On Thursday night, Willy Chavarria strolled into the Adidas store on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles to celebrate the launch of his latest Three Stripes collaboration. Given the week he’d had—dressing a crew of celebrities for Monday night’s Met Gala before stealing the show on the red carpet himself—no one would’ve blamed him for seeming a little sluggish. But this is Willy Chavarria we’re talking about: the menswear maestro who’s racked up back-to-back CFDA honors, linked up with Kendrick Lamar on his Super Bowl merch, put on arguably the single buzziest show of the most recent Paris Fashion Week. There was plenty of pep left in his step, especially given the magnitude of this new Adidas drop, which features three sneakers (all plays on the ’70s-era Adidas Jabbar), tees, shorts, tracksuits, and a crewneck sweatshirt emblazoned with “CHICANO” under the collar.
Chavarria glided through the room, greeting several store employees like old friends and hugging me immediately upon meeting. In conversation, he maintains eye contact, smiles and jokes freely, and thoughtfully ropes others in to make sure nobody feels excluded. Perhaps it’s hard to feel exhausted when the work you’ve dedicated the last decade of your life to is finally receiving its due. You don’t need to pound a Celsius when you’ve found yourself among the most vital designers of the moment.
This Adidas partnership is, in Chavarria’s eyes, key to furthering his mission. “Before we ever started designing, we talked about feeling, meaning, period influence, and message,” he explained. Chavarria’s work has a distinct aesthetic shaped by Chicano culture, his time working in queer nightlife, and a smattering of other meaningful odds and ends. (While chatting with two of his frequent collaborators—photographer Carlos Jaramillo and art director Jess Cuevas—Chavarria noted that his all-time favorite movie is The Exorcist, which he plays on repeat in the background as he works.)
Chavarria’s visual identity remains deeply personal—and he’d never distill it for the sake of penning a partnership with a flashy brand. “Any brand I work for, I like to take a close look at what they do,” he said. “When I was younger I placed myself in the wrong spots, so now I always do my homework.” Through what he describes as “a lot of back-and-forth sampling” with Adidas, he landed on something that felt true to both his vision and theirs.
“In this case, we honed in on the Civil Rights era,” he said, “especially with regard to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. We loved having that connection to the collection.” Abdul-Jabbar is one of the Three Stripes’ most notable brand ambassadors over the last century, with his work off the court as an activist as notable as his NBA tenure. For Chavarria, tying Kareem’s signature kicks into the collaboration felt like an extension of a message he’s always been working to communicate.
It’s hard to talk about Chavarria’s work without talking about that message, especially now. Fashion operates on long lead times—collections like the ones he’s launched in 2025 are often completed a year or more ahead. You can’t predict the moment in which your work will be received, which has made the designer’s emergence over the last year all the more compelling to witness. Chavarria’s work is unapologetically rooted in Latino identity and queer culture, paying homage to people who have only become more and more marginalized in the current political climate. A celebration of both communities like the one Chavarria has crafted feels vital at this moment. But it’s nothing new. “The message has always been there,” Chavarria said. “It hasn’t changed. If anything, when we do shows sometimes, it’s like, How do we say this differently? It’s just that right now more people need that message.”
For Chavarria and his team, the integrity of the message is preserved in the ground from which they build the work. “We go straight to the source,” he said, “We go to the places that we are from and we spend time with our friends.” He gestured around the store’s display for the collaboration, adorned with photography shot by Jaramillo. “Everyone in these photos are actual friends,” Chavarria explained. “We try to tell their stories in the most beautiful way possible, and in doing so we tell the story of ourselves.”
It’s his connection to that source that has made the last year more manageable for him. When I refer to Chavarria’s “whirlwind 2025,” he chuckles and jokes that it’s been more like a “whirlwind 10 years.” Still, his public profile has elevated and the demand for his work has skyrocketed. He credits many of the people in the room (and the ones in the photographs) for keeping him grounded. “I don’t meditate or anything like that,” he said. “I have very good friends. I have my husband. And I have my dog.” The group around him laughs—no matter how many celebrities you’ve dressed that week, nothing reminds you of your place in the world picking up your pet’s number two.
“A night like tonight helps, too,” he added. The store soon filled with many of the loved ones in those photos, along with a few fellow designers and Los Angeles-based friends. Local favorite Leo’s slung tacos and burritos outside next to a pristine orange low-rider. There were strong drinks, a good DJ, and hardcover books of Jaramillo’s work being handed out. In other words: It was a true celebration.
“We go and we do the Met Gala, and then we come back to our friends. We come back to our people,” Chavarria said, smiling. “That’s grounding.”