Willy Chavarria is home for the holidays, sitting on the front steps of his mother's house in California. Bathed in winter sun, his back to the front door, the designer ponders his beginnings in fashion. Decades before the 2015 launch of his eponymous label, whose Spring/Summer 2023 show, Please Rise, has been much discussed in a rash of articles lauding its tailoring, casting and starry guestlist, Chavarria was working at a cycling-apparel company in his home state. “At that time I was very Polo Sport-ed out, like, headto-toe Polo Sport - cap, shirt, shorts - like, the Chicano version of that vibe,” he laughs. “I was 100 per cent.
