WILLY'S Way

Designer WILLY CHAVARRIA is CHARTING a more LIBERATED COURSE for American FASHION

- BROOKE BOBB

On a crisp fall evening, Willy Chavarria meets me in the lobby of Fouquet's, a Parisian hotel import in New York's Tribeca neighborhood. It's two days after Chavarria won Menswear Designer of the Year at the Council of Fashion Designers of America Fashion Awards, four days after he was named Designer of the Year at the first-ever Latin American Fashion Awards, in the Dominican Republic, and two months after he staged one of the strongest and most moving shows of New York Fashion Week's Spring 2024 season.

Chavarria, who lives nearby, walks into the sepia-toned lobby right on time. He's wearing black trousers, a black tee, and a black blazer, with chunky clogs and a chest full of layered gold chains and rosaries.

Chavarria smiles and cuts right to the chase. "Can I order for us?" he asks. I, of course, oblige. "We'll have two Belvedere martinis, shaken, glasses rinsed with vermouth, a sidecar of olive juice," he tells our server, "and two olives, please." When the drinks arrive, Chavarria takes a sip. "Perfect," he says.