Six months ago, before Willy Chavarria had even begun drafting the designs of his Spring/Summer 2025 collection, he knew exactly how he would open his show: His guests would enter a space that was largely unadorned, aside from a prominently featured American flag. As they settled into their seats, sierreño group Yahritza y Su Esencia would file down the runway, accompanied by a trio of mariachis. There, with the flag as their backdrop, they would perform a wrenching rendition of Juan Gabriel’s “Querida.
” Over the years, the Mexican American designer has earned a reputation for keeping the audiences at New York Fashion Week on their toes, putting together evocative runway presentations that seamlessly blend politics, identity and fashion. His designs often draw on different eras of Chicano culture, incorporating elements of cholo street style or the exaggerated silhouettes of 1940s zoot suits to challenge ideas about what constitutes high fashion and reclaim clothing that’s historically been appropriated or stigmatized. For him, “Querida” was the perfect way to introduce a collection he titled “América.
” “The song is about yearning for a loved one,” he says. “I just kept thinking about that as a metaphor for our country. The United States is a place people dream of as a land of opportunity and perfection, but once you’re here, you realize we’re actually just yearning for the promise of that.
” Models walked down the runway sporting looks that dre.