NewYorkFashionWeek officially kicks off today, and two of the season’s hottest tickets are Willy Chavarria and Raul Lopez’s Luar.
over the last couple of seasons, but don’t callemerging. Raul and Willy are here for the long run, and they sat together in conversation for the first time—though they’ve met casually in the past—forPhotographed by Hunter AbramsI think that the industry hasn’t, and doesn’t, know how to talk about Latine fashion and the Latine community with nuance. It is seen through a very monolithic lens that always hinges on the same aesthetic, like florals and ruffles—but that’s only a part of it.
WC: I feel like that’s another thing that Raul and I both do, but we do it differently. I’ve done a lot of corporate work, and it felt totally vapid. I grew up in a family that was involved in the civil rights movement, so my household was very political. When I made the decision to do my own line, I made the choice that it would always have a point of view politically, and it was going to reflect back to the culture that influenced me. I had to do something that meant something.
That goes back to this idea of assimilation, and what you did is subvert that concept. Our community is often represented in the media, especially in fashion, through whiteness and wealth. Have you ever felt othered within these fashion spaces? And how does it feel to now have the attention of those same people?RL: Well, yeah [laughs]. I always felt kind of like an outsider.
On this topic about varied identities and cultural nuances, I’m curious to hear how you’d describe your own work. WC: I think it’s obvious that we don’t play by the book and we are not run by the business. We are running the business through our hearts. There are a lot of brands that work based on producing more and more products, SKU counts and all that, and maybe one day I’ll have someone do that for me, but right now it’s from the heart. Even if we were both making millions, which I’m sure we both want to, the most important thing is to tell our stories upfront.
WC: I agree. I think we have defined something that I don’t think exists in Europe. What we give is something that is not like anything Europe gives. It feels just so New York in terms of storytelling and identity.
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