Willy Chavarria's eponymous fashion line has become synonymous with revolution. The Mexican-American designer made another bold political statement at his Spring/ Summer 2026 runway show during Paris Fashion Week on Friday, after he positioned models in a similar fashion as migrants who have been sent to an El Salvador prison.
Before the runway show — entitled HURON, after Chavarria's native Huron, California — began, 35 men with shaved heads dressed in oversized white t-shirts and shorts stepped onto the carpeted floor at the Salle Pleyel venue in Paris. The models kneeled on the runway with their heads down, “in reference to Salvadoran prisons where people are being profiled and persecuted with no due process,” according to the brand.
The shirts were made in collaboration with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), an organization that Chavarria has worked closely with and is a fierce ally. Inside the t-shirt's label reads, “THE ACLU DARES TO CREATE A MORE PERFECT UNION - BEYOND ONE PERSON, PARTY, OR SIDE.”
“Today and as of yesterday, ICE is attacking the town of Huron. There are tanks rolling through the streets, and there are armed militia surrounding homes. So it’s a state of horror,” Chavarria said, according to Vogue. “The opening piece was to contrast against the beauty of the people that are actually being kidnapped and shipped away, broken away from their families. The chaos that we’re seeing right now.”
The mood was solemn at the start, before the array of bold pastels and colors flashed on the runway for Chavarria's collection. But the beginning was a strategic display of Chavarria's anger toward the Trump administration's ICE raids that have taken over the state of California and beyond over the last few months. The models mimicked the harrowing imagery taken from those foreign prisons, as prisoners are forced to kneel with their heads down.
“This moment was about reflection," Chavarria's team wrote. "The dehumanization of how immigrants are being treated in the United States.”
Even the invitation to the runway show replicated the summons the American government has been sending to migrants. Instead, Chavarria's version says “NOTICE OF RIGHT TO EXIST” at the top, along with a mock Social Security card with the attendee's seat number.
“I’m not interested in luxury as a symbol of privilege. I’m interested in luxury as a symbol of truth in one’s own character," Willy Chavarria said in a statement. “Exquisite tailoring and craftsmanship worn to elevate one’s personal intent – that’s power. That’s fashion.”
The ICE raids are not only impacting families and the livelihoods of those who are being deported, but are already having a ripple effect on multiple industries where migrants are crucial to the workforce — including fashion.
Chavarria's powerful statement kicked off an even bolder runway show. The collection was his second presented in Paris, and also explored his womenswear designs. Collaborating with the brand's Head of Design, Rebeca Mendoza, the runway show was an “exploration of identity, resistance, and refined subversion.”
Chavarria has been known to use his fashion platform to push forth his advocacy. During his winter debut in Paris, the designer presented his line's A/W 2025 collection entitled “Tarantula," along with a special sweatshirt in collaboration with Human Rights Campaign and Tinder. The sweatshirt's proceeds went directly to the HRC's fight against anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and read “How We Love Is Who We Are.”
"The identity of so many people right now is under attack through increased violence, increased racism, and actual politics that are implementing systems to roll back the rights of people like immigrants, women, LGBTQ people," Chavarria told Teen Vogue in January.
Chavarria's dedication to the cause continues. As other brands have shied away from making political statements, Chavarria has made his support front and center at each of his runway shows.
