BY PATRICK MICHAEL HUGHES & PAUL DOHERTY
Mar. 2nd, 2023
NEW YORK — This week, Willie Chavarria delivered the KANGAROO collection at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City—a hit debut for the designer into eveningwear. Recently, the designer won the National Design Award for fashion institutions, marking significant progress for designers in the West Coast Latin street style market. 
In the show, we can see various evening silhouettes in a beautiful black palette. The garments offer a different style of tailoring built-in with nightwear, taking modern classic attire to new levels of gender and class norms. The collection shows leather, blouses, and silk scarves, which push a traditional style envelope. The symbolism of the collection proposes a theme of love and protection. The choice in design promotes a message of safety towards living in a harsh culture. An admirable highlight is that the designer has strived towards sustainability by using recycled fishnets and marine waste as a green activist. Willie Chavarria is a designer to look to for future boundary-breaking in fashion.
