inspired by popular products. They are cultural artifacts more than accessories. Objects with an ideology.

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At a time when fashion tends to become a choreography of hype without substance, Willy Chavarria reminds us once again that style isn’t just worn, it’s embodied. That there is beauty in the everyday, in the worn, in the resilient. America isn’t just a collection: it’s a declaration of principles. An invitation to look down, to the foundations, to those who have truly sustained this country from the land to the factories.

The first installment is now available at willychavarria.com.

Willy Chavarria expresses his love for New York.