Picture a live film noir. Now add in lowrider bikes, a masked rapping clown and a magnetic boy band.
Welcome to the theatrical world of Willy Chavarria, whose grandiose artistic visions have added melodrama — and a dose of Southern California flare — to Paris Fashion Week 2026.
The fashion designer — known for his innovative Chicano designs inspired by streetwear and 1940s Zoot suits — introduced his latest line, Eterno (“eternity”), on Friday. Over 2,000 guests witnessed a captivating performance by several Latino stars, as well as a telenovela-esque storyline.
Sultry singer Mon Laferte set the tonewith “Femme Fatale,” a track that evokes the old-fashioned trope often used to describe the Chilean songwriter. Across the way was her unrequited love interest, Puerto Rican heartthrob Lunay, who moved the scene forward with his newly released song ”Ojala” as models trickled in with the first set of freshly fitted suits.
Also rolling onto the runway to the tune of Too Short’s “Just Another Day,” was a crew of lowrider bikers as Foos Gone Wild’s Lil Mr. E rapped a tribute to Chavarria and his Chicano-inspired designs.
The newly formed Latin boy group Santos Bravos continued to brighten the room with their pop song “0%.” The show’s cheeriest moments were interrupted by Colombian reggaeton star Feid, who delivered his somber “Interlude” days after his reported breakup with Karol G.
Mexican trio Latin Mafia were also present, singing their popular “siento que merezco mas.”
This is not the first time Chavarria has used his platform to highlight Latino talent.
In 2024, he brought sierreño group Yahritza y Su Esencia to open for his Spring/Summer 2025 collection, where they sang a rendition of Juan Gabriel’s “Querida” under the American flag to introduce his collection, “América,” a line that highlights the promise of the American dream.
During the 2024 Council of Fashion Designers of America Fashion Awards, where he was awarded the top fashion prize of Menswear Designer of the Year, he invited various Latino celebrities who wore his oversize silhouette pieces, including Danny Ramirez, Omar Apollo, J Balvin and more.
Last summer, Chavarria made headlines again when he reproduced scenes from inside El Salvador’s high-security CECOT prison, which has been a holding site for many individuals captured by the United States by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. As models tricked in, they kneeled in a single file to the beat of José Feliciano’s version of “California Dreamin’.”
Though the performance was widely celebrated by many who viewed it as a bold political statement, others lambasted it as distasteful. In a press release, Chavarria said he wanted to address the “dehumanization of how immigrants are being treated in the United States.”
The creative also faced backlash last August following the reveal of his Mexican-inspired huaraches shoe, the Adidas “Oaxaca Slip On,” which many social media users called out due to appropriation of the name “Oaxaca” and the fact that the shoes are manufactured in China — prompting Chavarria to issue an apology: “I am deeply sorry that the shoe was appropriated in this design and not developed in direct and meaningful partnership with the Oaxacan community,” he said in a press release.
Though his latest Eterno line does not appear to contain the same deliberate political undertones as prior collections, its theatrical delivery Friday perhaps sets a vision for a more hopeful future where the drama is better suited for a fake stage.
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