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Willy Chavarria Is a Unisex Designer Making Undergarments His Way

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Willy Chavarria Is a Unisex Designer Making Undergarments His Way

One of the first things designers aim for when they achieve a bit of commercial success is to get into underwear. As long as there are M.B.A.s, the Calvin Klein business model will be a subject of study, and it is the rare designer who does not, at some point, figure out that while dressing stars and making glamorous runway clothes are great for one’s image, the margins are in skivvies.

Consider Willy Chavarria. Almost a decade after starting his namesake label in 2015, Mr. Chavarria, a former senior vice president of design at Calvin Klein, became a freshly anointed fashion star in his mid-50s by winning back-to-back men’s wear Designer of the Year awards from the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2023 and 2024.

Late last year, he introduced the first line of men’s undergarments for his brand. (Although he is considered a men’s wear designer, Mr. Chavarria, a red-carpet go-to for rule-bending celebrities like Colman Domingo, Billie Eilish and Kendrick Lamar, terms his clothes unisex.) Being an inveterate provocateur, he called the line Big Willy.

Not content with that, Mr. Chavarria, 57, tested consumer tolerance this month by releasing a new capsule collection that includes tank tops, boxer briefs and jockstraps (along with sweatshirts, shorts and socks) that were manipulated to look sweat-stained, torn and otherwise distressed.

The collection is meant to both engage and provoke, said Mr. Chavarria, who produced it in collaboration with Latino Fan Club, a pornography studio with a specialized target market and what may be politely called a D.I.Y. aesthetic. Founded in 1985 by Dana Bryan, a photographer who went by the pseudonym Brian Brennan, the studio, now defunct, offered a visual alternative to the glossy, sanitized iconography then dominating gay pornography.

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With amateur styling and models almost certainly cast from the streets of New York, Latino Fan Club existed to celebrate raw sexuality at a time when AIDS had largely sent Eros underground. To whatever extent possible via an exploitative medium, it exalted gay Latinx sexuality, said Vince Aletti, a former photography critic for The New Yorker and The Village Voice, who has written about Latino Fan Club.

“It was a relief from all the white boy porn we’d been seeing for years,” Mr. Aletti said.

Mr. Chavarria, who called Latino Fan Club “iconic,” described the studio’s disruptive approach to pornography as mirroring the way he thought about his fashion label.

“In our line of work, there’s got to be more meaning behind the pretty pictures,” said the designer, who is making his debut at men’s fashion week in Paris on Friday. “Everything we do has to have some sort of force behind it, to break through the oppressive aspects of the world. Otherwise, why do it?”

For Jess Cuevas, an art director in Los Angeles who serves as Mr. Chavarria’s muse and right-hand man, flouting the norms of the luxury goods trade is part of the label’s aesthetic mission.

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“I love the idea that luxury can also be so gritty and gross,” Mr. Cuevas said. And, indeed, the installations Mr. Cuevas designed for the Dover Street Market stores where the collection is sold meticulously replicate the raunchy atmospherics of the XXX bookstores that inspired them.

“To me, so much luxury is vulgar,” said Mr. Cuevas, who was a creative force behind Madonna’s last tour. “What I love is taking luxury and deliberately bringing it to this vulgar place.”

In that sense, Mr. Chavarria’s latest foray into undergarments deviates from the Calvin Klein formula, even as that brand has also toyed with the visual conventions of pornography sites like OnlyFans in its recent underwear ads starring the actor Jeremy Allen White. That is not to suggest Mr. Chavarria’s collaboration with Latino Fan Club lacks commercial appeal, said James Gilchrist, the vice president of Dover Street Market USA and its parent company, Comme des Garçons USA.

“From a wider business perspective, it’s getting harder and harder for creatives like Willy,” he said. “Sure, at the luxury end of the market, there is definitely a lack of creativity, but a big part of what we do is give designers creative freedom.”

If that includes selling expensive underwear that looks as if it has already been worn hard and tossed in the laundry hamper, so much the better.

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“We love edgy things,” Mr. Gilchrist said. “It’s who we are.”

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Lifestyle

Austria wins 69th Eurovision Song Contest

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Austria wins 69th Eurovision Song Contest

JJ, winner of the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, holds up the trophy he won for Austria with the song “Wasted Love” during the Grand Final of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest, in Basel, Switzerland, Saturday, May 17, 2025.

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Austria has won the 69th Eurovision Song Contest. “Wasted Love,” performed by the classically trained JJ, beat out 25 other songs for the top prize at the finals held in Basel, Switzerland, on Saturday.

“Wasted Love” is in some ways similar to last year’s winner — Nemo’s “The Code” — in that it includes soaring, operatic vocals. But while the 2024 victor was more club anthem than aria, “Wasted Love” is the opposite. Banging beats only appear in the final part of the song. Nemo was 24 when they won Eurovision last year. This year’s winner shares the same age.

JJ co-wrote the winning song with Teodora Spiric and Thomas Turner.

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This the third time Austria has won the international singing competition. Udo Jürgens claimed the top prize in 1965 and Conchita Wurst in 2014.

Israel took second place and Estonia came in third.

JJ called for “more love” in his message while accepting the trophy.

As is customary, the 70th Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Austria.

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Lifestyle

Take a spring hike with the Los Angeles Times

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Take a spring hike with the Los Angeles Times

Howdy! I’m Jaclyn Cosgrove, an outdoors reporter at the L.A. Times. My job is to explore the mountains surrounding Los Angeles to find the best hikes, campgrounds and other adventures for you to tackle. I also write Between a Rock, where we feature outdoors survival stories every month, and The Wild, our (free!) weekly outdoors newsletter where I feature the absolute best things to do around L.A. and Southern California. In short, I’m outside a lot!

Would you like to join me sometime? How about later this month? The Times will host its fourth subscriber hike at 9 a.m. May 24 on a 3.5-mile hike to Sycamore Canyon Falls.

Tucked away in Point Mugu State Park, Sycamore Canyon Falls is a multi-tier 55-foot waterfall near Newbury Park. And hopefully with recent rainfall, it’ll still be flowing for us to enjoy.

There are multiple ways to reach the falls, but we will take the shortest and more direct way, starting in Rancho Sierra Vista/ Satwiwa in the Santa Monica Mountains. We’ll start at the Wendy Trail and wind our way through the park before entering Point Mugu State Park. Because we’re hiking through a state park, dogs aren’t allowed on this hike. (Trust me, I’m bummed too!)

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I’ll lead a group of 30 subscribers to the falls, where we’ll hang out, snap images and maybe even share a snack or two. This hike is moderate and requires good footwear. I will probably bring along my poles for traction and welcome you to do the same.

Parking is free and easy. Please park at the Wendy Trail Head. We’ll meet at the start of the trail there.

We will have water bottles for attendees, but you’re also welcome to bring your own. You must be 18 or older and will be required to sign a waiver prior to attending. Grab a spot at Tixr.com.

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'Wait Wait' for May 17, 2025: With Not My Job guests GWAR, Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Gad, and more!

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'Wait Wait' for May 17, 2025: With Not My Job guests GWAR, Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Gad, and more!

Metal band GWAR performs live onstage for the Viva La Bam tour at Roseland Ballroom on November 2, 2007 in New York City. (Photo by Roger Kisby/Getty Images)

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This week, we celebrate the arrival of spring with special guests Josh Gad, Gretchen Whitmer, GWAR, Kara Jackson, and Amber Maykut!

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