<text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="11.88299560546875" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="101.04460144042969" x="104.42500305175781" y="-670.46142578125" data-test="textbox">Willy Chavarria</text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="11.88299560546875" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="42.469390869140625" x="206.30819702148438" y="-670.46142578125" data-test="textbox">&rsquo;s first </text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="11.88299560546875" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="21.727699279785156" x="85.98300170898438" y="-654.46142578125" data-test="textbox">full </text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="7.531005859375" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="80.013916015625" x="112.18099975585938" y="-654.46142578125" data-test="textbox">womenswear </text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="11.86602783203125" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="65.26300048828125" x="196.35549926757812" y="-654.46142578125" data-test="textbox">collection </text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="11.86602783203125" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="121.9290771484375" x="112.3843994140625" y="-638.46142578125" data-test="textbox">honors matriarchs.&nbsp;</text>

At the Willy Chavarria show during Paris Fashion Week Men&rsquo;s in June, nearly half the looks were womenswear. Technicolor-bright, the nipped-waist Nuevo Staple blazers, two-piece leather sets, and puff-sleeve cloqu&eacute; gowns brought a confident, sculptural&mdash;and undeniably feminine&mdash;presence to the runway. It was a surprising turn for the two-time CFDA Menswear Designer of the Year, although Chavarria doesn&rsquo;t see it that way. &ldquo;I love women,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;My mother and aunts were my original muses. When I was four, I asked for an address book. I thought a dress book was what it was called, and I filled it with pictures of women in dresses.&rdquo;
Chavarria is no stranger to dressing women in oversized menswear: Tracee Ellis Ross, Billie Eilish, and Ciara are among his many female fans, who make up 40 percent of his online customers, and he has long included female models on the runway. Yet it&rsquo;s taken him a decade since founding his label to finally realize his glam childhood sketches. &ldquo;I waited until I had a really good female designer working with me to fully launch womenswear,&rdquo; he says of hiring Mark Cross alum Rebeca Mendoza as his first head of design. &ldquo;We work closely together to create clothes that women wear for themselves, not for men.&rdquo;

Willy Chavarria Spring/Summer 2026 womenswear collection. Courtesy of Willy Chavarria.

Chavarria and Mendoza share a rare creative shorthand, drawing inspiration from Almod&oacute;var heroines and the fierce female protagonists in their own lives. &ldquo;I think right now, as women, we can&rsquo;t afford to look soft,&rdquo; Mendoza says. &ldquo;I want our woman to look beautiful and feminine, but also like she could beat you up,&rdquo; agrees Chavarria. The Spring/Summer 2026 collection, Huron, is named for the Mexican-American farming community in California where Chavarria grew up, and includes pencil skirts in thinly skived leather that take cues from Mendoza&rsquo;s formidable grandmother&rsquo;s 1970s Mexico City wardrobe.
Willy Chavarria womenswear follows the principle that form follows function. A trench-style leather dress can be worn buttoned for a structured look or left partly open, allowing it to move naturally with a woman&rsquo;s changing body over time, while the Chavela shirt emphasizes strong shoulders and a defined waist. &ldquo;Every woman I see put this shirt on just looks super-powerful,&rdquo; Mendoza says. Leather accessories carry the same practical elegance, from oversized clutches to capacious bolero bags and totes featuring Chavarria&rsquo;s signature W strapping and staff keys.

Willy Chavarria’s Womenswear Era Has Arrived

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